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What might a Trump Government mean for your investments?

“Trump considers the stock-market to be his measure of his job performance” This quote stuck with me from the Capital Group webinar on Friday last week.  The ‘sugar-rush’ of the markets since the US Election results were confirmed on Wednesday night New Zealand time reflects three things in particular: 1.    Delight of the markets that there is certainty about who the Government will be.  Many people were anticipating a long drawn out process of legal c...

Du Val shows us the importance of regulation and personal advice

There has been quite a bit of publicity about the Du Val group investment issues.  We have had discussions with prospective clients about Du Val and how and why we would not have recommended this investment to our clients as from our perspective there were clear signals from day one. One of our strongest adage's when deciding whether to even look at an investment is 'how are you going to make money out of the investment and 'how are you going to take money out of the inv...

Annual Fund Managers project

The diagram above shows all the things that we do behind the scenes in relation to investments for our clients.One of the unique things that we do is our annual Fund Manager Project.  We have been advised by a number of our fund managers that we are unusual for doing this project because a. This is usually only work done by research houses and b. We make a point of ‘actively engaging’ and giving back with constructive feedback for our fund managers, which is acknowledged and appreciated...

UPDATE - Sexy investment or Scam

You may recall that in January 2024, I wrote an article about an investment that a client made (deliberately choosing not to ask our advice as they knew we would say NO).Here is a link to that article https://www.moneyworks.co.nz/blog/post/113837/sexy-investment-or-an-investment-scam/.This is an update on what has happened in the last 10 months.Demands for more moneyThe client told FX Revenues that they had no more money and not to ask for any more.  The client had a bad fall just befo...

Dr Pippa's futuristic visions

One of our favourite speakers at the Portfolio Construction conferences that we attend at least annually and often twice a year is Dr Pippa Malmgren https://pippamalmgren.co.uk/index.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pippa_Malmgren.Previously a special assistance to President George W. Bush on economic policy, Dr Pippa has a wide network and always amazes us with her insights.  She specialises in working with technology and start ups, that give us a vision of where the w...

Quarterly Stock Intersections

The diagram above shows all the things that we do behind the scenes in relation to investments for our clients. The quarterly stock intersections process is an important part of our due diligence and we are only able to run this process because of our inhouse data crunching robot Millie.Each quarter, all of the fund managers that we recommend are required to provide us with a report stating all of the current holdings in the fund and their % allocation.  A number of fund managers are reluct...

Leading the Charge Against Modern Slavery: A Case Study on Nike

Written by AI (Test version of Google Notebook LM).In my ongoing mission to help you invest responsibly, I often talk about modern slavery and its presence in global supply chains.As we've discussed, this complex issue requires investors like us to be vigilant and proactive. In this post, I want to share a case study from Alphinity's latest report, which highlights how a major company, Nike, is taking a leadership role in addressing modern slavery risks.Nike: Setting the Standard for Ethical Sou...

Six future food trends and investment opportunities - Capital Group

The world's population is expected to reach nearly 10 billion by 2050 (8.178 billion now), and it is estimated that this will create a 56% food gap in calories produced versus those required.The changing climate (heat, rain, wind, drought), along with conflict are producing additional pressures on food supply. Our food systems account for up to 1/3 of greenhouse gas emissions, 80% of biodiversity loss and consumption of 70% of available freshwater according to UN estimates.The traditional method...

IRD 'cracking the whip' on platform share-traders

This blog article is based on two articles written by David Chaplin for Business Desk and also for Investment News (our Monday summary of all things investment in New Zealand).IRD have issued a draft 'interpretation' statement to remind online share-traders of their tax obligations.  As the IRD says 'Most people understand that share traders or dealers who buy shares for resale need to pay tax.  But it is not so well understood that people who make only occasional sales also have to pa...

Travel Insurance - Yes it really is a good idea

A recent survey of 3,000 New Zealanders planning on travelling overseas (or who have recently travelled) indicates that 33% have either never had travel insurance cover, or only take out cover sometimes.We very strongly recommend to our clients that you have cover in place, even if you are only going to Australia.  We also recommend that you contact your insurer, declare all of your existing conditions and pay the premium to cover them while you are travelling.If you think it is too expensi...

Diversity in Action - Pathfinder

You may have heard a whole lot of talk about DEI - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  In reality this usually translates into ensuring there are women on boards and in senior management (but not necessarily in ownership), or people of colour.We don't often see DEI in action with people who have different abilities.  That is why it was fascinating to see this post from Pathfinder, about their receptionist Gabrielle.  I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch it.When I asked for...

The Taylor Swift phenomenon

While Taylor Swift's music is not to our taste particularly, nor are we interested in her love life, she is a financial phenomenon.  Here is more information (again, thanks to Alphinity)."The 2024 tour, known as Eras, has sold more than $US1 billion worth of tickets; merch and music sales (even cassettes for goodness sake!) will probably add another billion on top of that. These numbers are extraordinary. The closest gross revenue to Eras is Elton John’s Farewell Yellow Bri...

The competitive EV market

While most people are aware of Tesla and the mercurial? Elon Musk, the EV that we drive most is the BYD fleet of Mevo, the transport that we use in Wellington.The Chinese BYD vehicles are lower in cost than Tesla, recently BYD surpassed Tesla's quarterly production both making close to half a million units.  (But Tesla's revenue is still higher than BYD).But what is interesting (as outlined to us by Alphinity), is the huge progress that Chinese EV producers are making, and the low prices th...

