Entries by Peter

Timing the market, or time in the market?

After a largely profitable decade, the last two years have been rather disappointing for some investors. The main reason for the market decline has been the impact of the sudden and rapid rise in interest rates, which affected the valuation of future company profits (on which professional investors often base their decisions). What does this […]

Family stock-picking competition

While moderating the Mary Holm event at the Central Hawkes Bay Readers & Writers book festival this year, the topic of educating children about investing came up.  A lady in the audience said that her family had embarked on a competition to see who would pick the best share portfolio. Each member of the family (parents and […]

The Euro: an unfinished project and why that is important now

This piece is much longer than our normal blogs. We hope that you find it of interest of course, however the somewhat technical language and length is makes this quite different to our normal publications. To many Kiwis, the Euro is simply the currency of Europe. Just as the New Zealand Dollar is the currency of […]

China Crisis?

For the past couple of years New Zealanders have experienced the first real bout of inflation in decades. From food to fuel to almost every service, prices have been going up markedly. The term commonly used is “a cost-of-living crisis”. In order to try and tame it, the Reserve Bank has been rapidly increasing interest […]

The multiple uses for Life insurance

“Research shows that Aotearoa is significantly underinsured, meaning many New Zealanders are likely to have inadequate protection. Globally, Aotearoa ranks 26th out of 56 OECD countries for insurance spend, at 3% of GDP, compared to the OECD average of 9.4%. [This puts the country between Chile and Columbia, in the league table] Inadequate protection means […]

What’s happening with the banks?

Recent international news about bank failures and near-failures might seem strange as here in Australasia the news had been more about the record profits for banks. There is a connection however: rising interest rates. Banks typically make more money when interest rates rise, as they charge more to mortgage customers but are less compelled to […]

The situation in China – a chance for active managers to earn their fee?

One of the endless debates in the world of investing, is whether active or passive is better. Active managers claim to be able to “beat the market”. That is that when the market (or their chosen benchmark) rises their fund will rise more, and when it falls their fund will fall less. Advocates of passive […]

The bear market ends, so was that it?

After more than a decade of near uninterrupted growth, investors were shaken from their complacency in January of this year by a sudden and sustained fall in the market. In hindsight (always the ideal but unavailable investment tool) the reasons were obvious. Inflation was proving persistent – where previously it was believed to be “transitory”. […]

Inflation – is it here to stay?

For those who remember the 1970s, the thought of inflation may well fill them with fear. Should we be worried now? A common definition of inflation is “too much money chasing too few goods”. If lots of people want to buy a house, then it may be sold by auction allowing for the price to […]

Property’s not looking so flash, so where should I put my cash?

For decades many Kiwis have relied on term deposits and residential property for their investment portfolios. The share market has been comparatively ignored. Personal finance expert, Mary Holm, attributes this to the damage caused by the stock market crash of 1987. That crash was certainly brutal, and more so here than anywhere else in the […]