[Originally published in the Herald - August 2025] Is Your Investment Strategy 'Age Appropriate'? The younger we start, the faster a little bit of money can grow. To take a little and make it greater, we need to understand the double-edged sword of ‘risk’. ‘Riskier’ investments or strategies can give you the edge, to avoid
Risk: What does it really mean, and how much should you take? Risk in Everyday Life vs. Investing Think about the fun, non-financial things you enjoy—fishing, mountain biking, or even crossing the road. Each carries a chance of disaster: a shark attack, a crash, or a rogue bus. Yet, if the odds of total loss
With so many strategies available with property or even investing outside of property for that matter, it's often hard to know where to start. One effective approach is to understand what the future might look like and align your investment strategies accordingly. To begin, consider the broader economic and technological trends. Will governments and central
Twice a year, we go away as a family – in the summer we'll head up north of Auckland and in the winter, we're often heading south to the bubbling mud and thermal wonderland that is Rotorua. With kids you’re sort of forced to align your holidays with school holidays – Holiday parks and hotels,
Investing on autopilot works because of the way our money works. The constant creation of new currency through the act of bank lending and government shell games, creates more money than 'stuff' there is to buy. Over time this cause the price of things we own, and the cost of things we need, to rise.
It's not uncommon for me to have conversations with people, typically in their mid to late 40s, facing a rude awakening. While they were busy focusing on that next bonus to clear the credit card or pay for their mid-winter family Fiji escape, they spot something they never noticed before. It's about this time when
18th century French economist, Richard Cantillon observed that those closest to the money printer, benefited the most financially. Governments, banks, businesses, and asset owners like you and me, can take advantage of the Cantillon Effect too. How? We invest. Investing works, because the money’s broken. It doesn't sound 'right', and how can money be broken
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has seemingly been on a quest to 'bring down' the property market over recent years, in conjunction with our previous government. The Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA), higher taxes for property investors, increased interest rates, and stricter deposit requirements via Loan-to-Value Ratio (LVR) restrictions have all
We diversify our portfolio's to lower volatility. In the same way, we should diversify our thoughts to reduce risk. The world is changing fast. Technology, geopolitics, the environment, and society are all shifting. How can we adapt and thrive? How can we prepare for the risks and opportunities? We need to think differently, and we
Why people avoid money-talk We are complex organisms, and we like to think we have free will, but we are sometimes hamstrung by our biological processes. The brain can be divided into four interconnected areas: brainstem, diencephalon, limbic and cortex. The structural and functional complexity increases from the lower, simpler areas of the brainstem up
