All in KiwiSaver
If you have had an ‘ah ha’ moment, or maybe an ‘oh crap’ moment, then this blog post is definitely for you! This is for all of the people who have contacted me over the last month who have just had their own “moment” with money but are struggling with where to go from here. I’m going to help you find YOUR starting point so read on...
Every week I receive one or two emails specifically asking about how to help children invest and there are often comments on various social media about whether you even should help your kids and if you do, whether you should tell them about it. Over the years we’ve evolved an investment methodology for our daughter that appears to be working so I thought I would share with you what we do in our own whare and that might give you some tips for what you can do in your own household.
If you are a Simplicity investor you will have received an email where they announced: “We’re now investing in high growth Kiwi companies”. I did a bit of reading to get an understanding of what they are trying to achieve here because it’s not enough to just contribute to my KiwiSaver, it is important that I understand and feel comfortable with the choices they are making on my behalf.
A while back I asked you to send me in any questions that you are looking for an answer to and I received well over 100 responses. So, I’ve hand-picked just four to answer today and I'll come back to the others in the future. On with the questions!
Mary Holm has been on my radar for a long time, she was possibly the first woman I heard speak with authority on how to handle money and has continued to be a great role model. The front page of her new book says she is “New Zealand’s Most Trusted Money Expert”. I bet the publishers angst over that bold claim, but I think it’s true.
The Barefoot Investor by Australian Scott Pape is an excellent book and it has been instrumental in changing the financial direction of not just Australians but also of Kiwis. Many people have asked me to work out what the Kiwi equivalents are of the providers he recommends. I’m not saying this is a conclusive list, but I’ve given it my best shot.
I have reached a point where I’ve learned a bit more about myself. When I heard that the stock market had “plummeted” it actually didn’t unnerve me at all. Warren Buffet would say that I have not lost anything, because I didn’t sell, the value of my investments has simply changed and by my calculations, I’m down 4%. If I freaked out and sold then I would have locked in my losses. But I didn’t and I won’t.
Today I wanted to answer a question that was asked by Linda. She is interested in looking at the pros and cons of taking her KiwiSaver as a PENSION versus a LUMP SUM invested in the bank and using the interest to supplement her government super…
The very first thing I would do is set up an automatic transfer to syphon off a set amount of money each week into a sub account with your bank and give it a flash name like “IKMSMOI” (investments keep my sticky mitts off it).
