Q&As: Some active share funds will do better than passive index funds, but it’s impossible to predict which ones; Don’t go chasing high-performing KiwiSaver funds — here’s how to choose your provider; Another index fund available in New Zealand; Fee-charging advisers don’t gain from putting clients in higher risk investments than they should.
Q&As: Investing doesn’t have to be a part-time job. There’s still time for novel reading; KiwiSaver calculation — far from being wrong — is correct to the cent; How the lack of a tax credit for kids in KiwiSaver affects contributions to their accounts; There’s much more to financial advice than just investing.
Q&As: Should couple repay mortgage with redundancy money, or invest it in KiwiSaver or elsewhere?; Big KiwiSaver provider should know better about first-year tax credits; More information available about investment advisers — and are hourly or percentage fees better?; Less room for trouble if people make their own investments after seeking adviser’s recommendations.
Do KiwiSaver — but not to the max. At a recent KiwiSaver seminar I was surprised to find that many employee members were still contributing 4 per cent of their pay, rather than the 2 per cent permissible since April 1 this year. And an AMP survey confirms that is not unusual. “Few have reduced their contribution, though indicating in February they intended to,” says AMP.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.