All in Financial Advisors

Which providers offer a Total World Fund in NZ?

I am writing this blog post because I am constantly asked where you can purchase a Total World ETF from in New Zealand: “Could I use Smart or InvestNow?” “Sharesies, or a sharebroker?” Once you understand that low fees and broad diversification matter, i.e. buying the whole global share market instead of picking stocks or countries, you land in a new kind of confusion… where to buy. This post is not about finding the perfect platform. There isn’t one. But there are some perfectly good options. The goal is to understand them enough to choose one and get on with investing.

Become Your Own Financial Advisor

Before I started The Happy Saver I thought the only way to learn about money was to seek out a financial advisor, the supposed experts in the field, so I did go to a couple of financial advisors. As a result of these attempts I completely gave up on letting anyone else tell me what to do with my own money and decided that no one cared more about it than I did myself so I decided to take matters into my own hands and educate myself. I did it by actively taking an interest in my/our money and reading, listening, asking and deep-diving into all things personal finance related.

What should I do with my Bonus Bonds?

This week I’ve received even more emails about Bonus Bonds with people asking what investment options are out there for the money that will be released from the scheme when it winds up shortly and also asking what they could do with the ongoing monthly payments that people had previously been making into the scheme. They don’t want to stop this regular savings habit, but they have no idea where to put it.

Becoming an Investor*

All your working life you are trying to increase your net worth so that when you finally stop working you start to slowly spend it to live on. If upon retirement each year you take 4% out of your pot of savings it will take about 30 years to boil the pot dry. So what can you live on a year? Do you need to invest $100K, $200 or $500K?