All in Sharesies
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.
Christmas at my house when I was growing up was always a busy, crowded and fun time. We used to receive heaps of Christmas cards and the most exciting ones were the cards that contained the “annual Christmas letter” from the sender. So, I thought I would write you a Christmas Newsletter from my whanau, with a personal finance twist of course…
From time to time I get emails along the lines of: Oh crikey, I think I should sell! Due to the ease with which we can now invest there are many people who are investing for the first time in their lives. They are learning how to buy, what to buy, what they like, what they don’t like. It used to be hard to invest, but that’s all changed now with the likes of SHARESIES and HATCH, the signup process is so rapid that you are signed up and have started investing before you can really comprehend what you are doing.
A lot of people get in touch with me asking how to get started and how to stay consistent with money. Because that’s the thing, you can start with a hiss and a roar but lose momentum and stop and that is a bit of a disaster for your money. So you want to create good, long-lasting routines and habits that set you up financially, which become so ingrained they are automatic.
This week I received an email from someone who has stumbled upon the big wide world of investing and at the age of 40 has suddenly had their mind blown with the possibilities. He specifically asked about index funds and I also knew I had met a kindred spirit when he said: “compound interest is a new favourite term”.
Sharesies has lowered the barriers to entry for those wanting to enter the share market and they set about serving a previously underserved demographic. Sharesies has helped people see that becoming a share investor is another viable way to grow your wealth in New Zealand. They are now giving you the chance to buy shares in individual companies and spend as little or as much as you like.
Since January 2016 I’ve been drip feeding money into the SmartShares NZ Top 50 fund (FNZ) on a monthly basis. I thought it might be interesting for you to actually see what someone else’s ACTUAL investment looks like because chances are that no one else is going to show you their account balance ;-)
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.
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!
