Those who like to dabble in shares have had a dream run in recent years. Photo / Getty Images

Cooking the Books: Why a market downturn can be the best time to buy shares

Author: Frances Cook,
Publish Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2018, 3:08PM

Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking The Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to brace for a market downturn. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Those who like to dabble in shares have had a dream run in recent years.

Prices have gone up, dividends have been generous, and investors have happily raked in the returns.

But there's a chill wind starting to blow. There have been rumblings for the last couple of years that the good days are set to end, and market watchdogs are only getting more dire in their predictions.

The market regulator in France has warned that it's worried about a Wall Street crash, possibly as soon as this year.

Meanwhile market heavyweight Vanguard has told its investors to expect much lower returns over the next ten years.

While this all makes for a nice scary headline, it could actually be good news for some people.

If someone is investing in shares over the long term, and is ready to ride the rollercoaster, you could even call this a golden opportunity.

I called Mark Fowler, head of investments at Hobson Wealth, for the latest Cooking the Books podcast.

We talked about how investing strategies can change in a downturn, the risk of a trade war, and how this will hit the KiwiSavers.

For the interview, listen to the podcast.

If you have a question about this podcast, or an idea for the next one, come and talk to me about it.

I'm on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/

Twitter https://twitter.com/FrancesCook