All in Index Funds

How to Pay Cash for Tertiary Education

This blog post results from a brief yet alarming conversation I had with a 15-year-old who has three years remaining at school before they planned to head off to university. In answer to my question, “how are you going to pay for it,” they quickly replied, “with student loans, because they are interest-free”. It was not my place to comment at the time (although in my head I was screaming to say something), but given I write a blog, I’ve created a space where I can give their response some thought. So, I will.

Are you scared of NOT buying a house?

I received an email recently that brought tears to my eyes if I’m frank. It was from someone who is in despair about not being in a position to own a house in New Zealand. I wanted to create a blog post about it because the struggle that the writer is experiencing is not unique; in the same week, I received several other messages along the same lines.

What the FIF? Foreign Tax and How to Pay It

Because I like to make life difficult for myself, I thought I would write a blog post on the tax implications of using a FIF. A Foreign Investment Fund. Due to the proliferation of online investment providers like Hatch, Sharesies, InvestNow, Smartshares, Kernel, Betashares, Stake etc. I’m getting more and more emails from people who are concerned about the national and international tax implications of using these platforms.

Does investing in Index Funds or ETFs work?

Ok, so the question is, does investing in index funds or ETFs actually work? Given that last week, I wrote about the fact it has been five years since I started blogging, I thought I’d give you an update on how two of our investments have been tracking during that time. The blog, after all, was created so that I could teach myself about investing by actually putting some money in and then sharing what I have learnt with others. I figured it would save everyone else having to constantly reinvent the wheel!

What I’ve learnt in five years of personal finance blogging.

To my surprise, I’ve chalked up five years of writing this blog! And I can’t quite believe it. I thought I’d blog today about what I’ve learnt, observed and what it’s like to write a blog because there is not a single day that has gone by that I’ve not emailed or spoken with someone about what I tend to refer to with my whanau and friends as ‘blog stuff’.

Was I right or wrong? Checking ‘what if’ share investing scenarios.

This is a blog post about all the investing “What if’s”. Have you ever wondered what would have happened if you bought shares in a company when you first heard about it, but you didn’t do it? And you find yourself years later saying “oh, I NEARLY bought that stock, but I didn’t…” Now you are wondering what even happened to the company share price and what WOULD have happened to your own net worth IF you had actually purchased some?

Begin at the Beginning: Step-by-step Path to Financial Independence

Whatever it is that you are embarking on that’s always the best place to start in my opinion. The beginning. Then just follow the path, in my case, the path to financial independence and eventually not being tied to a job to earn my income. It’s a long journey but it’s one worth starting. I’m often writing emails that cover the same points over and over again, so I thought that today I’d put that information into a blog post for all of the people wondering where to start and how to string all the bits of information you have learned about money into a cohesive order.