Course: How to Invest: Modern-Day Financial Decisions

How do I buy shares? There are two main ways that you can buy shares in a publicly traded company; a) directly from the company via either an initial public …

Let’s get started Thank you for joining this course created by Auckland University of Technology. In this course you will be immersed in the exciting world of investing, and will …

What is Asset Allocation? “On average, 90% of the variability of returns and 100% of the absolute level of returns is explained by asset allocation” Roger G. Ibbotson Asset allocation …

Welcome to Risk and Return We often use the phrase higher risk equals higher expected return. What this means is that if we take on an investment that is riskier, …

What are Stocks Stocks are a very important asset class for most individual investors as they are relatively cheap, don’t require large initial investments, and are freely accessible. Stocks are …

When we put money into a savings account, the bank agrees to pay us interest at a particular point in time and at a specific rate. For instance, we might …

What are Bonds Bonds are IOU’s that promise repayment of a fixed amount plus interest payments along the way. Bonds, for a variety of reasons, are less risky than stocks. …

Introduction to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFS) Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) were designed as a more accessible alternative to an index tracking mutual fund. Prior to the first ETF being developed …

Picking a fund As we noted earlier when discussing the types of funds available, there are funds investing in a wide range of different asset classes. The great thing about …

What are Mutual Funds? Mutual funds, also known as managed funds, are a professional managed pooled investment option. Mutual funds are run by mutual fund companies, also called fund families, …

Introduction to Cryptos The development of new financial technologies, known as Fintech has created among many things’ new investment opportunities for individual investors. The best known of these opportunities are …

What are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFT’s) Digital token created using blockchain. The technology is behind crypto’s. Grants ‘ownership’ of something such as: Art, Music, In-game items, and even videos Worth noting …

Green Bonds A recent innovation has been the rise of Green Bonds. Green bonds are set up by multinationals and organisations. The purpose is to advance environmental and climate focused …

Just like stocks we have two options for buying bonds. We can purchase a bond directly from the issuing company when they issue new bonds. Many new bond issues are …

Risks with Bonds What are the risks when investing in a bond? As noted previously, bonds are generally considered to be considerably less risky than stocks. Much of this is …