Q&As: Family of five should go with several different KiwiSaver providers to compare them; Last week’s look at the effects of gearing was deliberately simplified — and it probably didn’t make too much difference; Two poetic reactions to last week’s poem; Parliament move ends wait for woman not wanting to sign a work contract that treats KiwiSavers differently.
Q&As: A poem from the past shows how our attitudes to debt have changed. Will they change back again?; Reader wonders how long she has to wait for the government to change the law about employer KiwiSaver contributions.
Q&As: Why 20 shares are much better than two; Reader claims diversification is not a great idea. I disagree; Is land a lower risk investment than a share fund?
Q&As: A big fan of property investing scares me with his lack of knowledge; I’m accused of hypocrisy and bias; In praise of boring old index funds and learning about them. Plus: KiwiSaver: Will the kick-start be around for a while? What happens when an employee gets a lump sum? A clarification about access to the money in bankruptcy.
Q&As: Have you got what it takes to borrow to invest in a share fund?; How frequent traders in international shares will be taxed under the new rules; How Inland Revenue might catch property traders.
Property backers underplay risk. Property backers seem to go in for hyperbole. Two examples from readers’ letters: “Shares are not and have never been as lucrative as property…. We now know why the richest people in the world and in NZ are property investors.”; “The average person can quietly work themselves into a residential property portfolio worth several million dollars with a decade or two of judicious acquisitions…. People putting a portion of their income aside to buy into share funds are left in the dust.”
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?
Readers rally to back houses. It always happens. Whenever I write about investing in houses and shares in the same column, people say I’m unfairly negative about houses. In my final column last year, I wrote that the rise in house prices over the previous year was slower than the rise in: New Zealand shares, hedged overseas shares and unhedged overseas shares, all including dividends. That surprised me, and I thought it might surprise you.
Can you get rich quick?: Only by taking big risks. Also in this issue: From the Mailbox — Spending in retirement.
Q&As: Woman in Australian shouldn’t sell her house here; Is the house price boom like the great tulip bulb bubble?; Couple disagree over rental property v shares.