NZ Herald 3 February 2007
Q&As: Unlucky reader challenges the value of index funds; Questions galore on the $50,000 threshold in the new international share tax regime; How to get historical foreign exchange data for calculating that threshold.
Q&As: Unlucky reader challenges the value of index funds; Questions galore on the $50,000 threshold in the new international share tax regime; How to get historical foreign exchange data for calculating that threshold.
Q&As: Are index funds, which I recommend, inferior share fund investments, as Herald columnist Brian Gaynor claims?; A small New Zealand town has it all, a resident claims!
Q&As: Options for a newly retired couple with $200,000 and no home include part-time work, buying a home with a flat attached, an interest-only mortgage and equity release; Two Q&As on which investments are affected by the new tax law on international shares, and how it will work for investors.
Q&As: Should man, 64, get student loan for the income, given that he probably won’t ever repay it?; Passing shares down the generations has good and bad points; Why did GPG get an exemption from the new international share tax rules?; Woman makes great progress in one short year; New charity aims to help children help themselves.
Q&As: Should we get bigger tax deductions for donations to charity? Also — give Christmas gifts to those who really need them; Readers disagree over the price of a 1950s pie; Buying shares company by company, over the years, not the best strategy; Is the new proposed tax on international shares fair?
An exceptionally unlucky reader. International index funds, a favourite long-term investment of mine, don’t look good to one reader. “I bought about $2000 worth of WiNZ in 2000,” he writes. “They are now 27 per cent lower (have been for quite a while). Fortunately for me it was not a huge amount. “Twenty years is a long time to wait for the fund to claw its way back up. Hopefully all the investors in index funds can wait that long!”
Q&As: A reader finds a flaw in my “avoid the rear-view mirror” argument. Or does he?; Would NZ’s tax revenue actually increase if we all invested offshore?; Inland Revenue says it can’t fix everything at once.
Q&As: Is there an 18-year cycle for industrial and resource shares?; Why index fund of Aussie shares has done much worse than its index; Limited submissions on tax changes not good enough; NZ shares, already favoured, shouldn’t get still more favourable tax treatment.
Q&As: Why I won’t do research on an Aussie resource index fund; Too little time to study the new tax plans for international share investments.
Q&As: What you should check out before you buy a house. And who should do the inspection; Some possible progress on the proposed changes to international investments tax; Who’s right and wrong in the maths on the new coins; Financial adviser explains how “Jane”, with her $1 million in term deposits, could save on fees.