Investment proving a hit with everyday people

$100 could become $60 overnight. And if they sell, a lot of them will now be watching the recovery.

‘‘You see all the chat, they all talk.

Noone is upset about it, [it’s a] slap on the wrist. ‘I made a silly mistake there’, or ‘I’m glad I managed to restrain myself from selling’. Noone ever regrets learning that lesson,’’ he said.

He wanted the ‘‘Sharesies effect’’ to be about bringing back share portfolios for regular people and pointed to the fact that Sharesies investors had put about $10 million into Auckland Airport’s recent capital raise as a sign that it was already helping New

Zealand’s capital markets.

‘‘People are talking about money. The Sharesies effect is that people are talking about it over the barbecue. You don’t look like a massive snob if you talk about investing because you’re probably a Sharesies investor.’’

The funds industry had been ‘‘largely pretty positive’’, particularly at the senior levels, probably because they knew that eventually it would mean more wealthy investors graduating to their services.

‘‘People are aware that this is going to be really good for capital markets in New Zealand, having a retail investor base again, and there’s no doubt some of our big clients will become very big, hopefully a lot of wealth will develop.

‘‘People still like personalised advice and some of the bigger established firms will do very well out of that.’’ — The New Zealand Herald