Goodlife Financial Advice

I watched a documentary last night about how the diamond market ‘premium’ has been absolutely destroyed. Artificial flawless diamonds created in a ‘lab’ are being pumped out, not only for jewellery but for chip and computing components. Great for those buying an engagement ring, bad for De Beers…

This got me thinking about AGI (artificial general intelligence) and the abundance this will bring. The diamond example is just an example - not necessarily connected to AGI. My point is: If mankind can figure out a way to perfectly recreate in minutes what normally takes the earth billions of years to create, what will AGI do for any number of other cases? Remember that AGI is way smarter than you or I. WAY SMARTER.

As investors - NOW is the time to seriously ponder what AI or AGI will NOT be able to mass produce in abundance. What assets are either hard or impossible to make more of? Think on that….

Could AGI figure out how to make gold in a lab? Could AGI produce new and never thought of ways to source more gold? Gold again is just an example. Go down that rabbit hole with any company or asset class. Pretend you’re De Beers learning that China has factories full of machines that can turn carbon dust into flawless diamonds. How would you pivot your investment or business thesis?

Here’s the deal: AGI is now on us. You need to know that this will impact everything. It will create abundance and I don’t mean that in terms of wealth.

Invest accordingly…..

BREAKING: After falling -80% from its record high, Nike, $NKE, will be removed from the S&P 100 at the end of this month, ending a near 18-year run in the index.

The stock has now erased -$230 billion in market cap since its all time high.

A collapse for the history books.

You better believe that the current NZ Super is mathematically impossible to continue the way it is and you better believe it will change.

YOU need to plan for your retirement. Don’t rely on the government to look after your cost of living into your golden years.

Super at 68? Departing National MP calls for pension age to start rising in 2029 Outgoing National MP Andrew Bayly is using his final days in Parliament to urge all parties to start raising the superannuation age from next term, warning further delay will make the eventual fix more painful.

Global M2 money supply has reached a record $150 trillion after climbing another $10.7 trillion year-over-year, a 7.7% rise. This is the ninth consecutive year-over-year increase above 7%. What many described as a temporary COVID response has instead continued without end.

When a larger money supply chases the same amount of goods, prices tend to rise. Some of this liquidity will start moving into Gold, Bitcoin, and Property as a hedge.

Similar trends have appeared in other countries since 2020. Canada’s M2 just reached $2.83 trillion—seven times its level in 2000. Wages have not multiplied by seven, but grocery bills likely have.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I can’t stress this enough: Do not invest your long term wealth in to cash - invest instead into hard assets. Your cash is a melting ice-cube.

Get in touch 0508 GOODLIFE - [email protected] - www.GoodlifeAdvice.co.nz

Bubble talk is everywhere right now, yet the data tells a different story.

The S&P 500’s forward 12-month P/E (price to earnings ratio) currently sits near 20. That’s not expensive by recent standards. Over the past five years the median has been higher (around 21), and even against the 10-year median of roughly 19.9, today’s multiple is essentially right in line with fair value.

Why does this matter? A forward P/E in this range means investors are paying a reasonable price for the next year’s expected earnings—not the stretched multiples we typically see at true market tops. In classic bubble environments, valuations disconnect sharply from earnings power and trade well above historical norms for extended periods. We’re not seeing that here. Earnings estimates have continued to rise, keeping the multiple in check even as prices have advanced.

In short, the “everything is overvalued / this is 1999 all over again” narrative struggles when you look at what the market is actually pricing for forward earnings. Valuations at these levels have historically been more consistent with average or better longer-term returns than with imminent collapse.

The bears may keep shouting bubble, but the first of these two key ratios suggests the market is far from the extremes they’re describing.

By the way - this post isn’t a ‘plug’ for the S&P500 index - only about 10 companies in the 500 are propping it up (AI of course) - Invest active over passive.

What do you think—still a bubble, or just a market pricing in growth?

Get in touch 0508 GOODLIFE - [email protected] - www.GoodlifeAdvice.co.nz

Making that first $100,000 is the toughest financial milestone you’ll encounter. Once you clear it, reaching $1 million becomes far more manageable thanks to compounding. People often underestimate this dynamic, so here’s a straightforward illustration (based on a conservative 7% annual return).

Building from nothing to $100,000 depends almost completely on what you earn and how tightly you control spending. With little capital invested, compounding contributes almost nothing. Reaching that first $100K can require nearly eight years of disciplined budgeting, forgoing extras, and sticking with older vehicles.

After that $100,000 is invested and working for you, the pace accelerates sharply. Your capital begins generating its own returns. The stretch from $100,000 to $1 million moves much more quickly; the final jump from $900,000 to $1 million, for instance, takes only about 1.35 years—compared with the eight years it took to accumulate the original $100K. In roughly twelve months, the portfolio can essentially replicate the entire hard-won progress of those early years without any additional personal effort.

Becoming a millionaire is simply the mathematical outcome of making that early, difficult decision to save consistently and live below your means. Many people never accumulate meaningful wealth because they spend right up to (or beyond) their income, often relying on credit-card debt.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Get in touch 0508 GOODLIFE - [email protected] - www.GoodlifeAdvice.co.nz

Breaking: US M2 money supply jumped $102.8 billion in July, reaching a new all-time high of $23.22 trillion.

This extends the streak to 27 straight months of growth.

Year-to-date in 2026, the measure has already expanded by $862.7 billion.

It now sits $1.43 trillion higher than its previous peak in March 2022.

From 2000 onward, the money supply has increased at an average yearly pace of 6.3 percent—roughly $700 billion annually.

Overall, the pace of U.S. money creation is cranking - and that money needs to find a home!

We shall see….

ACT promises tax-free crypto gains after a year The ACT party wants to allow people to make tax-free profits from cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, as long as they hold onto it for more than a year.

Panel discussion on Financial Advice in NZ. Out of 180 in attendance at this conference, only 3 of us are Financial Advisers - all keen to bring the digital asset space into our clients’ wealth portfolios ( Kerr Ungaro) - I applaud the FMA for being front and centre here and for Carlyon for also spearheading this space for Kiwis. MASSIVE thank you to Trevor Topfer and his team at BlockchainNZ for facilitating us to move in the right direction. 🙏🙏🙏

Two people I know in the last week have been targeted by this scam. If you receive a phone call from the ‘police’ stating that copies of your identity have been found on an arrested person, and/or they also have usernames and passwords to your various logins, and/or they have crypto seed phrases and your name marked alongside it - Almost certainly this is a SCAM.

They will email you a case file number. Tell the ‘officer’ that you are hanging up and calling 105 to verify if this is legit. They will likely send an email from [email protected] - Note no .nz in the email address = SCAM!

The gentleman on the phone both times was a chap with an English accent.

Ask for a reference number and/or email from him. Immediately hang up. Dial 105 to verify! The REAL police are awesome and will help you!

This scam is so prevalent that it appears on the front page of the Police’s website front and centre!