Milford Asset Management – The Budget reinforces it is time…

The Budget reinforces it is time for another Superannuation Accord Published in Blog, Economy, KiwiSaver on 25 May 2012 The 2012 National Budget was disappointing as Savings and KiwiSaver, in particular, seem to be one of the first areas where the National Gov looks for cuts first when trying to balance the books.  The pattern [...]

Make the most of what you’ve got – Make it, save it, spend it!

Financial awareness is about truly understanding your financial affairs and what choices you have to improve these. Financial advice is the process of developing strategies to help you manage your financial affairs so you can build wealth, enjoy life and achieve financial security. Good advice can change your life. The old adage of ‘you don’t [...]

Be aware of the risks of property investment

Few could deny the fact that New Zealanders have a love affair with direct residential property investment. Whether or not direct property investment is the right move for you is a complicated question. Some of the factors you need to weigh up include: Your current level of debt and financial assets Whether you have the [...]

What are a Trustee’s Responsibilities?

According to the CCH book “The Trustees Handbook” the most important responsibility is knowing your duties through knowing the Trust Deed. In knowing the Trust Deed you must understand what your powers are and fully understand that the Trust is there for the BENEFIT of the BENEFICIARIES, NOT the Trustees. Five of the important set-up, [...]

Three Ways to Save Thousands on your Mortgage

This is a question not often asked, but easily answered.  The first choice to make is to make paying off the mortgage a priority, don’t just let the money go out on a regular basis and accept that it will take 25 years to pay it off. 1.  Pay an extra amount per month/fortnight – [...]

Investopedia: Term of the Day – Ponzi Scheme

What does it mean? A fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors. The Ponzi scheme generates returns for older investors by acquiring new investors. This scam actually yields the promised returns to earlier investors, as long as there are more new investors. These schemes usually collapse on themselves when [...]

Time is on your side: The power of compound interest

Taking advantage of the power of time and compound interest is one of the basic building blocks in developing an effective regular investment plan. Compound interest simply means re-investing all the interest you earn each month. In this way, you can earn interest on your interest, as well as on your capital. As a result, [...]

Be aware of the risks of property investment

Few could deny the fact that New Zealanders have a love affair with direct residential property investment. Whether or not direct property investment is the right move for you is a complicated question. Some of the factors you need to weigh up include: Your current level of debt and financial assets Whether you have the [...]

Economic Stimulus: Investopedia Term of the Day

For APRIL 13, 2012 Economic Stimulus What does it mean? Attempts by governments or government agencies to financially stimulate an economy. An economic stimulus is the use of monetary or fiscal policy changes to kick start a lagging or struggling economy. Governments can use tactics such as lowering interest rates, increasing government spending and quantitative [...]

Preparing your financial survival kit

Natural disasters are unpredictable and in many cases can be life changing for those caught up in them. The recent disasters around the world, including Christchurch, Japan and as of this morning Sumatra, have got many Kiwis talking about and actively putting their survival plans in place. Whilst the main emphasis should be placed on [...]

What is the difference between an Accountant and a Financial Adviser?

There are some fundamental differences between these two professions, one is backwards looking (accountant) and the other is forward looking (financial adviser). The financial adviser can help you get where you want to be financially in the FUTURE. A financial adviser will write you a plan with actions to enable you to meet your goals, [...]

Do I Need a Family Trust?

This is a question that we as advisers are often asked. Over the years Trusts have been widely used for a variety of reasons, from removing ownership for risk reduction, to ordering family inheritances for families to ensure fairness and safety, to just needing more control over finances with reference to a guide (a Trust [...]

How to be a millionaire by 65 – Stuff.co.nz

RICHARD MEADOWS Who wants to be a millionaire? An absurd question. Whiling away your golden years in comfort and style is much easier when you’re perched atop a million-dollar nest-egg. Unfortunately for many of us, our wealth creation strategy is limited to buying a weekly Lotto ticket and then praying for divine providence. So it [...]

Failed gold bullion dealer owes $3m – Stuff.co.nz

MATT NIPPERT A director whose gold bullion firm failed owing investors nearly $3 million is described by the company’s liquidator as a “pretty naive” businessman whose conduct raises serious questions. Grace Holdings NZ, trading as Bullion Buyer, ceased operations last month after informing investors all funds had been lost by a rogue trader and preacher [...]

Investopedia – Market Capitalization

The total dollar market value of all of a company’s outstanding shares. Market capitalization is calculated by multiplying a company’s shares outstanding by the current market price of one share. The investment community uses this figure to determine a company’s size, as opposed to sales or total asset figures. Frequently referred to as “market cap”. 

Change of Name – Henderson TR Pacific Trust

The following is only a notice for current clients with this investment: Henderson TR Pacific announced this week that the Company’s name has been changed to Henderson Asian Growth Trust plc. The change of name took effect on 1 March 2012. The new London Stock Exchange dealing code is ‘HAGT.LN, while the mnemonic on the [...]

Five Questions to ask a Financial Adviser

1. Disclosure Statement please? 2. What does your level of qualification mean? Is it to the Government required level? 3. This is my situation, do you think you can help me? 4. How do you charge? Are the different services charged differently?  i.e. fees, commission, mix of both? 5. Why do you think you are [...]

Media vs Reality

More often than not the media reporting on finance are prone to make “scary” statements, with little backing just so they have “news”, which of course means it needs to be something bad. One of these instances was noticed recently by a DecisionMakers adviser, Colin Austin…   I run two screens on my PC , check [...]

WHY?

I think one of the best pieces of advice I have received this year is to ask, WHY? If we want to make changes in our life, we can’t do it by doing what we always do, so the next step is to ask, WHY? Why am I doing this? Why have I always done [...]

Investopedia Term of the Day: LEVERAGE

What does it mean? 1. The use of various financial instruments or borrowed capital, such as margin, to increase the potential return of an investment. 2. The amount of debt used to finance a firm’s assets. A firm with significantly more debt than equity is considered to be highly leveraged. Leverage is most commonly used [...]