New Zealand and your portfolio

[larrymiles]

okay lets get to know you....

Question->Do you consider your properties in NZ a major/important part of your investment portfolio? Do you think it will have a major impact on your quest for financial freedom?

Me? I think when I buy NZ property that it will become a major part of my investment assets cos it is easy to buy cap growth and cashflow pos property.

larry

[Marc]

Hi all,
My wife and I are keen on NZ for the bulk of our portfolio. At this stage we would rank NZ as being top of our list simply for the fact that we are Kiwi's and have relations all over NZ. We will not dismiss other countries including parts of Europe but we will look at those opps in a few years. Basically we would like NZ to provide us with enough income that I can stop working in IT!!!

Best Regards

Marc

[graemeh]

Basically we would like NZ to provide us with enough income that I can stop working in IT!!!

So who is going to do the IT work when we all get out?

Most people I know want to get out of IT.

[Marc]

Hi graemeh,

Maybe they will make software that works the first time and won't need loads of people anymore to try and work out why it doesn't work!

Best Regards

Marc

[donna]

Most people I know want to get out of IT.

Really! That's good because right now there's a glut of people left over from the late 90's when IT was good money and people working in IT weren't necessarily passionate about the industry.

I figure that if you're bright enough to work in IT you should also be bright enough to work out how to make a living from your real passion.

The great thing about the world I've been lucky enough to be born into is that there are enormous choices and opportunities (& responsibilities). I only have to read the morning paper to have reaffirmed how lucky I am.

Sarah

[inzvestor]

Opportunities

A presenter on a seminar I went to said 'There are millionaires that are not yet born'

This just shows that there are opportunites out there - it's how you get them and what you do with them that makes the difference.

[graemeh]

I figure that if you're bright enough to work in IT you should also be bright enough to work out how to make a living from your real passion.

Hi Sarah

Please don't take the following as a personal attack, it is not meant that way....


It always surprises me how many people think everyone working in IT is bright. IT is just like any other industry, there are a few bright people, lots of average people and a few dumb people ("dumber than a box of rocks" to quote a man adored by a lot of IT people)

I don't know about the current job market because I've been in a contract for the last couple of years but when I was trying to hire staff in a former life as a development manager I found most of the people on the market fell in to the "box of rocks" category, with a few good ones who I usually hired within a couple of days of interviewing.

I know a few people who have been looking for jobs for a while and it has taken them a while (months) to find a suitable job.

If anyone out there is in a "permanent" IT job you should consider taking mortgage insurance that pays your mortgage payments if you are made redundant. A friend of mine was lucky enough to take this out two weeks before he got the chop and now five months later he has just found a contract job.

[Marc]

Hello all,

Put it this way. I have a chainsaw - a bloody awesome one at that. As much as I can I drive up to our land and fell dead trees and chop them up for fire wood. I do this because my chain saw starts every time - its simple in design but very effective in what its designed to do.

In my experience within IT 5% or less software works as required and if you are very lucky it will work the first time.

I could teach anyone on this forum Java and J2EE. The interesting part is most IT professionals seem to want to use the latest and greatest technologies and concepts - some not even proven yet in production. IT is like the fashion industry a new thing comes in one year and then is out the next. (CORBA -> Web Services – same concepts different style and colour!)

Best Regards

Marc

P.s I would love to read your thoughts on Larrys post!! It is an interesting question !!

[RodC]

Your chainsaw's obviously better than mine!!

I work in telecommunications so I deal with at lot of IT people, I certainly agree with the most of the comments made, we meet all types from very good to ver average (just like any other industry).

As to the original question, I view my (small at the moment) NZ portfolio as a key in element in my quest, at the moment my plan is to use them to
provide cashflow to balance the overall investment mix.

Rod.

[donna]

keeping off topic a bit longer

"dumber than a box of rocks" to quote a man adored by a lot of IT people

I've worked with some like that but if you work in the IT industry you can easily forget that the dumbest guy is still quite bright. So, Graeme, no offense taken unless you were describing me

Maybe IQ isn't the measure. In a book I read (years ago) on NZ acheivers there is a story about an intellectually handicapped guy from Chch who is a really successful property investor. He had a passion, and a vision, and he acted on it. Maybe the passion and action are the keys.

[donna]

Re: New Zealand and your portfolio

Question->Do you consider your properties in NZ a major/important part of your investment portfolio?

Just dragging my geeky self away from the off topic stuff and back to Larry's post...

I think it's important to invest in something you understand & trust. With my geeky hat on I've been able to see the way some of the big companies are run and I haven't been impressed so I don't feel comfortable with shares.

With property in NZ, I feel comfortable. I understand the culture and can therefore predict the future.

Property in Queensland has been flogged long and hard in Auckland and I haven't been tempted because I haven't had the time to research the areas, understand the migration flows, feel comfortable with the economic drivers etc.

I was asked about Fiji. Same answer. Dolf de Roos spoke years ago about buying internationally and using site inspections as informal holidays.
Got me thinking about Mexico ... Bali ... Provence ... Same answer, if I understood the markets I might consider it.
If I had someone I could trust implicitly I might consider it.
Would I trust someone whose sole purpose is to sell me something? Probably not.
Would I trust a fellow investor with no vested interest in my decision? Perhaps.

And this is where forums like this and the local property investor associations come in. Not everyone is 100% squeaky clean but the combined weight of opinion gives you something to work from.

Sarah

[LeanneS]

To the original question, NZ is an important second string to my portfolio. As I am living in the UK and surrounded by UK property that is foremost on my mind but my NZ portfolio is my first step to diversification. I am all for multiple streams of income (has anyone read Robert Allen) and this is a good way to do that whilst still doing something I am interested in (ie not network marketing).

I guess as I don't intend to use the income I should be looking more at growth properties but they do seem riskier as they tend to be bigger and more expensive. Also I have the idea in the back of my mind that when I buy my dream home (not in NZ) which will probably be a huge block of land I can use my NZ income to pay it off.

To the second point - 90% or more of the full time property investors I know are ex-IT and there still seem to be plenty of people left to do the work. Mind you, in a perfect world, IT would need about 10% of the man-hours it does because it would not need constant support. It is supposed to make our lives easier, not to make a world where you need a computing degree to get a minimum wage job.

My 2 cents,
Leanne