Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!
This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.
It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:
- Something interesting that happened to you
- Something humourous that happened to you
- Something frustrating that happened to you
- A quick question
- A request for recommendations
- Pictures of your pet
- A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
- Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)
So how’s it going?
Anyone here financially savvy? I know there is a NZ finance sub on reddit, but hoping to avoid that.
I was listening to BHN today and thinking about the Simplicity Announcement where they’re going to invest in NZ infrastructure etc.
I have some investments (not much in Kernel and Simplicity outside of my Kiwisaver) and I was wondering if this is something I could help with? Except I’m not sure what the easiest way to invest in Kiwi stocks (not really a fan of Sharesies). I know that my money is probably better invested in a high growth fund as it is currently. But I’m appalled at the state of this country under this government and I’ve been thinking about what I can do to change things.
I do give to charity and I know this would be a drop in the bucket. But be the change you want to see right?
Any help, thoughts, spitballing greatly appreciated
You’ve mentioned that you have money in a non-Simplicity fund, is that not how you invest in their work?
Simplicity has other ventures like building and running long term rentals, intended to do good while also providing a return. That work is listed as housing investments under the Simplicity funds. I wqs assuming the infrastructure work would be set up as a company that is owned by the Simplicity fund?
Maybe someone else has more info. I’m not quite sure I grasped the question right though.
Nah, you’ve pretty much nailed the question. I guess I was trying to say that my funds in Simplicity will be doing as you mentioned, whatever they choose to do moving forward. However I believe that in their growth accounts, there is still a large exposure to overseas investment.
Kernel (similar to Simplicity, but as far as I know don’t give back like Simplicity does) also has a high exposure to overseas investment in their growth accounts.
I was thinking about moving the funds from kernel to a direct investment in some kind of NZ infrastructure company. It’s not much, and I know that the return is likely to be lower and it’s more risk having a narrow investment pool.
So I guess I was asking what the best way/optimum way to do that would be. I know I could just go on Sharesies and buy stock in Mercury, AirNZ or Spark. But that’s not my preferred option.
Thanks for your reply
As you probably know, buying shares doesn’t give the money to the company (unless they are diluting shares), you are buying from someone else who is selling their shares. So investing in shares only indirectly helps the company, as it helps the share price which shows value that they can borrow against. But I guess it’s still the best way to help.
Buying shares in individual companies does increase risk, and can also get expensive having to pay a fee each purchase.
There are benefits (and downsides) to increasing your NZ allocation. If you’d like to do it, I’d suggest having a look at Simplicity’s NZ fund. It invests a range of NZ companies, but you’ll notice most of the top holdings are of infrastructure companies. There’s a page on it here, but it’s surprisingly difficult to get the list of companies since it directs you to a page that doesn’t work on mobile.
The main ones are companies like Fisher and Paykel Healthcare, Auckland Airport, Infratil, Spark, and a bunch of power companies.
I think going for a diversified NZ fund in addition to your more rounded fund is a good way to increase your NZ allocation. It’s worth noting the 5 year average return is pretty trash (2.5% vs their growth fund at 9.8%).
Hey thanks for this. I wasn’t aware Simplicity had a NZ Share Fund. That might be what I’m looking for. I’ll dig a bit deeper into it.
I really appreciate your reply
All good 🙂
I’m churning through my Christmas shopping, I’m getting close to finished! One kid left plus a couple of wider family presents and I’ll be all done!
Oh, except for me. I’m thinking of getting a (refurbished) Pixel Fold 9 for myself. Anyone had experience with one? I haven’t had a folding phone before, the reason I’m looking at the Pixel is because it supports GrapheneOS which I currently use on my Pixel 7 Pro. I have heard the Pixel 9 Fold had a poor battery life, so getting a second hand one seems a bit risky. But I am not going to get a new Pixel Fold 10 and carry around a $3000 phone, I cannot be trusted 😅
I would love to use GrapheneOS but i cant bring myself to get another pixel after my pixel 5a failed hard one day, randomly, in the middle of Nepal.
Pixel burned me and it will be hard to trust them again.
I’m waiting to see what their new phone will be to decide if I get a pixel or not


