All tagged Index Funds
In the first seven months of 2023, the combined balance of our investments increased monthly, helped by two factors: the share markets had risen, and we have invested a portion of every paycheque we make. But, it was not to last. As the year has rolled on, between August and October, and despite continuing to invest throughout that time, the total value of our investments dropped $25,000. Am I concerned about this recent drop? Not one bit. Give it time, and it will come right.
I’m not sure what’s going on at the moment, but I’m getting a higher-than-usual amount of emails from subscribers asking me my thoughts on newly released funds. Often, people will say they are looking at funds that buy a particular sector. There are endless iterations of how you can invest your hard-earned pūtea. They will often explain what they already invest in, so it’s usually not too hard for me to see that the new funds they are asking me about are about to have them veer off in quite a different investment direction or switch to something more or less the same. Once again, the options are endless. But the point I am about to attempt to make is not WHAT they are looking at; it is that they are looking to jump on any new opportunities offered.
This week, I’m aiming for this blog post to loosely follow my last one, where I talked about Index Funds and ETFs. Today, I will share my own experience, and to simplify things, I'm sharing information on one of our investments only, our Smartshares US 500 ETF. As an alternative to property, readers are trying to find the ‘perfect’ share market investment and will suggest an investment provider or fund as ‘the ONE’. My thoughts are that there is no perfect investment, housing or otherwise. It simply doesn’t exist, but I have concluded after investing myself for many years that there are several investments that are perfectly ‘good enough’.
Every Tuesday morning, a group of Kiwis takes part in Rebel Finance School. When I meet people and talk about money, a common regret is that no financial education was taught in school or at home. I think this course is your best shot at bringing yourself up to speed. The only sticking point is that while most of what they teach is internationally applicable, some elements are specific to their home country, England. As soon as we reached the investing component, the companies and products they discussed were incompatible with Aotearoa. Today, I want to explain the New Zealand equivalent of the two Vanguard Index Fund options they suggest as concisely as I can.
This week I thought I’d give you a quick update on our work situation this year. I have mentioned it in passing, but I think it is worth putting more detail around it so that you know a little more about how Jonny and I work, what we earn, and that our unusual situation could be an option for you too.
This week I’m answering a question that Paul has sent to me, and it is a question that I’ve been dwelling on myself. I’m going to do my best not to get too deep in the weeds with my answer. It might sound like a niche question (Which is better: TWF - Total World Fund or USF - US 500?), but the answer I give is, in my opinion, widely applicable to investors.
Over the last 22 weeks, Jonny and I have been doing a bit of life admin that relates to the Christchurch earthquakes. Remember them? We have been working our way through a top-up of our original insurance claim. Recently, this claim paid us out $68,082.50. It’s a significant sum of money which we were grateful to receive. Today I just wanted to share with you why we came to receive this money and what we will do with it.
How is my “Kernel S&P Kensho Moonshots Innovation Fund” performing? In a word. Poorly. It’s down 27% with no signs of stopping its slide. But I can’t complain; the fund manager themselves forewarned me. Now that I’ve invested in this specific fund for almost a year, I thought it an interesting exercise to see if the returns are living up to my high expectations. Hmmm, let’s just say, it’s not quite what I was hoping for.
This blog post results from a brief yet alarming conversation I had with a 15-year-old who has three years remaining at school before they planned to head off to university. In answer to my question, “how are you going to pay for it,” they quickly replied, “with student loans, because they are interest-free”. It was not my place to comment at the time (although in my head I was screaming to say something), but given I write a blog, I’ve created a space where I can give their response some thought. So, I will.
