Forum Archive Index - October 1999

["Brian Brakenridge" <brianbrak@xtra.co.nz>]

Hi:

 

Couple of questions.

 

1. Does anyone out there have an account with a US discount broker? I think this topic has been discussed before but would like to hear some updates as to how satisfied people are with different brokers.

 

2. As I have mentioned in the past I'm not a big mutual fund fan, prefer index funds as a base of our investment portfolio topped up by long term buy and hold "value companies". Does anyone hold US based index funds such as Vanguard or Fidelity? If so how did you go about aquiring them as it seems almost impossible to do so from within NZ.

 

I enjoy reading comments on this board as I do discussions about specific companies. I would however like to hear more broad based  discussion about general investment philosophies / strategies / principles. I'm relatively new to the game and am trying to master the fundamentals. I love the Graham, Buffett, Lynch, Bogle, Motley Fool philosophies especially Buffett's famous quote "the best time to sell shares is never". 

 

To kick it off, what are peoples views on balancing equity portfolios vis a vis NZ / Aus / US / International?

 

Don't mean to bulldoze my way amongst existing discussion. The power of shared thought and experience and the potential to learn from boards like this is fantastic.

 

Look forward to some stimulating comment!

 

Cheers,

 

Brian