All tagged ETFs

Hurry Up and Wait

Hurry Up and Wait

Ruth
ETFs, InvestNow, Smart, Retirement

I've been feeling a little frustrated lately. I'm sitting in my living room, laptop on my lap, gazing out at the snow-capped Old Man Range. Things aren’t going badly, quite the opposite. Our investments have passed $800,000, our emergency fund is full, and Jonny is about to finish his graphic design job for good. We’re CoastFI and tantalisingly close to financial independence, but not quite there yet. After years of saving, investing and optimising, there’s not much left to do except trust the plan and wait. And I’ve got to be honest: waiting just that wee bit longer is frustratingly hard work.

SpaceX IPO? Remember That?

SpaceX IPO? Remember That?

Ruth
ETFs, Index Funds, Smart

I know that by now the fuss over the mid June 2026 SpaceX IPO has died down, but that is exactly why I waited a few weeks to write about it. Successful investing is mostly about ignoring the noise, but sometimes that is easier said than done. Now that it's well out of the headlines, and so that you can recognise a storm in a teacup next time one appears, I want to dig into what happens to your ETF or Index Fund once the fuss dies down. You actually become a part owner of a company that has chosen to list on a stock exchange.

The Happy Saver Turns 10: Giveaways, Gratitude and Your Wins

The Happy Saver Turns 10: Giveaways, Gratitude and Your Wins

Ruth
ETFs, Index Funds, KiwiSaver, Money Education, Net Worth, Personal Finance, PocketSmith, Sharesies, Sharesight, Smart

I know your time is important, and over the years I’ve taken up a fair bit of it, ten years in fact! Yes, The Happy Saver is 10 years old. This blog post is packed with gratitude, giveaways, and a celebration of your wins, because you haven’t just read my blog; many of you have changed your lives. I want to say a heartfelt thank you to you for being part of The Happy Saver, and to the Kiwi companies who continue to support the work I do. For ten years, I’ve been writing blog posts documenting our financial progress and answering the questions I regularly receive from you. The original goal of The Happy Saver was simple: help people. Ten years later, that goal has not changed. What has changed is our own net worth, and the net worth of thousands of people who have quietly and steadily become better and better at managing their pūtea.

Our Coast FI Plan: Keep the House, Invest Less

Our Coast FI Plan: Keep the House, Invest Less

Ruth
ETFs, InvestNow, KiwiSaver, Net Worth, Retirement, Smart, Investment, Emergency Fund

After years of prioritising investing, we’ve made a decision that feels both strange and surprisingly freeing: we’re keeping the house, cutting right back on how much we invest, and letting time in the market do more of the work. For a while, downsizing looked like the logical next step. Sell the house, invest the difference, and fast-track our way to full financial independence. But the more we sat with it, the more something felt off. Coast FI has helped us find a middle ground between selling up, working longer, and creating a life that feels right for us now.

Which providers offer a Total World Fund in NZ?

Which providers offer a Total World Fund in NZ?

Ruth
ETFs, Financial Advisors, Index Funds, InvestNow, Kernel, Sharesies, Smart, Smart Invest, SmartShares

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.

JL Collins Goes Global - And Why That Feels Familiar

JL Collins Goes Global - And Why That Feels Familiar

Ruth
ETF, Index Funds, ETFs, Investment, InvestNow, KiwiSaver, Shares, Sharesight, Smart

The financial clouds parted the day I picked up the 2016 edition of The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. Instead of picking and choosing individual companies, just buy them all in one tidy package: an ETF or index fund - the simple path to wealth. For years, JL Collins has been known for one beautifully simple idea: Buy VTSAX and chill. VTSAX is an American index fund holding 100% U.S. companies. But readers began asking, “JL, what about the rest of the world?” He has long explained that U.S. companies are so large and globally dominant that U.S. investors could “get away with” owning only VTSAX. So when JL announced that he had added international stocks to his portfolio, people noticed. It felt like a big deal.

Explain It To Me FAST!

Explain It To Me FAST!

Ruth
ETFs, Index Funds, Investment, InvestNow, KiwiSaver, Money Education, Personal Finance, Smart

If you’ve ever listened to a money podcast, read a finance blog or chatted with that one friend who’s suddenly “really into investing”, you’ve probably heard a whole bunch of money words thrown around. People nod. No one wants to look dumb. And quietly, many think: I should probably understand what that means… So this post is for you. Here are plain-English explanations of the money words that come up again and again, using New Zealand examples and my common sense logic.

$1.71 Million Net Worth: Our 2025 Money Update

$1.71 Million Net Worth: Our 2025 Money Update

Ruth
Budgeting, ETFs, Investment, InvestNow, KiwiSaver, Net Worth, PocketSmith, Smart, Smart Invest

At the start of every year, I open one spreadsheet that tells the story of a decade of choices. Updating our net worth spreadsheet helps me see where we’ve been, and where we might be heading. These annual check-ins matter, and I genuinely enjoy this process. 2025 was a good financial year for us, driven primarily by consistent investing in the share market through our ETF and, to a lesser extent, our KiwiSaver. Once again, we prioritised investing, never missing a month, and it paid off. 

Answering the Money Questions Readers Email Me About

Answering the Money Questions Readers Email Me About

Ruth
Budgeting, Emergency Fund, Investment, KiwiSaver, ETFs

I’ve been hitting “reply” to as many emails as I can this week. If you write to me, I will write back, but due to the volume of emails I get, there is often a delay. I respond to every single email because the questions asked are so valid and important to the person doing the asking. Every email is different, weaving together a set of circumstances in a new way, so I provide a bespoke response that links to tools and resources to help answer the questions. While each is different, though, there are commonalities. Most of my emails give people a simple starting point and a rough map to follow, so I thought that, as we head for Christmas, a time when a lot of people do sit down and focus on money, this might help you head into 2026 more prepared.

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