Perriams Pacesetter — 9 November 2026

GEM

Last week NZ’s oldest male died at the ripe old age of 108.

Sir Lloyd Geering, a prominent NZ theologian.

What was his secret to living to 108?

He cited several factors:

• Curiosity and engagement.

• Regular walking.

• Good genes.

• Moderation — pretty much a balanced life with no extremes.

If you can tick these four boxes, then you better start saving for a long life 🙂

SPOTLIGHT

It’s a short week if you live in Canterbury 🙂

Enjoy!

What’s more, it’s Christchurch’s biggest week of the year with Cup Week. The horsies, the fascinators, putting a bet on when you don’t normally bet, and it signals we’re getting much closer to Xmas.

TOPICAL

A Country Divided

The Opportunity Party, as predicted in the earlier polling, got over 5% on the night and could now play the ace in who will form the next Government.

The Electoral Commission have until 27 November to release the final results, so there’s a bit of nail-biting to be done before that.

But that could just be the beginning!

OPINION

Trumpy has lost his way.

The Democrats and independent voters have declared how unhappy they have been with the way their country has been going and want change.

It seems that the Democrats are now letting everybody know how fed up they are with the Trump administration and what it stands for.

SPORTIFY

Why NZ Netball walked away from the privatisation deal with Anne Mowbray and Ali Williams?

Primarily, the stumbling blocks were on control, ownership, direction and the long-term future of the sport.

Do you think NZ Netball did the right thing?

OF INTEREST

Just in case you missed it.

“Mogging”, according to the Collins English Dictionary, is the trendiest new word. What does it mean?

“The act of outshining or outperforming someone or something.” The word saw a 210% increase in usage this year, the dictionary said in a press release.

Last year’s word of the year was “vibe coding”, which meant the use of artificial intelligence to tell a machine what you want instead of coding it yourself.

OF INTEREST

The five countries where your salary goes the furthest in 2026.

1. Kuwait

2. Qatar

3. Switzerland

4. Luxembourg

5. Oman

This week, OpenAI released LifeVal, a new test designed to measure how well AI handles practical, everyday tasks rather than academic questions. The test includes things like managing finances, finding childcare, dealing with government services, shopping and household admin.

OpenAI’s latest models performed strongly overall, but the test is also a reminder that the next stage of AI is not just answering questions, it is being measured on whether it can actually complete useful tasks reliably.

QUESTION OF THE WEEK

NZ’s fastest-growing district: Selwyn.

Why do so many people choose to live there?

Here are the key reasons:

• Space and larger sections.

• Proximity to Chch.

• Family-friendly communities.

• Canterbury’s strong economy.

• Outdoor lifestyle.

But travel at peak time to Chch is worse than Auckland. 🙁

THE MARKETS

Worried about your KiwiSaver balance or your managed funds balance, or both, given current financial markets?

Well, if you are in a growth fund and you don’t expect to need your money for 10 years or so, then you shouldn’t worry and ride it out.

If it wakes you up at night, then flip it out of growth maybe to balanced?

OCR 2.5% ↑ July 2026 CPI 4.1% ↑ June 2026 Unemployment 5.3% ↓ March 2026 House Price Movement 2.3% ↑ July 2024 Rent Price Movement 4.3% ↑ July 2024

Only 46 days to go until Christmas!

PERRIAMS POWER RANKINGS – 09 November 2026

1. The All-Blacks’ unbeaten run against Scotland continues for 121 years. What a stat.

One day they will beat the All Blacks, but it’s not this year.

2. Paul Coll wins the US Squash Open.

3. The Tongan league team put up a mighty fight against the Kiwis in the semi-final of their World Cup, but they came in 3rd. How good was that for such a small nation, not to mention the haka standoff.

Ready to sow the first seed? Let's talk!