The idea behind becoming Financial Independence (FI), or financial independence retire early (FIRE), has always been simplified down to this. Work out how much you need, or want to spend in a year. Then multiply that by 25 to get the size of the diversified investment portfolio you need. In theory, this will allow you to use the 4% “safe withdrawal rate” to draw down …
2020 has come to an end. And what a year it has been. March tested our risk tolerance with a historic drop in world share markets of around 25%. Early in March, I had a look at past viral outbreaks and their effects on the share markets. There was a suggestion going around that pandemics and epidemics effects on the market are fast-moving and often …
At the beginning of each year, a lot of people make resolutions. You might think it’s silly, but there is some basis for it. Even though it is just the start of another year, the New Year is a way to trick our brains. It’s an anchor in time. Anchoring is a cognitive bias where you depend too heavily on an initial habit or behaviour, …
I’ve recently had a few email questions regarding Smartshares and their unit price, so I thought I would try to answer them here so that you can also get your head around how the Smartshare funds work. Again, I am not an expert- I’ve tried to answer these questions both from what I know, doing research, and just reaching out to the providers themselves. Generally, …
Welcome to Passive Income NZ, my Journey to Financial Independence. Every month I share how I am tracking towards financial freedom by providing you with an update of where my portfolio is at and how far I am from financial freedom, and how my spending is tracking. My definition of financial freedom is not really the same as everyone definition. It’s not to stop working; …
InvestNow has been hinting about their move into offering a Kiwisaver scheme for some time now. And I was waiting to see what they were going to offer. The anticipation was that it would be similar to Superlifes scheme- where you can individually choose the allocation amount to different funds. But, InvestNow has the advantage of having funds from many different fund providers- whereas Superlife …
So let’s imagine its 12 am on a weekday. You’ve got work tomorrow and your still awake on the couch, staring bleary-eyed at the TV. Why? You don’t really know why. Well, it’s Inertia. Inertia simply makes it easier for you to stay sitting there and keep watching rather than getting up and go to bed. So, you keep watching. That’s the power of Inertia. …
Kiwisaver is Kiwisaver right- it’s simple. It doesn’t really matter which provider you are with right? Well that’s not really true. For the majority of Kiwis, KiwiSaver is going to be vital for our retirement! And getting your KiwiSaver right should be high on your agenda- as it will make a huge different for your retirement. And because Kiwisaver is so important to my retirement, …
If 2020 has taught me anything, it’s that life is uncertain. And because of this new perspective, I’ve started to questions some of my personal finance and life principles. Am I sacrificing too much today to stay the course for a brighter future? Should I be spending more today? Should I get a rental property? Am I working too much? And why has 2020 made …
The share market had one of it’s largest falls in a long time recently- and it has probably been a nervous time for many investors. When the market fell- I decided to do nothing and ride it out. And as I write this today my investments have bounced back up and past what they were pre-fall. All the volatility in the market has lead to …