Budgeting
Planning & budgeting
Saving & investing
KiwiSaver
Tackling debt
Protecting wealth
Retirement
Home buying
Life events
Setting goals
Money tracking
Plan your spending with a budget
Getting advice
Studying
Get better with money
What pūtea beliefs do you have?
How to save your money
How to start investing
Find a financial adviser to help you invest
Your investment profile
Compound interest
Net worth
Types of investments
Term deposits
Bonds
Investment funds
Shares
Property investment
How KiwiSaver works and why it's worth joining
How to pick the right KiwiSaver fund
Make the most of KiwiSaver and grow your balance
How KiwiSaver can help you get into your first home
Applying for a KiwiSaver hardship withdrawal
How to use buy now pay later
What you really need to know before you use credit
How to get out of debt quickly
Credit reports
Know your rights
Pros and cons of debt consolidation
Credit cards
Car loans
Personal loans
Hire purchase
Student loans
Getting a fine
What happens if I start to struggle with moni?
How to protect yourself from fraud and being scammed
About insurance
Insurance types
Insuring ourselves
Wills
Enduring powers of attorney
Family trusts
Insuring our homes
Losing a partner
Redundancy
Serious diagnosis
How to cope with the aftermath of fraud
Separation
About NZ Super
This year's NZ Super rates
When you’re thinking of living in a retirement village
How to plan, save and invest for retirement
Manage your money in retirement
Find housing options in retirement
Planning & budgeting
Saving & investing
KiwiSaver
Tackling debt
How to use buy now pay later
What you really need to know before you use credit
How to get out of debt quickly
Credit reports
Know your rights
Pros and cons of debt consolidation
Credit cards
Car loans
Personal loans
Hire purchase
Student loans
Getting a fine
What happens if I start to struggle with moni?
View all
Protecting wealth
Retirement
Home buying
Resources
Videos
Podcasts
Just wondering
Help with the cost of living
In need of financial help
Booklets
Glossary
Blogs
View all
Reading time: 4 minutes
For professional investment advice, you need a financial adviser.
Advice on investments is widely available. Sharebrokers, commentators and other investors are more than happy to tell us where to invest and what to invest in – especially when they’re selling us something. But sometimes it’s hard to tell if we’re being told or sold!
Financial advisers can specialise in investment, KiwiSaver and planning. An adviser is a qualified expert who can:
A financial adviser will be qualified to advise you on specific things – they will tell you what they can and can’t advise you about. For example, an expert on life insurance can’t give you advice on KiwiSaver. Some will specialise in more than one area, which can be helpful.
It’s okay to work with different advisers for different things, such as an adviser for your mortgage, one for your investments, and another for your long-term planning.
Not just anyone can call themselves a financial adviser. They have to meet a certain standard of competence and treat you ethically. They need to put your interests first and:
It helps to shop around for the right financial adviser for you before you decide which one to work with. We recommend you talk to at least three. Look for the right fit. This includes the way they communicate, relate and understand your situation.
Anyone providing financial advice professionally needs to be licensed by the Financial Markets Authority. All financial advisers must either hold a licence themselves or work for someone else with one. They need to be registered as a financial adviser and tell you the name of the licence holder they work for.
Here's how to find a financial adviser who specialises in investment.
The FMA website has some some good tips to consider when choosing an adviser and more about knowing your investments.
Most financial advisers are paid by a company (like a KiwiSaver provider) to sell their products, which is common practice. Financial advisers are required to tell you about any commissions or bonuses they get. Feel free to ask.
When they are paid by a company to sell, the adviser has a conflict of interest. They might, for example, be more focused on selling and less on whether what they’re selling is right for you. When there is a conflict though, financial advisers are required to tell you up front and put your interests above theirs.
Financial advisers are accountable for their actions. If for some reason you have concerns about an adviser and how they treated you, you have the right to make a complaint.
Every financial adviser belongs to a dispute resolution scheme – a service that can look into whatever went wrong at no cost to you. The scheme makes sure you’re treated fairly.
If you feel an adviser is not behaving professionally or not putting your interests first, you can also complain directly to the FMA.
Guide
Instead of investing directly and doing it all ourselves, we can invest in a managed fund where our money is pooled with other investors’ money and spread across different kinds of investments. A fund manager chooses the investments, and each investor owns a portion of the total fund.
Managed funds can be a great way for beginners to wade into the waters of investing, as it doesn’t take much to get started. They also make it easier to manage risk by spreading our investments across a range of assets and products. KiwiSaver is a good example.
Read more
Guide
Savings accounts and term deposits with a bank, credit union or building society are convenient for saving.
Read more
Guide
Einstein called it the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. He was talking about compound interest, which supercharges our savings and investments. But it can also increase the cost of our debt. Either way, over the long run, we’re talking serious dosh!
The best compounding happens when any interest we earn gets reinvested and earns even more interest. It’s interest earning interest, and our money is working for us instead of us working for it!
Read more
Guide
To be successful with investing, it’s important to figure out what type of investor we are, which is sometimes called our “investor profile.”
Read more
Guide
Investing is the best way to grow wealth and get our money working for us – but how? There are many kinds of investments out there, each with its own level of risk and return. The higher the potential return, the higher the risk that we might not get all our money back.
Read more
Guide
At Sorted, we’re keen to see you getting ahead financially and growing your money for the long term. Now generally,…
Read more
Guide
When we buy a share, we're buying a small part of a company and a share in any profit the company makes. We can buy shares directly or own them through a managed fund like KiwiSaver.
Read more
Guide
When we buy a bond, we’re lending money to a government, council or company.
Read more
Guide
Investing is all about buying things that put money back into our pockets. Sound intimidating? It’s really not. Those of us who have a bank term deposit or are in KiwiSaver – we’re already investors!
We become investors when we put our money into things (assets) that can earn income or grow in value. The general aim is to earn a return that’s greater than any fees, taxes and inflation.
Read more
Guide
One of the best habits we can get into is “paying ourselves first” and making it automatic. The more we get into saving, the easier it is to achieve our goals and get ahead.
Read more
Use verification code from your authenticator app. How to use authenticator apps.
Code is invalid. Please try again
Don't have an account? Sign up
Or log in with our social media platforms
A Sorted account gives you a personal dashboard where you can save your tools, track your progress and you'll also receive helpful money tips and guidance straight to your inbox.
Or sign up with our social media platforms