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Investment Reference

Stable reference data for the advisory relationship. Read when needed, not every session.

Investment Platforms

  • Kernel — NZ-based PIE index funds (primary platform, ~69% of liquid). Rebalance freely.
  • InvestNow — NZ-based PIE platform (Foundation Series US 500, ~13% of liquid). Hold only — buy/sell spreads make trading expensive.
  • KiwiSaver (Kernel) — Jonathan ($563K) + Julia ($150K). Growth funds, locked until 65. Rebalance freely — no spreads, no tax events.
  • Fidelity — Being closed (shares transferred to IB, May 2026)
  • Interactive Brokers — All MSFT shares consolidated here (~310 shares, being sold down)
  • MSFT unvested RSUs — vesting over 5 years (contingent on employment)

Platform Rebalancing Rules

Platform Can rebalance? Cost to trade Guidance
Kernel ✅ Yes Free (PIE, no spread) Sell/buy units manually. Sells take ~24hrs to settle.
KiwiSaver ✅ Yes Free (no spread, no tax) Set target percentages in portfolio settings — Kernel rebalances automatically.
InvestNow ❌ No Buy/sell spread Hold only. Do not trade.
Interactive Brokers ✅ Sell only Brokerage fee Sell all → reinvest into Kernel

How Each Platform Works

Kernel (investments): Sell by entering number of units (not dollars). Buy by entering dollar amount (Kernel converts to units at current price). Sells settle in ~24 hours. Buys can only be placed once cash is available.

Kernel KiwiSaver: Set percentage allocation across funds (e.g., 25/40/35). Kernel gradually rebalances via new contributions and internal switches. No manual sell/buy needed — just change the percentages. Both Jonathan and Julia have separate accounts that need the same target set.

Kernel Funds — Hedged/Unhedged Variants

Policy: Always use unhedged. Hedging costs 1-2% pa which compounds massively over long horizons.

Fund Hedged option exists? Unhedged option exists? We hold
S&P 500 ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Unhedged
World ex-US ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Unhedged
Global Infrastructure ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Unhedged
Global 100 ✅ Yes ✅ Yes Unhedged
Global Property ✅ Yes ✅ Yes — (not held)
Global ESG ✅ Yes ✅ Yes — (not held)
Emerging Markets ❌ No ✅ (only option) Unhedged
S&P Global Dividend Aristocrats ❌ No ✅ (only option) Unhedged
Cash Plus ❌ No N/A (NZD fund) — (eliminated)

If adding new Kernel funds in future, always select the unhedged variant.

Key Risks to Monitor

  1. MSFT concentration — employment + unvested RSUs + ESPP pipeline. Mitigated by sell-on-vest.
  2. Mag 7 / Global 100 concentration — KiwiSaver was 64% Global 100 (48% in 6 stocks). Mitigated by rebalancing KiwiSaver.
  3. US equity concentration — combined US exposure across all platforms. Monitor holistically.
  4. Unvested RSU dependency — contingent on continued employment (quiet-quit carefully)
  5. Sequence-of-returns risk — less critical (already FI, 15-25yr horizon to big drawdowns)
  6. PIE tax in down years — pay 1.4% even when returns negative (accepted trade-off)
  7. InvestNow lock-in — $726K effectively untradeable due to buy/sell spreads. Accept as permanent US allocation.

Decision-Making Principles

  1. Data-driven — ground recommendations in actual numbers, not vibes
  2. Tax-efficient — PIE at 28% is the default; justify any departure
  3. Growth-oriented — optimise for 10-25 year compounding, accept volatility
  4. FIRE-aligned — every decision evaluated against the $15.2M total target
  5. Holistic — income, expenses, tax, and investments together
  6. Actionable — specific next steps, not general advice
  7. Challengeable — prior recommendations can be wrong; re-evaluate with new data

Scope of Advice

  • Investment allocation and rebalancing
  • FIRE progress tracking and projections
  • Tax strategy (FIF, PIE, capital gains, marginal rates)
  • Direct international vs managed fund trade-offs
  • Currency exposure management (NZD/USD)
  • Income optimisation and compensation planning
  • KiwiSaver strategy
  • Generational wealth planning
  • Estate and insurance considerations when relevant

Data Sources

  • Google Sheets (primary): Net Worth Spreadsheet
  • Key tabs: Net Worth, Investments, Annual Overview, FIRE
  • Updated monthly on the 15th
  • Always use the PREVIOUS month's row — the current month row is in-progress/incomplete
  • Export URL: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1b86kANqAC-ikfXC7_ydn0-X3zaeXROC4UIK2zdnZ_2c/export?format=xlsx
  • family.md — family details, dates of birth, key milestones
  • notes/YYYY-MM/inputs/ — raw data files (payslips, exports) archived after processing
  • notes/ — session notes, snapshots, and analysis (monthly subfolders)