Recent Articles

I was reading Dale Carnegie’s How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, a great companion to his more widely read How to Win Friends and Influence People. Here are a few quotes from the book that resonated with me. It’s amazing how, originally published in 1948, so much of what he wrote still rings true … Read more

This data is from the SPIVA New Zealand Scorecard. Produced by the S&P Dow Jones Indices, the SPIVA Scorecard compares actively managed funds to their indexed benchmarks. The data is overwhelming clear. For the average retail investor, you have a strong chance of not picking the lucky fund manager and even if you do, over … Read more

Hi Spencer It was great to work with you on our retirement / investment planning.  Your straightforward and friendly approach made the whole process interesting and fun – and not as daunting as I’m sure it could have been.  We look forward to receiving your recommended booklist and an updated version of the Statement of … Read more

Congratulations! You just won a multi-million dollar prize in the NZ Lotto. Now what? Step one: Do Nothing. Sign the ticket. Put it somewhere safe. Take a picture of it for your records. Contact the Lotto NZ Customer Service to claim your prize. Don’t tell anyone. Maybe your immediate family, but as soon as you … Read more

There is a cultural meme in New Zealand that you “made it” or succeeded when you buy a home. But so often Kiwis buy more house than they can afford. An excessive amount of their income now goes to servicing a property that might increase in value or might not. But every week, every fortnight, … Read more

Start with this free, 16 page PDF called If You Can: How Anyone Can Get Rich Slowly If you’re going to read only one book, make it The Simple Path to Wealth – J.L. Collins Absolute Beginners to money and Paying off Debt Investing Philosophy Advanced and after you become financially independent If you want … Read more

JL Collins, author of the Simple Path to Wealth, presents: A Guided Meditation for When the Stock Market is Dropping. Breath. In. Out. In. And out. Name the fear. Fear is the mindkiller. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration to my investments. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass … Read more

What if the market drops? What if I miss the rally? Relax. You don’t need to get this exactly right. Little, automatic, diversified investments, at a low-cost, in a simple portfolio will perform well over time. You don’t need to be the best investor or even a great investor. You just need to avoid being … Read more

The stock market, or share market, is a chaotic system. It is impossible to predict what will happen in the next day, month, quarter, year, or even decade based on prior data. Because the actors in the system Chaotic systems are deterministic, nonlinear dynamic systems that exhibit extreme sensitivity to initial conditions, making long-term prediction … Read more