Take advantage of mortgage rate drop
– Try to keep up old payments and reduce your term and total interest
– Or set up a rainy day fund
– A warning: Don’t expect rates to stay this low forever. How would you cope if rates rise?
Listeners’ questions about what they should and shouldn’t do with their investments at the moment
– When to move to a lower-risk fund
– A good time to add to a growth fund?
– Bank worries
– What to do with your mortgage
GETTING A KIWISAVER WOF — for people of all ages in KiwiSaver. Whether you’re worried about the market downturn or just want to use some spare time productively, now is a good time to check you’re doing as well as you can (you’re probably not!) in KiwiSaver.
What to do in KiwiSaver as share markets wobble:
– Best to do nothing — but learn about yourself and your investing
– What if you need your money soon?
– Listener letter: which shares to buy in this environment? And which to sell?
– Listener letter: Are KiwiSavers treated badly when it comes to moving funds?
Active vs passive management of KiwiSaver and other funds
Why I disagree with result of recent debate on this:
– A bias in who took part?
– Passive funds will always be average — that’s fine
– Will the rise in passive management ruin the way the market works?
Investors in shares — and most KiwiSaver investors — are doing “too well”
– Last year was exceptional
– Last decade was well above recent averages
– AND last decade was unusually “unvolatile”
– Don’t be lulled into thinking this will continue
– Shares are good investments, but…
Recommended changes to KiwiSaver
The Commission for Financial Capability has made 19 suggestions on how to improve KiwiSaver. Mary and Jesse discuss four of them:
– Set up “Small Steps”, so people’s contributions rise gradually each year if they wish
– Add “sidecar savings” to KiwiSaver for short-term emergencies
– Exclude fixed fees from KiwiSaver accounts with balances under $5000
– Show members how much their fees are likely to total over the years in KiwiSaver, compared with average fees for that type of fund
Also: an unusual letter from a listener — grow marijuana or join KiwiSaver?
What financial decisions would I do differently, with hindsight?
Based on an email challenge from a listener.
– Timing — in the share market and property market
– Gearing — borrowing to invest in a share fund
– A foreign exchange investment
– House buying
– Rental property?
– Higher paid work?
Also:
– My holiday message: Be terrific in traffic
Notes from a conference
Westpac Massey Fin Ed Centre conference on “Building financially capable communities: our pathways to success”
– Current Financial teaching in schools is not effective, especially for lower sociology economic kids
– Self efficacy — whether you believe your actions and effort will affect your outcomes — is more important to wealth than things like financial literacy. Can it be changed?
– Changes coming to regulate payday lending. Will they help?