please help! Wanting to invest around 10k for investing. Looking at Simplicity of Milford asset management? Please help me decide

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › please help! Wanting to invest around 10k for investing. Looking at Simplicity of Milford asset management? Please help me decide

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surfisup1000

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#2507946 19-Jun-2020 11:10

Linux:

Take it to the casino throw it all on red or black you may double your money or you may lose it all, Just like investing

This is the worst advice I've ever heard!

In my view, the biggest decision is whether to go for a passive or active fund. Research those, there is plenty of information on the web.

duckDecoy

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#2507949 19-Jun-2020 11:16

You could always put half in each if you want to hedge your bets?

Personally i have long term money in both those funds, but the last few years I have been moving much more towards index funds rather than managed funds. I have been reading over and over again that study after study after study has shown that very few managed funds beat the index over long periods of time after accounting for fees.

One fund that does do better than the market over time is run by Warren Buffett (Berkshire Hathaway), and his advice to future investors? Invest your money in index funds. His point is that while there are some superstars out there (such as himself) there's only a handful, so you probably wont encounter them so dont waste your money on fees.

BTW my Milford returns are no better than some other managed funds I have invested in.

duckDecoy

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#2507952 19-Jun-2020 11:18

timmmay:

How stable / reliable is Simplicity? We're in difficult financial times, put your money in the wrong place, Kiwisaver or otherwise, and it could disappear.

How would the money disappeaer if Simplicity or my Kiwisaver company went broke? Thats not how it works...

freitasm

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#2507953 19-Jun-2020 11:18

afe66: I'm a fan of index funds.

Been buying smartshare units for 15 years.

There are other options.

How long have simplicity been around?

Simplicity's been around for a few years now. I've switched my Kiwisaver to their platform during the beta period and have been happy with performance.

kotuku4

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#2507954 19-Jun-2020 11:20

If you go to the website,

https://simplicity.kiwi/contact-us/

You can also follow links to team members for email

https://simplicity.kiwi/about-us/our-team/

Sam Stubbs the Founder is frequently in the news commenting on Kiwisaver, banks, financial markets.

Bio; Was most recently the CEO Of Tower Investments, a KiwiSaver default provider. Before that he was Managing Director of Hanover Group, and spent 10 years working for Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong. He previously worked for Natwest Markets, Fay, Richwhite and IBM New Zealand.
He has been a Board Member of the Financial Services Council, and a member of the Government Taskforce on Financial Services.
Sam has an MA (Hons) from the University of Auckland.
Sam is the father of two children. He dreams of Simplicity and sailing around the world.

Launched September 2016, around 43,000 members to date.

BlinkyBill

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#2507965 19-Jun-2020 11:32

I'm not a financial advisor, but I offer the following comments.

Milford and Simplicity offer quite different approaches, cost structures, and target markets.

Milford are professional active managers of investments with a significant team of experts assessing individual stocks/bonds/deposits etc. They forecast and trade their funds to deliver the best possible returns to investors. Simplicity are (much) newer, have some professionals and also volunteers. Their mission is different to Milfords, and their low-cost structure means they tend to invest in other funds, rather than individual assets. Milford manage a lot more $ than Simplicity. My view is that Milford is better suited to those with some investment sophistication (making up a number, say >$100k) whereas Simplicity is targeted towards the less sophisticated (lets say <$100k) set-and-forget style of investor. Excuse the word 'sophisticated' but I couldn't come up with a better word!

In my opinion, if you are wanting to grow to a significant portfolio, a more active style may be more appropriate assuming the firm is good - and in my opinion Milford is as good as anyone. On the other hand, more modest portfolios may benefit from low-cost index tracking style of approach, and therefore Simplicity are probably as good as anyone.

One thing, though, is if you are not in Kiwisaver, you should consider investing in Kiwisaver (Milford OR Simplicity) and put in $100 per month/$1200 per annum, so as to attract the Govt contribution of $520. At $15,000 portfolio, that contribution is the best return on investment around.

The reality is that for $15k, either provider is fine, and you can switch at a later point if you want.

The other factors to consider are - when will you want to spend the money, and what are your future investment plans?

Whoever said financial planners are (mostly) all good, that is, in my experience, not correct. You should audition advisors as much as builders and doctors. I have personal experience of Milford advisors and can confirm they advise efficiently when it comes to investing with Milford. But I am cautious about obtaining impartial advice from those working for investment firms - and truely independent advice will cost fees.

I hope that helps.

