Written: 12 April 2022

Author: Jono O'Grady

3 min read

For some of us the hardest thing about investing can be starting. We often have good intentions but following through on them and beginning can sometimes be the hardest part. Investing can be a daunting topic. At Flint Wealth, we hear that all the time – some people feel they don’t know enough to start investing, and others simply don’t get around to it. But you might already be an investor and you might not even know it! If you have a KiwiSaver account, then you are already an investor. You’re investing in a managed fund. Investing doesn’t need to be daunting – investing is part of everyday life. It’s simply making informed decisions about where you place your money to generate a return.

Let’s take the KiwiSaver example and think through what this teaches us about investing:

The importance of a goal

Investing is future focused. It’s about using what we have today to build a brighter financial future tomorrow. Having a goal to work towards can help us with our investment decision making by encouraging us to think long term. Using KiwiSaver as an example can be a great reference point. The idea behind KiwiSaver is investing for your retirement (with allowances for first home buyers). The main goal is financial freedom in retirement. When we make a contribution to our KiwiSaver we can match our behaviour to the goal. If you’re starting out in your investment journey, then you can channel this goal setting mindset and think about why you want to invest and the goals that you may have.

The value of regular contributions

A great learning from KiwiSaver behaviour is reflecting on the value of regular contributions. For a lot of people, KiwiSaver investing is easy because you don’t have to think about it – it just happens from your wages or salary. Those regular contributions, however large or small they may seem, compound over time and contribute to your overall KiwiSaver balance. At Flint we think making regular contributions can be a great way to invest. That’s why we encourage people to set up automatic payments into their Flint accounts, if they are able to do so.

You’re already investing in a managed fund

If you are investing in KiwiSaver then you are already investing in a manged fund. This type of fund is where the underlying investments like shares and bonds, are managed by an investment manager. Most KiwiSaver providers offer much more than just KiwiSaver funds, and many of those funds are available on the Flint platform. If you’re already investing in a KiwiSaver managed fund, then think through what other funds might suit your investment portfolio. Managed funds can be a great way of achieving diversity in your investment strategy and offer the peace of mind that a professional fund manager is managing your money. Flint offers a wealth of insights on managed funds within the Flint platform – jump on and take a look if you want to deep dive into managed funds.

You can make informed investment decisions

As Kiwis we can sometimes default to whatever is easy, rather than making informed decisions about where we might place our money. If we take the KiwiSaver example again, a lot of Kiwis are in the default KiwiSaver investment scheme that their employer signed them up to. At Flint, we believe you have the power to be informed and make your own investment decisions and we’re here to assist you with that. We’d encourage you not to be an armchair investor. Seek to be informed about where you might like to further invest and make conscious decisions about where you invest – go for it!

Moving forward

If you have a KiwiSaver account, then you can have the confidence that you’re already an investor. We’d encourage you to think further about your overall investment strategy and where you place any surplus money. Dial into your current investing habits and think through what that means for your financial future. If you want to know more about investing in managed funds, then jump across to the Flint platform and start exploring.

References

https://www.ird.govt.nz/about-us/tax-statistics/kiwisaver/datasets

https://www.moneyhub.co.nz/managed-funds.html

IMPORTANT NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER:

All content shared is of a general nature, current to the time it was penned, and is not financial advice. Before making any investment decisions, please be sure you have completed full due diligence. This should include reading the product disclosure statement (PDS), considering fees and taxation, identifying your time horizons, and understanding the performance history and reputation of the investments you are considering.

Please note: When investing you are not guaranteed to make money (and on occasion you may lose some or all of the money you began with). Seek independent advice to establish if an investment is suitable for your financial situation and long-term wealth generation goals.