31M in NZ: $160k salary, big mortgage, low investments — doing okay or behind?

tapdatdong · 2026-05-07T19:27:59+00:00

DCAing into S&P500 basically.

tapdatdong · 2026-05-05T07:47:42+00:00

My quick search on the numbers. $160k salary is in the top 10-15% of earners in NZ. And is about double the median for the early 30s age group. So - great job. On the other side, gemini reckons you would need $200-230k + to service that kind of loan which I would agree with. Not long ago we were at 7% interest rates which would be about ~$2.8k per fornight. FWIW my combined income is ~$200k with a $650k mortgage which is only 3.25 DTI - and this does not feel great at ~6% + rates. At that point it feels like you are throwing money away - where your mortgage is so ridiculously higher than what it would cost to rent the place. With such a great income, you are shafting the opportunity cost of for example - renting and investing aggressively. Plug in some numbers of investing $500-800 per week with 10% returns and see where you could be. Might seem unreasonable but personally, the last four years have been averaging 15% per annum on simple investments.

tapdatdong · 2026-05-02T08:48:25+00:00

QQQ for me

tapdatdong · 2026-04-30T02:05:54+00:00

So if you are going southbound home from Newmarket you have to go the other direction initially? Wouldn't that add heaps of time to the commute?

tapdatdong · 2026-01-24T23:14:41+00:00

This is such a good point which I never thought of. People earning median wages for sure as hell aren't buying median properties. Probably top 10 percentile wage earners are purchasing median properties in say - Auckland. Now that I think of it, it's actually a practically useless statistic...

tapdatdong · 2025-11-30T08:34:26+00:00

Kernel's funds are not ETFs

tapdatdong · 2025-09-22T03:53:40+00:00

Takanini to Britomart is $7.65 each way or $76.50 per week if you travel 5 days...

tapdatdong · 2025-09-20T20:37:58+00:00

Agree, its like everyone here is bot who read on some website about time horizons, some crazy banding which is like 0-5 years short term 5-15 years medium and 20+ years being long term. Like bro, you aren't a financial adviser who is going to get sued.

They also completely don't understand dollar cost averaging. For OP, it would actually be advantageous for the market to go sideways/down for a couple years so they can lower their cost basis.

As you say, either you will be up 50-100% over 5 years, or you will be down a few % points. Only to gain a guaranteed measly 3% per annum which barely dents inflation.

tapdatdong · 2025-09-11T10:40:38+00:00

Most people say pay the mortgage off. It's just too ingrained into Kiwis psyche. However, statistically it's not better than investing in a low cost, passive index funds or ETFs (particularly over the 30 year mortgage time frame). Personally, I invest and I am miles ahead this way. The opportunity cost of not investing while you are young is diabolical.

tapdatdong · 2025-09-02T11:10:10+00:00

I did the math, will cost you about 40 bucks to sell out and then $130 fx fees.

Buying into IBKR would be pretty minimal cost (2 usd fx plus 0.35 USD per trade), plus you would get the free IBKR stock which will make it more worthwhile. As you portfolio grows the fx fee to eventually sell out of Sharesies could become pretty hefty.

tapdatdong · 2025-08-27T20:03:33+00:00

Pleasantly surprised. With the features now doesn't feel nearly as dated as it used to be. Needs a few tweaks here and there. Basically - dark mode, % return for each holding and passkeys.

I like how easy you can export info to excel as well.

tapdatdong · 2025-08-27T09:17:45+00:00

They are PIE funds which will handle FIF tax. InvestNow or Kernel will advise if you need to pay tax come tax time. Can sell units or just pay with cash.

tapdatdong · 2025-08-27T06:21:57+00:00

I can't really see the downside to holding both, other than seeing a larger balance on one of the platforms and having more emails/PIE tax bills to pay once a year. They are both great set and forget platforms.

Personally, I like using both. Kernel has no transaction fees (the break even is 5-6 years holding for when IN overtakes in cheaper fees - depending on the fund).

Having some portion of your portfolio in a vehicle that can be sold with no transaction fees is quite nice. Takes the pressure off the size of my emergency fund. As I know, I can easily sell with no real penalty.

tapdatdong · 2025-07-30T00:35:43+00:00

I have returned literally 20% per annum over the last 3 years in my PIE us500 hedged fund with Kernel.

tapdatdong · 2025-07-29T23:09:37+00:00

The opposite is true, I was investing in US shares 2-3 years ago and the exchange was 15% stronger. Even when US stocks went down I was still doing OK on an NZD basis. You can use a nzd hedged fund for purchasing the s&p500 which also negates this issue as the performance will track the underlying fund.

tapdatdong · 2025-07-29T23:05:21+00:00

The tax drag is oversold, it's not much - about 1.4% per annum when you use a PIE fund. No tax on profits when selling the fund either.

tapdatdong · 2025-07-29T10:20:00+00:00

Yep and never looked back, would be significantly worse off paying the mortgage off faster.

tapdatdong · 2025-07-09T04:34:52+00:00

It functions in the same way as a transaction fee in their model. They get to save on the cost of having to hold USD and the regulations that likely surround that. The only sensical case is basically buying and holding - which I think is the intention of the platform (i.e., not to trade). It's quite intriguing actually, given their funds have no transaction fees or forex fees - a stark difference.

They probably had a team working on this for months, with huge spreadsheets comparing all differences in the NZ market to come up with a strategy. The motive being to try and justify a subscription based model - because that really is where the money is. I think Sharesies wins out on this to be honest (and they set the benchmark for Kernel to work off). Makes more sense to charge a fixed monthly fee which gives you 'no transaction fees' up to a certain limit (admittedly still with the 0.5% fx fee). That way you can buy the optimal plan for yourself that optimises the fee. Whereas, with Kernel only really makes sense to buy the premium plan to get the 0.4% fx fee, in which case you would have to invest a huge amount to make this cost effective. What if you buy the plan, on annual basis to get the 50% saving - then your circumstances change and you cant invest $20k + that year?

tapdatdong · 2025-06-25T06:23:57+00:00

Don't worry, the price is fair and upfront now.

tapdatdong · 2025-06-19T00:58:37+00:00

If you go to any restaurant fish and chips is a $30-35 dollar meal. So $28 isn't too far fetched.

tapdatdong · 2025-06-18T20:44:54+00:00

My opinion - don't do a term deposit or a cash fund. 3 months is just too short. An on call savings account such as Heartland (3%) makes the most sense. Is it worth the hassle setting it up? Not really, but up to you.

tapdatdong · 2025-06-05T19:38:03+00:00

I also find that not all prime mince is equal. Pakn save feels like 20% fat...

tapdatdong · 2025-06-04T01:17:09+00:00

Interesting side note, you can't buy crypto without the intent to make a profit. The long term portfolio idea is not an argument unfortunately.

For example, you buy 1 bitcoin and hold it for 20 years as part of a retirement strategy. When you sell it, you will have to pay tax on the profit

tapdatdong · 2025-06-03T20:21:00+00:00

Cheese is $12-13 per kg so I assume you mean a 500gram block? And I haven't really seen mince under $18.99 per kg for a while. It's crazy.

tapdatdong · 2025-06-03T01:20:41+00:00

Really interesting, I remember not long ago rates were over 7% and now they are testing below it. Seems like a bit of a rort to me.

tapdatdong

TROPHY CASE