Equities a winner for some punters - Mary Holm

Over and above our debt-free home, my partner and I are still young enough to carry equity risk, and we prefer equities.

So, if your correspondents think that property has just had a great year, all I know is that with one month left in this tax year our portfolio, consisting largely of diversified share investments in NZ and overseas (without any gearing), has delivered more than 30 per cent post-tax in this tax year.

Yes, our portfolio lost nearly 16 per cent in value last year, but that is the only year in the last eight that this has happened. The average return, with no borrowing risk, over the eight years exceeds 10 per cent per annum.

Using your rule of 72, I believe this implies that we have doubled our original capital in this time frame. I'm happy with that.

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