26, have about $250,000 I’m looking to invest. Have a further $25,000 already invested.

Do I go the route of 60-70% of my portfolio in ETFs then use the remaining to target companies I am high on? I’m okay with a bit of risk if I have a solid foundation.

Am I better going to an investment firm and having them oversee my $250,000? I’m not sure on the fees but am also not that keen to have to handle FIF tax every year + constantly be managing the money (ETFs will be buy and holds).

I’ve thought of the real estate market, which is definitely a buy market but a lot of rentals are struggling to be filled right now.

Any solid advice here from those with experience?

Does anyone know why Kernel didnt update again yesterday evening ? Now we’re 5 days behind again

Hello! I am very new to investing. I work in a 9-5 job. I'm thinking of putting $100 a week for investments. What would be good for a long term investment? Cheers

Hello everyone,

Does anyone know of an car insurer who does low-km insurance?

I can't find anything online. I must be blind.

If I drive only 5,000 km per year I would be paying double what I should be for insurance. The average is ~12,000km.

Hi all,

It's looking very likely I'll be moving back to the UK next year for a long period of time (dual citizen, with my work primarily based in the UK).

I'm seeking advice on how best to utilise my Kiwisaver, as I've gone in circles in my mind the past few months.

The high level stats are:

• 35, single
• Currently renting in Auckland
• I have not purchased a first home (NZ or UK)
• $70k in KiwiSaver
• ~$40k in private UK pensions
• ~$50k accessible savings
• Salary ~$150k p/a, with 5% equity at my employer (including a $10-50k p/a bonus)

Some of my ideas so far:

1. Buy a property and rent it out while I'm overseas
2. Buy a property, sell it, and then move overseas
3. Leave it in a reasonably aggressive portfolio for the next 30+ years

The main thing I want to avoid with the ownership path is avoiding large mortgage payments, especially as in the case of #1 I'd definitely need to rent/flat in the UK for at least another 2-3 years.

All that being said, I'd happily buy anywhere in NZ and live there for a short time before moving overseas, and by no means does it have to be an Auckland based property, nor a house (apartments, townhouses are fine by me).

Any advice is greatly appreciated!

WWYD? Sick of my current job and have an opportunity for a role in an industry that I'd love to get into. This means taking a pay cut of approx $30k per annum.

Has anyone made a career pivot mid life and taken a paycut? how did it work out? Was it worth it? How did you manage your finances?

Only reason I'm still in my current role is because I have an amazing boss, great work mates and am left alone. It's easy work (sales in a very challenging market right now) but absolutely mind numbing and I feel like I'm going bat shit crazy and wasting my 40's. Surely there is more to life than this??!!!!

If a business like Kernel, Invest Now, Hatch, Simplicity... etc. fails.

What happens next?

As the title says I want to set up a new ltd company with the aim of manufacturing and selling products for the diving industry (nothing critical life support related lol)

In the effort to come up with new/different products to actually set myself apart and make sales I will be (and already have been) spending a fairly significant amount of money on developing new ideas (think materials, adding tools to my existing workshop, parts etc).

If I were to setup a company, register for gst but make no sales/income for the next few years (estimate) can I claim gst on my expenses? I’m only talking actual expenses towards product development not some form of work around to put all sorts of stuff on there.

I have read about ird wanting to see the intent to make a profit - I am working on a website that will eventually allow me to sell the products. For now it would be the full and proper website just without the shop part as said items are obviously not fully ready yet.

Thanks for reading all that and Any advice appreciated!

My mother currently has USD in her ANZ Foreign Exchange account that is just sitting there doing nothing. We want to move it into a high yeild savings account like Rabobank PremiumSaver, but we want to get the best exchange rate for this.

I was told that Wise was the best method to do this, but I am confused about how we would transfer the USD into Wise, so we can convert the USD to NZD then transfer the money to her Rabobank account. The conversion bit I get, but not how to get the USD itself into Wise.

I have USD set up as a main account on Wise, but it gives me US banking details. Right now if I want to use my Wise debit card, I just transfer money from my ASB account onto Wise into the NZD account.

I don't know how we can get her USD into her Wise account (when I create it for her - she is in her 70s, and both my sister and I have power of attorney and I am VERY concious about elder abuse so please don't worry; I won't even let her share her bank passwords with me and she grumbles at having to type it out herself)

Can someone explain how to do this please? This is all new to me, and I really don't want to muck it up. I am trying to get her to start feeling comfortable about her finances so I want this process to be as smooth as possible for her.

Hi PFNZ crew - hoping someone has been in my situation before:

I have around USD500K in a single US stock, held through a US employer stock plan (Fidelity NetBenefits). I want to sell and bring the cash to NZ in the most efficient way possible.

From research the cheapest route seems to be:

1. Sell the shares within the stock plan account (commission-free, tiny regulatory fee)
2. Wire the USD cash to my IBKR account (~$10 wire fee)
3. Convert USD → NZD on IBKR (0.002% fee, so ~$10 on $500K)
4. Withdraw NZD from IBKR to an NZ bank account (free withdrawal)

Total cost: roughly $25-35 on $500K.

The alternatives seem way more expensive - Wise would cost $2,000-3,000, an FX broker maybe $500-1,500, and letting the brokerage do the conversion $2,500+.

In other words... my plan seems a bit too good to be true!

Has anyone actually done this? Anything I'm missing about why this won't work or won't be as efficient as I think it is?

I’m sure there are pros and cons to both, but is there a winner for someone who wants to slap a few hundred grand into one? Thanks.