The dark side of the NZ investment world

Article written by InvestNow – 3rd May 2022

The NZ investment world, like the moon, has a permanent dark side.

And operating beyond the brightly lit licensed fund hemisphere, wholesale managers have long flourished in the regulatory shadows.

The NZ wholesale investment market, though, remains largely an unknown space even to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA), which claims loose governance powers over the territory.

But the regulator is at long last about to […]

Why the passive-active choice is not either-or

Article written by InvestNow – 3rd May 2022

Passive is the new black.

The index-based style has now taken hold in almost all market sectors, wowing investors with its low-cost look and promise of long-term competitive performance relative to its active peers.

Yet despite its apparent universal stage-appeal, passive investment is hardly a one-strategy-fits-all model; and active management has not gone out of fashion, regardless of what some critics say.

The index trend has […]

Manager Panel – Understand what you are investing in

Welcome to the April 2022 Manager Panel! Each month, where relevant, InvestNow will ask some of our fund managers some questions surrounding a topic. This month we asked Castle Point and Salt Funds Management some questions to help you understand them, their investing style and their funds better. Read the questions and their responses below.

Stephen Bennie, Co-Founder – Castle Point

Join the Club – Financial wellbeing for Women

Article written by Rebecca Thomas, Chief Executive Officer, Mint Asset Management – 4th March 2022

A report on Financial Wellbeing of Women, released in December 2021 by the Financial Services Council (FSC), revealed that perceived confidence, preparation and investment literacy among Women when it comes to their finances is low. Despite the fact that research shows that Women are engaged with budgeting, saving and investing. The key […]

This time in the market: why some things never change

Article written by InvestNow – 1st April 2022

“Time is what keeps everything from happening at once.” 

If the famous saying – often (wrongly) attributed to either of the default quote guys, Albert Einstein and Mark Twain – is right then the events of the last couple of years might suggest the world is running out of time. 

Everything is happening at once: global pandemic; […]

Mixed messages: why diversification still matters

Article written by InvestNow – 1st April 2022

Over the last couple of years retail investors across the world have herded into online share-trading platforms at an astonishing rate.

In a new report on sector, the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) notes: “Retail trading historically comprised, on average, roughly 10% of all U.S. equities trading volume (prior to the COVID-19 pandemic). That figure reportedly doubled to roughly 20% in 2020, and reached […]

Manager Panel – Market volatility

Welcome to the March 2022 Manager Panel! Each month, where relevant, InvestNow will ask some of our fund managers some questions surrounding a topic. This month we asked Milford, Smartshares, Harbour Asset Management and Fisher Funds, some questions in regards to current market volatility and future market predictions. Read their responses to the questions below.

Mark Riggall, Balanced Fund Portfolio Manager – Milford

Blow-in: why inflation is the new risk in town

Article written by InvestNow – 28th February 2022

Everything is up.

After a decade when monetary authorities were more concerned about deflation rather than out-of-control rising prices, official inflation gauges have risen to levels not seen since the 1980s.

In the US, for example, the most-cited annual inflation measure hit 7.5% this January compared to 1.7% just 12 months previously.

Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) data paints a similar picture here: the […]

Manager Panel

Welcome to the February 2022 Manager Panel! Each month, where relevant, InvestNow will ask some of our fund managers some questions about a topic. We’ve asked Mark Donnell (Lighthouse Funds) and Greg Smith (Devon Funds) for their views on what investors should do, if anything, in response to this inflationary period.

Mark Donnell – Lighthouse Funds

Q1: What, if anything, do you […]

Responsible Investing – not a fleeting fad

Article written by David Fyfe – Portfolio Manager, Mint New Zealand SRI Equity Fund, Mint Asset Management – 7th February 2022

When Mint began our journey on including ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) factors into our process many years ago, a common question was often “Why would you, surely you are just reducing your investible universe and hence lowering performance?” As with any change from tradition, some probing questions should be […]