For many years I’ve published the responses to my Net Worth Millionaire Questionnaire. It continues to be a well-read part of my blog. But there has been another questionnaire I’ve wanted to add for a very long time. I want to create a supportive space where people can come to share that they have successfully paid off a single debt or become completely debt free.
This week's blog post got started because I received a random Instagram message from KiwiSaver provider kōura asking me to sign a petition they have launched. Although I chose not to sign the petition, reading it did get me thinking about the gap in retirement savings between men and women and that tinkering with KiwiSaver legislation won’t really address two of the critical findings of an earlier report from the Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission.
This week I’m answering a question that Paul has sent to me, and it is a question that I’ve been dwelling on myself. I’m going to do my best not to get too deep in the weeds with my answer. It might sound like a niche question (Which is better: TWF - Total World Fund or USF - US 500?), but the answer I give is, in my opinion, widely applicable to investors.
This week, there is intense talk about Jonny's career in our home. It has been a topic of discussion for some time now, but things are hotting up! I am encouraging him to make 2023 a “work optional” year. This blog post is not just about Jonny, though, I have a close friend contemplating the same thing, and I’ve spoken with many people of various ages and stages of life on my Phone A Friend calls who are considering a grown-up gap year too.
Today I’m sharing a practical example of why it might be worth investing weekly instead of monthly and moving from Smartshares to InvestNow to enable that. I’ve met many lovely people via my blog, few more lovely than Dale and Dean. We have been emailing back and forth for three years, and they recently let me know of a significant change they have made to how they invest. With their permission, they have let me share it.
Back in June of 2017, I wrote a blog post called Insurance (YAWN), and in it, I talked about what insurance we had and what policies we were dropping because we had reached a point where we could self-insure. This blog post is a quick insurance update to explain why we continue to shed insurance policies and show you that it's worth reviewing your insurance from time to time and whether the cover you have is appropriate for your current life stage.
Over the last 22 weeks, Jonny and I have been doing a bit of life admin that relates to the Christchurch earthquakes. Remember them? We have been working our way through a top-up of our original insurance claim. Recently, this claim paid us out $68,082.50. It’s a significant sum of money which we were grateful to receive. Today I just wanted to share with you why we came to receive this money and what we will do with it.
Do you like my dramatic title? Does it make you nervous? Don’t be. This week I was given the ultimate compliment. Someone said, “I like hearing what you have to say, Ruth. You have common sense”. It seems to me that every investment provider is telling me not to panic at the moment. Common sense tells me there is no need to; volatile times come and go, but hearing it so often repeated gives my common-sense approach a run for its money and makes me wonder if I should be concerned?
The weather turned cold here last week, a perfect time to read one of the many personal finance books I have on my ‘need to read’ list. Reading the latest book by Martin Hawes coincided with people mentioning the book in emails to me. Hearing good things meant it rose to the top of my reading pile.
