All tagged NZ Top 50

Portfolio Rebalance: We sold $103,000 of investments!

In August, I made a significant change to our investment mix. I sold all $103,000 of our Smartshares NZ Top 50 ETF (FNZ). This change ties in with all the other tweaks I’ve made over the years, where I have been progressively refining how we invest and setting ourselves up for future growth. Year after year, our mix changed as I learned and understood more, so this recent change is part of this evolution. If I were to use investment speak, I’d say I have ‘rebalanced my portfolio’.

We just received a $68,082.50 windfall!

Over the last 22 weeks, Jonny and I have been doing a bit of life admin that relates to the Christchurch earthquakes. Remember them? We have been working our way through a top-up of our original insurance claim. Recently, this claim paid us out $68,082.50. It’s a significant sum of money which we were grateful to receive. Today I just wanted to share with you why we came to receive this money and what we will do with it.

Does investing in Index Funds or ETFs work?

Ok, so the question is, does investing in index funds or ETFs actually work? Given that last week, I wrote about the fact it has been five years since I started blogging, I thought I’d give you an update on how two of our investments have been tracking during that time. The blog, after all, was created so that I could teach myself about investing by actually putting some money in and then sharing what I have learnt with others. I figured it would save everyone else having to constantly reinvent the wheel!

Smartshares NZ Top 50 vs S&P/NZX 50

I’ve had a number of emails asking about the changes to Smartshares, in particular the introduction of their new S&P/NZX 50 ETF (NZG) and how it compares to their existing NZ Top 50 ETF (FNZ). A deep dive into Smartshares for this post was a timely reminder for me just how intertwined and complex the investing marketplace is and that it’s really set up for the investor that already knows how to invest. Finding information was tough, so I reached out directly to Smartshares as I figure it’s best to go straight to the source right?

Did my financial plan stand up to the test?

Even though Level 2 had felt quite ‘normal’ here in Alexandra, going to Level 1 on the 9th of June did have me going “phew, we did it”. Collectively as a town, region and as a country, WE DID IT! That’s a pretty good feeling. Well done whanau of 5 million! But personally speaking, I don’t quite feel out of the woods yet. My thoughts are along the lines of “don’t relax too soon Ruth”. Therefore, I’m going to listen to my gut instinct and from a financial standpoint, I’m not done with being cautious just yet.