Owning your home not always the best option. Most New Zealanders grow up expecting to own their own home, but soaring house prices have made it harder for people to get into the market. Does that matter? Is home ownership all it’s cracked up to be?
Stay Away: Don’t rush to bring your shares back from overseas. Also in this issue: From the Mailbox — Giving the kids a great start with regular investing.
Q&As: Lessons from the Bible: Is borrowing bad?; Is luck or attitude the secret to wealth?; Sharebrokers shouldn’t always be expected to give ongoing advice.
Q&As: What to do about negligent adviser who recommended bad finance company investment; Do high earners pay too much of the tax burden?; Parable about why the highest taxed get the biggest tax breaks.
A worrying prediction about the way share funds are run. A section in a submission to the government from Shareholders Association chairman Bruce Sheppard caught my eye. Referring to proposed changes in the way share funds are taxed, he wrote: “The ability of NZ and Australian funds to trade without having to pay tax may well result in higher trading by institutions, as the active funds strive to differentiate their performance from the index by generating trading gains.
Q&As: Comparing NZ and other countries’ taxes and lifestyles; Several Q&As on government’s tax proposals, including submissions info, Bruce Sheppard quotes and size of Grey List share markets; A promise for a tax-change-free column next week!
Which index fund — if any? A reader asks which index fund to invest in. These days, though, we need to ask first whether any index fund is still a good idea. Index funds invest in all the shares in a sharemarket index. For example, the TENZ fund invests in the ten biggest companies that make up the NZX 10 index.