Index distortion not what it seems. A reader’s point about the ongoing shares v houses debate sounds fair enough. “Your comparisons do not compare like with like,” he writes, “because you are using an index for shares, which only covers some companies, whereas for housing, you are using the average over all houses.”
Shares easier than reader thinks. It’s like a red rag to a bull. A paragraph in a reader’s email started, “Without getting into the share v property argument…” But why not get into it? After all, it’s at the very heart of most New Zealanders’ thinking about long-term investment. The reader, a mortgage broker, goes on to say, “I believe it is good for people to have a dabble in shares with spare cash but use property as their main retirement plan, even if they go hard out paying off just one rental property.
Q&As: Attitudes to student loans; Interest on student loans; Fear and share investment; Spending in retirement.
Stuff and happiness: Buying things you don’t really need. Also in this issue: From the Mailbox — Should a young man buy himself a house?
Another reason to spread your investments. I can think of three good reasons to hold lots of different shares, as opposed to one or just a few. Two reasons are obvious, but one is less so, even though it may be just as important.
Q&As: Buying a share on a rumour; Retiring at 40 (2 Q&As); Investing student loan money.
Q&As: Can he retire?, 40-year-old asks; Couple about to retire wonder if their expenses will drop as they get older; Student loan interest ends. What happens if you go overseas?