Artificial Intelligence in action

Klarna is a Swedish payments company set up in 2005 by three students. Using a mobile app, people can 'buy now pay later', with a popular 'pay in 3' instalment plan - where the first instalment is paid at the checkout. https://www.klarna.com/nz/Klarna makes money by charging a fee to businesses for using its services and has about 90 million users world wide.Alphinity shared the following information with us about how AI is working for Klarna - which quantifies the benefits:"What is the ret...

Giving back to our industry - RIAA Conference

In addition to working for our clients to manage their goals, objectives and financial arrangements, the team at Moneyworks do quite a bit of volunteer work.  This ranges from work in the community to work in our industry.  Following panel presentations at the 2022 and 2023 RIAA conference,  Carey is presenting at two sessions at the annual Responsible Investment Association of Australasia conference on September 19th, 2024....

A Golden Era of Health Care Innovation

This article is adapted from information provided by Capital Group.Capital considers that biopharma is in the midst of a 'third wave' of innovation.  Referring the picture above, the first two waves were:1.. Chemistry - simple compounds created in labs - that could address everyday sicknesses and illnesses.2. Biotech - moving from largely inorganic to organic chemistry - molecular biology.  this created therapies that are more effective and less toxic, due to their targeted effect on t...

Teeth, Eyes, Ears, Over the Counter Medication, Fitness

As we live longer, and the baby boomers have more wealth, people are shifting their focus to quality of life (particularly in richer economies).  McKinsey estimates that more than US$450 billion was spend on products and services that support nutrition, hygiene and fitness in the USA alone in 2022 (and that is growing by more than 5% annually).Thanks to Impax for the material for this blog post.There are three main categories:1.    Personal care solutions for teeth, eyes and ...

Investor Warning - online 'educational' courses - from FMA

The FMA (FInancial Markets Authority) has issued an investor warning about online 'educational' courses which promise to teach people how to make money trading in crypto, shares, foreign exchange or property.Some are fronts for scams, with victims thinking they're learning how to trade, but are manipulated into putting real money into fake trading platforms.Be extra cautious before sending money - you may even be shown fake returns but can't withdraw it without paying more. Even if you pay the e...

Winner- Best Ethical Financial Adviser 2024

Following on from our award in 2023, Moneyworks have again received the award as the Best Ethical Financial Adviser in 2024.  As Peter and Carey were in Finland, we were proud that Paul was able to represent us (including with a great thank you speech).The judges commented:The entry showed a depth of understanding of ethical and impact investing products. The judges recognised that Moneyworks is thorough and comprehensive in portfolio construction, with innovative use of technology. The foc...

Power Exercises - How to keep fit, strong and youthful

Ten years ago, when turning 50, I realised that it was important that I had strength, flexibility and good balance as I got older.  All things that vanish if you don't work on them.  In addition to my twice weekly strength training, I have added in a weekly yoga class, which on top of my walking and cycling have kept me strong.As I have now entered my next decade, keeping strong, flexible and having good balance is becoming more important.  I want to be able to lift things without...

Climate Change - Adaptation Investments

Climate Change – Adaptation investments(Thanks to Pengana WHEB for this source material)2023 was the warmest year on record by a large margin. And Munich RE (a reinsurance firm), estimates that natural disasters caused $250 billion in financial losses in 2023 alone and over 74,000 lives were lost.We keep hearing rhetoric about how we have to reduce emissions, but that very few of the large emitters actually want to put their hand up and change.This means that the world will keep getting hotter...

Why you need a will

Having a will is something that you do for the people that you love.If you don’t love anyone – then you can live without having a will.But if you do love people, having a will is a kindness for them.  The aim of your will is to express your wishes about what should happen to your body, your estate and any dependents after you die.In the movies and TV shows, the reading of a deceased persons will is regularly depicted as a big event – held in a lawyers office – with suspense and some...

What happens when a loved one dies

I am lucky.  I haven’t had to deal with the death of any of my immediate family members.  But I have recently been privileged to assist the family of one of my long term clients to manage the administration of her estate.It has been an eye opening experience for me about how administrative the process is, how time consuming and how much Anti Money Laundering protocols have to be provided (each time an asset has to be dealt with – KiwiSaver, house, dealing with the lawyer, all four ...

2024 Budget and implications for your financial planning

As promised in the 2023 Election Campaign, the coalition Government has delivered tax cuts.  These tax cuts will apply to everyone and it is IMPORTANT TO NOTE that these will also apply to your PIR (Prescribed Investor Rate) for your PIE (Portfolio Investment Entity) investments (eg in your portfolio and KiwiSaver, and if you have a PIE Cash or Term Deposit investment with your bank.  See the note below about what you will need to do if it affects you.The tax changes are as a result of...

What if things go wrong with someone’s will and it is challenged?

Apart from potentially creating a juicy story for the media, if a will isn’t prepared well, or if someone doesn’t have a will in place (dying intestate – see this article), the death of a person can cause a lot of angst and stress for loved ones.In the 6 years to start of 2024, there were nearly 16,000 applications for probate (if an estate is worth less than $15,000 it doesn’t require an application for probate), there were 352 disputes to the will that arose in either the Family Court ...