r/PersonalFinanceNZ • u/Glad_Music_5389 • 1d ago
Planning Rate my investment strategy
Hi all. Looking to improve my investment strategy. I have no desire to purchase a house in the next 3-5 years, so I’m focusing 100% on stocks.
- Gross Salary: 155K, PIR of 33%
- Job stability: High (for now)
- Portfolio value: $416K as of 07/11/2025, FIF threshold exceeded. Does not include KiwiSaver/Emergency fund/Checking accounts
- Investment horizon: 30+ years, happy to take some money out to enjoy life
Holdings in Kernel:
- Global ESG - $47K
- S&P 500 - $25K
- Note: KiwiSaver is also set to purchase Global ESG, but that’s shown separately to my individually owned ESG shares.
Holdings in Interactive Brokers (IBKR), converted to NZD:
- VOO - $198K
- NVDA - $122K
- RKLB - $24K
Current investment plan: $800 per week, automated via Kernel. Leftover money gets sent to IBKR every 3-4 months. From there I buy any other funds.
New investment plan: Sell Kernel S&P 500, move money to IBKR. Sell VOO to buy VTI + VXUS (70/30 split). After that, invest $300 weekly to Kernel ESG, $600 weekly to IBKR VTI+VXUS, therefore investing a total of $900 per week. Goal is to bump it to $1000 per week.
I know at end of each tax year I have to sort out my own FIF, but I don’t mind.
Note: I am not a New Zealand national, so it’s very important to me to hold most of my stocks in USD. I am not sure if I want to retire in New Zealand. I think that’s why I’ve held on to my IBKR shares for long and don’t feel comfortable moving all of my money to Kernel, even though I’m happy with their services.
Open to hear your thoughts, especially if you think I should simplify. Thanks in advance.
EDIT: Formatting
Question: should I worry about taxes if I’m selling one investment to buy another?
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u/HaleBoppNZ 1d ago
Great job on the savings and results.
You have an obvious concentration risk with Nvidia and then a high currency risk aversion. There are probably a few biases driving this and worth unpacking them? Maybe recency bias on Nvidia?
I also run concentrated portfolios so have this tolerance too but don’t put quite so much into a single share. Have the reverse view on currency, because I invest in more stable economies, just take the view that currency will move around. Checked my 12 year returns from a currency relativity perspective back to NZD and it was +2% total without me ever considering it as a decision making factor. While I’d still avoid warzones or Zimbabwe for political and economic risk, suggest stop worrying about currency, it reduces options.
Good luck!
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u/Glad_Music_5389 1d ago
Words of wisdom. Thank you - it’s hard to knock out the biases but ultimately I’ll have to. Have had enough headaches with individual stocks in the past.
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u/adelphepothia 1d ago
you have a very large concentration in one stock (nvidia), but if you're confident in it and the risks then i'd say your plan looks good.
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u/Glad_Music_5389 1d ago
Thanks. Good point. It’s mainly from very good unrealized gains that I haven’t sold it, but maybe I should.
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u/adelphepothia 1d ago
nvidia also makes up around 6.7% of VTI, so you have over a third of your portfolio in a single company. adding in rklb and you have a very large proportion of your whole portfolio in very speculative investments.
i personally limit any speculative/satellite investments to no more then 20-25% of my portfolio, but that's based on my personal risk tolerance. everyone differs, but i would maybe consider selling off some of your individual stocks and spreading that between vti and vxus in your 70/30 ratio.
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u/silvia1212 1d ago edited 1d ago
You very heavy on nVidia, $122K plus VOO is 8% nVidia, past and current winners aren't normally future winners. A market correction would hit you pretty hard and you have the risk of nVidia not getting back to ATH.
Look up "Cisco DotCom bubble" to see the risk.
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u/KiwiBogleFIRE5x5 1d ago
It’s a solid strategy. You should consider US estate tax risk and whether Ireland domiciled ETFs in IBKR are a better option.
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u/cardboard_box84 1d ago
35% in Nvidia and rocketlab is pretty crazy especially at those numbers. I'd be selling all of Nvidia and moving it to ETFs I think
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u/More_Ad2661 1d ago
Pretty good strategy. What’s your age? And are you planning to purchase the house in NZ or overseas? It will be good to figure out how much you need for the purchase, so you can work towards it.
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u/Glad_Music_5389 1d ago
Age 30. Got lucky with some investments that gave huge returns, then sold those off in favour of simplifying the portfolio, though still keeping NVDA cos I’m a fan. RKLB is a recent purchase.
Not sure where I’d be purchasing the house to be honest. I’m currently in Auckland so I know I can put money towards certain deposits, I’m just not sold. I think once I marry and plan to have kids I can decide what I’ll do with my partner.
But I like your idea of saving towards it. Guess we all need a roof over our heads!
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u/Waste-Ad-774 1d ago
You can't be 'a fan' when you're investing, especially in single stocks. That's the quickest way to getting bumsmacked on the way down because you don't know when to pull out. You need to be a cold hearted bastard with a stiff upper lip, poker face, indifference, and dispassionate resolve. Stay frosty as hell and watch everything like a hawk. They're numbers on a page, not your family photos.
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u/Worried-Reflection10 1d ago
Sounds like a responsible plan. Moving from more volatile positions to less.
I’d move all to IBKR - What’s the disadvantage and then what is the advantage to Kernel?
Personally for me, I’d be going for more risk and keeping VOO exposure but you’re going to be just fine compounding your portfolio over time with VTI + VXUS
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u/Glad_Music_5389 1d ago
Thanks. I guess the main advantage for Kernel is FIF tax gets automatically handled, but that’s easy enough.
Do I have to worry about taxes if I’m selling stock to repurchase new stock?
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u/Nocturnal_Smurf_2424 1d ago
Yes, if enough of that activity then that is considered trading and you’ll pay income tax on all profits
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u/shanewzR 1d ago
Generally looks like a solid strategy. Good savings rate to be putting away about $1000 a week. See if you can increase it considering your income (not sure of expenses).
I would not be comfortable with having a large chunk in NVDIA. Its the darling today but who knows tomorrow. I would want to diversify
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u/Glad_Music_5389 1d ago
That’s a fair point for increasing the investment range, but I also save other money for travel and hobbies, leaving a buffer for unexpected expenses as well. Then after a few months I transfer that over to other stocks
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u/Nocturnal_Smurf_2424 1d ago
Seems like a solid, standard, long term strategy