Investing from the bottom of the world.

Issue 15 argued most NZ portfolios are over-built - two funds, chosen for a reason you can state out loud, beats six funds quietly holding the same market on repeat. That's still true for the core of a portfolio. It was never meant to rule out the satellite.

NZ Super pays the same amount whether your KiwiSaver has ten thousand dollars in it or ten million. Nobody checks. And once you turn 65, nobody can force you to take a cent out of your KiwiSaver either. An Australian retiree gets that same freedom too, right up until their super moves into an account-based pension. After that, the law sets a rising minimum withdrawal every year, whether they want it or not.

A child with their own investment account and no other income can pay as little as 10.5% tax on it - lower than almost anyone reading this pays on their own money. Put the same money in a family trust instead, meaning to do the responsible thing, and it can get taxed at 39%.