NZ Herald 29 July 2006
Q&As: Should we have a new 25c coin instead of a new 20c coin, and also a $5 coin?; Is tithing the way to go? One reader says yes, another no.
The Investor 18 July 2006
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?
The Investor 6 June 2006
Bigger and better houses distort numbers. Readers keep sending in thought-provoking letters about the shares v rental property debate. It’s central to the question of how to invest long-term savings, so it’s worth continuing to explore the issues. Today, excerpts from two letters: “Your reader who commented on comparisons between housing price indexes and share market indexes has overlooked many points. Sometimes very large amounts are spent on home improvements without being considered when calculating house price increases. “With new houses, a trend for larger houses and obviously the higher cost for more square feet will also distort the figures to indicate asset value growth where there is none.
The Investor 23 May 2006
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.”
The Investor 9 May 2006
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.”
The Investor 25 April 2006
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.
Holm Truths Autumn 2006
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?
NZ Herald 18 March 2006
Q&As: Man panicked and bailed out of share fund. No!; Real Estate Institute denies that it’s hard to buy a house in NZ.
NZ Herald 4 February 2006
Q&As: Man who has made $3 million from shares; How much risk for a 53-year-old?; How good is advice from banks?
NZ Herald 21 January 2006
Q&As: Shares v term deposits — it depends how much time you have; Short-of-cash millionaires should try to renegotiate their mortgage; When is a 2% penalty not 2%?