Market & Portfolio Update - January 2022
The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures show high inflation in major economies across the globe. They reached 7% in the US for 2021, the highest since 1982, they reached 5.9% in NZ, the highest since 1990, and they reached 5.4% in the UK, the highest since 1992. This high inflation is one reason for the central banks interest rate hikes, as higher rates help to counteract inflation.
The USA, UK, Australia, and Spain (among others) have all seen daily recorded covid cases peak and start to fall back in January. While we hope this brings us closer to the end of the pandemic as the virus runs its course, we are watchful as to what this will mean for NZ in the next few months.
You can read more on the current investment market with our recent article A Choppy Start To 2022.
Market & Portfolio Update - April 2022
Global share markets continued their choppy start to 2022 during April.For New Zealand based investors, a fall in the NZ dollar played an important role in helping offset the volatility global share markets experienced. The NZ dollar fell against most major currencies supporting the returns of unhedged overseas assets (assets that are free to move with exchange rates). As a result, ‘unhedged’ overseas investments fell by only 1.8% for NZ based investors.
The KiwiSaver Gender Divide – Why are women saving less and what can be done to combat this?
Recent data shows that, on average, women have 20% less in their KiwiSavers than men. The gap being at its largest between men and women in their 40s and 50s. There are a few factors that come into play causing this divide and although it will take years to achieve equality, there are ways in which we can be proactive to help close the gap. As of August 2021, the gender pay gap is at 9.1% in New Zealand, a decrease of about 0.4% from 2020’s stats.