All in Index Funds
I asked you last week what I could help you with and I received a lot of emails with questions on various topics. I have pulled a couple of themes out of them and have shared them in this post, because my guess is that they are pretty common questions right now.
I thought I’d keep a diary for this week, so you can see what we are doing to prepare for the months ahead in this rapidly evolving situation. Take from it what you will and discard the rest. But first and foremost when it comes to money at a time like this, whether your job is secure or you have just lost it, the absolute key thing to keep in mind is to: Always spend less than you earn
If there was ever any doubt about what an emergency might look like, well this is it, folks! I hope that each and every one of you is coping well and today I wanted to let you know what Jonny and I are doing, in the hope that you might gain a few pointers about what to do with whatever situation you may find yourselves in.
I’ve had a “conscious uncoupling” from worldwide events and am instead reflecting back on the basics of how Jonny and I operate to make sure we are steering our waka in roughly the right direction during these rough waters. This is the first more serious market dip I’ve been through but I’ve read enough and learned enough from those who have gone before to know that the right thing to do is just hold my course and hold my nerve.
I originally wrote this blog post back in December 2018 and I’ve decided it was time to make a few updates to it so that all those people reading the book for the first time and those who are following along with the Barefoot Investor principles have a good New Zealand resource to come to. If you have read my original post, while it’s still relevant, this one is quite different because it takes into account different providers of services, so I encourage you to read this one too!
With so many new investment platforms coming on stream in the last couple of years, it has never been easier to buy a stake in a company via either an index fund or by buying individual shares. It is awesome how accessible investing has become. But in this effort to uncomplicate becoming an investor a lot of these newer investment platforms have inadvertently put investing through the complicator when it comes to tax time, because many of you are unsure about how to handle investments in regards to tax. So this blog post is going to focus on how I go about things at tax time.
We all discover some tips, tricks and shortcuts in life that are real time savers, or they just help us understand our place in the world a bit better, but it takes someone to tell us about them in the first place. I consider the Rule of 72 and Sharesight as two useful personal finance hacks, which of course I’m happy to share.
I’ve waited a long time to fill out my own Net Worth Millionaire Questionnaire! YES, our net worth has finally ticked over from 6 numbers to 7 and it’s fair to say I’m delighted. But what is the purpose of me and other people sharing this information? It’s so that you can apply it to your own situation and see the variety of ways that other Kiwi’s have created wealth for themselves and know that it is possible for you as well.
I’ve been getting a few emails and comments along the lines of “can you please consider a post about your overall investment portfolio.” My investing strategy is pretty simple and straightforward and I can't help but think that those who work day in day out in the finance space will scoff and laugh at my lack of analysis and strategy. But don’t scoff too hard, because it appears to be working just fine, thank you. Here is how I allocate the money that comes into my life.
