Ways to invest

Kelly is a 45-year old mum of two. She‘s recently inherited some money from her aunt and is looking to invest it for her retirement. She already has two investment properties and knows that it’s not wise to put all her money in one investment type. After looking at the ways to invest on the FMA website, she thinks managed or exchange traded funds may be right for her. She’ll be reading up on her options before making any decisions though.

Alex is 35, single and earning good money as an accountant. In his twenties, he travelled a lot so he hasn’t really started saving yet. Alex was attracted to the high returns he was hearing about with cryptocurrencies but learnt on the FMA website that there are lots of risks with unregulated investments. He’s chosen instead to invest on a regular basis in an aggressive managed fund offered by a well-known financial services company.

Fi and Tom are in their 40s and have two kids under 10. They are both professionals with good incomes. Having seen the rising cost of property, they are keen to put money aside now to help their children with a house deposit when they need it. They have a bank savings account but worry their money just isn’t keeping up with inflation. Fi and Tom want to explore other investment options but they don’t have the time. After looking on the FMA’s website, they found a financial adviser that helped them. They now feel more confident they’ll reach their savings goal.

John’s business partner is looking to retire in the next ten years. John wants to buy his partner’s share and already saved a small lump-sum to invest towards it. He can also afford to put a bit aside on a regular basis. John jumped on the FMA website to learn the basics of investing and to find an investment adviser.  John’s adviser helped him work out how much money he may need and recommended an investment with a mix of shares, property, fixed interest and cash. The plan is to lower the exposure to shares and property as the time gets closer for John to buy-out his partner.

Emily has been saving a small amount each month into a low interest bank account, to send her daughter, Sophia, to university. She’d ideally like to see the money growing faster but worries about the risks involved in investing in shares. Emily looked at the many tools on the FMA website and realised that it wasn’t as complicated as she first thought. In fact, she already knew a lot about it through her KiwiSaver. She decided that a balanced managed fund was the right thing for her and has started drip-feeding in $100 a month. Emily’s confident she’s doing the right thing for her and Sophia’s education.