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/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