NZ Herald 27 August 2005
Q&As: Grandparents don’t need a trust to save for their grandchildren; New Zealand’s tax on capital gains is confusing; Depreciation on rental property.
Q&As: Grandparents don’t need a trust to save for their grandchildren; New Zealand’s tax on capital gains is confusing; Depreciation on rental property.
Is it dumb to diversify shares or property? Diversification is not all it’s cracked up to be, according to a man who read my last column, which praised the spreading-your-risk idea. “Bill Gates didn’t diverse much, and it didn’t do him much harm,” he writes. “The fact remains that the richest people on the planet have become that way because they haven’t diversified.
Q&As: Should a youg woman put her savings into her rental mortgage or diversify?; How to get through to Inland Revenue; Take care when depreciating rental property.
Q&As: Risky to buy shares while waiting to buy a house; Is the gain on excess shares in an IPO taxable?; Rental property depepreciation and Inland Revenue.
One bad apple — New Zealanders are bad at diversifying. Most New Zealand shareholders are frighteningly undiversified. About 24 per cent of share investors own shares in just one company, and another 36 per cent hold shares in two to five companies, according to recent research by the stock exchange, NZX, and sharebrokers ABN AMRO Craigs.
Q&As: 18-year-old should wait a bit before buying a house; Saving for the grandchildren — how much risk is good?; Rental property depreciation risks.