When thinking about the challenges of managing one’s finances, I am reminded of two statistics. According to author Malcolm Gladwell, it takes 10,000 hours of study to become an expert in any given field, and conventional wisdom tells us that it takes just 21 days of repeat behaviour to create a habit. I take solace from the 21 days it takes to create a habit—clearly you don’t have to be an expert to be financially successful, but you do need to adopt the right habits. In last month’s column I reflected on the habits of financially successful people by considering those in their 20s. In this column I will focus on the age group 30 to 45. A friend refers to this stage of her life as being, “the ·age of the unfinished sentence”. It is certainly a time when we are being pulled in every direction by competing pressures: family, careers, relationships, community and finances. I believe that the ‘three buckets’ principle, which I discussed in last month’s column, should be a consist...

After a strong run from markets, the end of the cycle is approaching. The New Zealand economy is now showing signs of slowing yet New Zealand shares continue to outperform. We look at the implications for investors in a rising interest rate environment with commentary on NZ Funds’ downside mitigation approach in our latest Investment Report.