A key to a successful investment experience is understanding how markets behave and developing the discipline to avoid rash decisions based on short time periods.
Stay in your comfort zone
Go back to the 1995 film, Clueless. After a driving lesson goes terribly wrong, the valley kids are almost squashed by a tractor-trailer, harassed by a motorcycle gang, and given the finger for driving too slowly by old people. If only they had remained in their comfort zone and taken their lesson on quiet residential streets rather than a 12-lane highway!
Q3 2018 Review
World economic data remained encouraging throughout Q3. Global equities, particularly developed markets performed strongly. Emerging markets were punished, while Australia made small gains. And another reason to be wary of what you share online.
NZ and its ongoing property obsession
It's on TV; it's on the radio, it's in the newspapers and online. It seems everyone is buying it, making money from it or renovating it. The data providers have been pushing down the timing on their price indices from monthly to weekly to daily updates.
KiwiSaver: Can your investment path be improved?
When KiwiSaver was established on July 1, 2007, the scepticism it had faced turned out to be unfounded. In a little over a year, more than one million people had signed up.
Unhealthy attachments to bad investments
Have you ever made yourself suffer through a bad movie because, having paid for the cinema ticket, you felt you had to get your money's worth? Some people treat investment the same way.
Which hat are you wearing?
Most of us have multiple roles — as business owners, professionals, workers, consumers, citizens, students, parents, and investors. So, our views of the world can differ according to whatever hat we're wearing at any one time.
Rainy-day Investing
Like farmers planning a harvest, investors pinning their expectations on statements about arithmetical "average" investment returns can be disappointed. As with rainfall, market returns are rarely evenly distributed either across time or place.
In and out of currency fashion
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are receiving intense media coverage, prompting many investors to wonder whether these new types of electronic money deserve a place in their portfolios.What are investors to make of all this media attention? What place, if any, should bitcoin play in a diversified portfolio?
Fine-wine investment too good to be true
Wine investment has barely been on the scene for two decades, and If you have a taste for investing in wine, it could be a hobby worth the money one can spare.
KiwiSaver Vs. Volatility
Early in February after a long period of relative calm, the world found out that markets do contain a level of volatility they move up and DOWN and sometimes they can move quite quickly. What does this all mean to your average KiwiSaver investor… not much.
Should I consider dollar cost averaging?
We are sometimes asked about dollar cost averaging when investing client funds and whether this is a good idea. It is certainly something which should be considered, particularly for first time investors, and those whom are introducing a substantial lump sum deposit into their investment portfolio.
Will I run out of money in retirement?
Bill Gates wisely pointed out that "most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in 10 years".
AI and real-time risk decisions in wealth management
This promises to be the year we see the culmination of some key technologies — from blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI), to design thinking and the cloud.
FAANG and the catchphrase investing
The financial media is drawn to catchphrases, acronyms, and buzzwords that can be sold as the new thing. FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) is the latest of these. But does this constitute an investment strategy?
Reading the tea leaves
Investors at year-end are inclined to reflect on the 12 months gone and muse on what the coming year might bring.Aware of this appetite for speculation, the media tends to feed it with forecasts. These articles can be fun to read but are even more so a year later.
Advisory firms law changes look like Aussie model
Smaller advice firms in New Zealand could find the new legislative regime is harder to deal with than they expect if the Australian experience is anything to go by. The Financial Markets Authority has indicated that it will allow the requirements of licensing to be tailored to fit the needs of smaller firms.
Bitcoin bubble, the new tulip mania Part II
ver the years there have been numerous economic bubbles and subsequent crashes, for example, the dot-com bubble, the stock-market bubble, and the real estate bubble.
But the one few may be aware of is the tulip bulb market bubble (also known as tulip mania) of the 17th century in the Netherlands.
The bitcoin bubble – Part I
What if there is a technological advancement so powerful that it transforms the fundamental pillars of our society?
A technology that fundamentally influences the way our economy, governance systems and business functions, and could change our conceptual understandings of trade, ownership, and trust.
Ponzi schemes and fools' gold
You've probably heard the saying "If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." This rings particularly true in the case on Ponzi schemes.
A Ponzi scheme is not a new wonder drug or an Italian beach resort, it's terrible for your financial health.
