NZ Herald 5 December 2009
Q&As: Adviser’s advice is shocking — on three counts; Does it make sense to want your charity dollars to all go to the frontline?; When should you reduce your KiwiSaver contributions?
The Investor 1 December 2009
Gifts that give on several levels. Perhaps the most important assignment in a university course I teach on financial literacy has little to do with finance. Worried that the course might send the message “the more money you have the better”, I ask the students to think about how money and happiness are related.
NZ Herald 28 November 2009
A way to make friends and relatives happy at Christmas. Changes to invitation to Capital Market Taskforce meeting. Q&As: Less insurance can save big money and work well — if you are healthy and careful; Gradually get rid of preference shares you don’t want any more.
NZ Herald 21 November 2009
Excerpt from The Complete KiwiSaver: Which Assets Are for You? This week, Mary Holm’s Q&A column is replaced by an excerpt from her latest book, “The Complete KiwiSaver”. The principles she discusses here apply not just to KiwiSaver but to investing in general. Her Q&A column will resume next week.
The Investor 17 November 2009
It pays to know how numbers grow. The recent fuss over food price rises shows how little feel many New Zealanders have for the power of compounding numbers. And that lack of knowledge could harm them when borrowing and investing.
NZ Herald 14 November 2009
Q&As: Couple struggling with rental property should put it on the market; Did the issuers of perpetual preference shares adequately warn investors that their value could fall considerably?; The choices for a KiwiSaver who moves overseas.
NZ Herald 7 November 2009
Q&As: Independent fee-charging advisers — the ones readers should be able to count on — to be listed in this column; Are accountants obliged to minimise tax, and to not dob in their clients to Inland Revenue?; Contributing to adult children’s KiwiSaver accounts a good idea, even if they end up losing some of it in a marriage break-up. Also: An invitation to attend a breakfast representing investors.
The Investor 3 November 2009
Fund performance tables can do more harm than good. Some figures I saw recently strengthened my resolve to steer people away from KiwiSaver performance comparisons.
NZ Herald 31 October 2009
Q&As: Tax agent and Inland Revenue differ on treatment of investors selling rental properties; Two big issues lead to bad financial advice results; Is this column dominated by KiwiSaver?; Generally, don’t put lump sums into KiwiSaver.
NZ Herald 24 October 2009
Q&As: Are house prices less likely to fall in posher suburbs?; Financial advisers paid by commissions can’t do as well as someone who is independent; Two Q&As on why recently issued preference shares are not good investments.