All in Shares
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 Index 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 ;-)
Borrowing money to buy shares is something that I don’t hear about that often and I have only really come across a small handful of examples of it in the last couple of years of blogging. Whereas we borrow vast sums of money all day long to get into the housing market, without the word ‘risk’ ever really being used, when we borrow money to buy into securities our first instincts are concern and fear.
I interviewed a bloke for an upcoming episode of my podcast and he had a lot to say about investing in individual shares and why he used to buy them, but now no longer does. He took the advice of a good friend when she told him, back in the 1980s, just buy into today’s equivalent of an index fund and let time in the market be your money’s best friend. Low and behold, she was correct.
Sharesies have been making a few tweaks to their system. If you already use them they will have emailed you (but if you are like me, you may not have read it) and I felt the changes are worth mentioning for those investing with them already or for those thinking about doing so. Sharesies is now “tidier” to use and I think probably less confusing for newbie investors too.
Since I began investing in index funds I have been thinking of selling my shares in Meridian Energy because they are the only individual shares I own now. But then I procrastinated, then I got busy, then I got a dividend payout and then I actually took a much closer look at them because I realised that this has happened, a steady rise in their share price.
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.