BlinkyBill

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#2507966 19-Jun-2020 11:34

kotuku4:

If you go to the website,

https://simplicity.kiwi/contact-us/

You can also follow links to team members for email

https://simplicity.kiwi/about-us/our-team/

Sam Stubbs the Founder is frequently in the news commenting on Kiwisaver, banks, financial markets.

Bio; Was most recently the CEO Of Tower Investments, a KiwiSaver default provider. Before that he was Managing Director of Hanover Group, and spent 10 years working for Goldman Sachs in London and Hong Kong. He previously worked for Natwest Markets, Fay, Richwhite and IBM New Zealand.
He has been a Board Member of the Financial Services Council, and a member of the Government Taskforce on Financial Services.
Sam has an MA (Hons) from the University of Auckland.
Sam is the father of two children. He dreams of Simplicity and sailing around the world.

Launched September 2016, around 43,000 members to date.

Milford has Brian Gaynor, who is frequently commenting etc, and also has an extremely impressive pedigree.

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kotuku4

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#2509889 22-Jun-2020 16:37

Acknowledge; Milford has Brian Gaynor, who is frequently commenting etc, and also has an extremely impressive pedigree.

And if I had lots of money to invest I would consider spreading the risk with with Milford.

Very much apples and oranges in trying to compare Simplicity and Milford.

I tend towards Warren Buffets investment philosophy on Index Funds verse Active Fund Management. His 2007 experiment betting a simple index fund against many hedge fund managers is quite compelling.

Geektastic

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#2509904 22-Jun-2020 17:04

Depending on your time frames, putting it in Kiwisaver would be just as good unless you expect to need it before you are whatever age it is that becomes available. That is what I tend to do with spare money. We use Milford for that.

BlinkyBill

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#2509920 22-Jun-2020 17:54

There is no need to put huge gobs into KiwiSaver, you only need to put in enough to tick up to the Govt contribution annually. Plus putting earnings contributions in there automatically is a good idea. But if you lack the regular discipline to not dip into your investments, KiwiSaver is good at protecting the money for retirement/first home/emergencies.

I have money in growth funds at Milford, for example, one is KiwiSaver and the other a PIE fund - pretty much identical and identically managed as far as I can tell. But I can draw down on one any time I like.

Geektastic

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#2510074 22-Jun-2020 21:41

BlinkyBill:

There is no need to put huge gobs into KiwiSaver, you only need to put in enough to tick up to the Govt contribution annually. Plus putting earnings contributions in there automatically is a good idea. But if you lack the regular discipline to not dip into your investments, KiwiSaver is good at protecting the money for retirement/first home/emergencies.

I have money in growth funds at Milford, for example, one is KiwiSaver and the other a PIE fund - pretty much identical and identically managed as far as I can tell. But I can draw down on one any time I like.

As I said, it depends on your time frames - amongst other things. I tend to see KS as set and forget. One day I will get a letter telling me I have a reasonably useful sum of money available. Returns are good, fees are low and it is well protected against financial chicanery.

Given that we lack a proper private pension system here, it is worth making as much use of it as you can, I think.

mdav056

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#2510081 22-Jun-2020 21:51

I'd have a look at what people are saying on https://www.sharetrader.co.nz. No, I haven't looked.

gml

duckDecoy

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#2515369 30-Jun-2020 22:21

Redirected here from your other thread.

The fund you are interested is closed, but they have a similar one open to new investors: Global Equity Fund

Also, SmartShares are announcing some new global index funds that they are opening in about 2 weeks time. You can buy direct and their fees are really low, much lower than Milford's.

BlinkyBill

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#2515425 1-Jul-2020 04:57

duckDecoy:

....

Also, SmartShares are announcing some new global index funds that they are opening in about 2 weeks time. You can buy direct and their fees are really low, much lower than Milford's.

The reason for the fee disparity is because the Smartshares funds and the Milford funds are completely different in their approach to management. One, with higher fees, is actively managed and the other, with lower fees, is passively managed. Depending on your own strategy either one may be more appropriate.

It’s not a good idea to select an investment based in fees alone, it’s important to understand the investment strategy and approach of the fund. Some of Milfords’s funds are designed to out-perform an index, while some of Smartshare’s funds simply track the same index. The actively managed fund might achieve its goal, or it might not and is therefore riskier than the Smartshares equivalent which will, of course, always meet its goal.

Both types of fund have their place, and I invest in both types myself. My Milford funds have generally out-performed Smartshares, including consideration for fees, for the same fund types. Milford defended the downturn better than Smartshares, which simply tracked the indexes down, and up, and down, and up ...

don’t take investment advice from me.

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