Investor Stories: Tim Rodriguez

Opting to auto invest and chill, Tim is on a mission to grow his wealth in the laziest and most consistent way possible. Aiming to make his money work while he makes the most of his time.

After taking a few finance and economics papers in university, Tim quickly realized the value of compounding. Which ended with him doing a deep dive in YouTube where he became hooked on investing content.

However, he didn’t truly jump into the share markets until he was 21, during his last year of university, which also happened to be the year of COVID lockdown.

“I knew I was going to eventually start investing and everyone was talking about it during the time. So, I thought it was a great time to get amongst it.” He said.

Tim knew all about the benefits of index funds, but, he also wanted to try his hand at picking stocks. So, in the beginning, he opted to invest in index funds through SmartShares ETFs and a couple of individual companies in the NZX.

However, eventually, he sold his ETFs to scratch the itch and go heavily towards individual companies. How did he perform had he invested in index funds you may ask?

“I realised a little over a year after I did the math that I would’ve been much better off investing in index funds – much less time spent worrying too,” he says.

A lesson that he was incredibly happy to learn early on in his investing journey.

Tim’s main reason for investing is to fund a simple, easy-going lifestyle for the future. For him, this is being able to see his friends and family any time he wants, without worrying about how much travel costs.

Other short to medium term goals are not far off from your average mid twenty-year-old, wanting to go overseas for a few years and to eventually buy a house.

Tim started investing in Kernel funds a few months after he started working at Kernel (full disclosure).

After learning all about Kernel’s ethos, platform and funds, he was very quickly hooked. Top that off with an easy-to-use platform and great pricing, it’s a no-brainer.

He does say knows he’s biased but his decision was supported by other independent online reviews.

“With any big money decision, it pays off to read some reviews. After reading what Money King NZ, Money Hub and r/personalfinancenz had to say about Kernel it cemented my decision to move my investments,” he says.

He mentions that he was surprised by the ton of work that goes behind the scenes in running a fintech company.

“Index funds are a simple concept but there’s a ton of effort put into it that happens and it’s not just a computer doing the work.”

Knowing the ins and outs of Kernel, Tim knows how to get the most out of the platform in a way that matches his goals. Here’s how he uses the platform:

Tim opts for a simple ‘High Growth and Chill’ approach and has an auto invest going in every week. Knowing he has time on his side and has no high interest debt, he’s opted for a core-satellite approach.

A core-satellite investing strategy is where ~80-90% of your portfolio is invested in broadly diversified low-cost index funds – the “core”. The other ~10-20% is invested in “satellites” which can be more speculative investments, such as individual stocks, thematic funds and more.

In Tim’s case, his core fund is the High Growth Fund making up about 95% of his long-term investments, with the rest being a small satellite holding in S&P Global Clean Energy.

Being no stranger to volatility and knowing that he’s not in a huge rush to jump into the property market in the next 5 years, he’s kept it simple and decided to invest it all in the High Growth Fund.

However, he acknowledges that he may have to change that to a more conservative approach as he inches closer to being able to afford a home.

“I’m a huge sucker for pulling a few hundred dollars from my emergency savings for non-emergency related costs. So, once I moved a good chunk of my savings into the platform, I tend to use it only when I need to.”

So, when he was saving up for his holiday in Melbourne, he set up an auto invest into the Cash Plus Fund. The same goes for most of his emergency funds, where he opted to keep it in Smart Saver.

Being able to work at Kernel and having a passion in the personal finance space has meant that Tim’s learnt a lot of money lessons. Here are 5 of his favourites:

• Being a ‘boring’ index investor works and the numbers don’t lie

• You DON'T NEED to know every single detail about investing to get started. You can learn a lot by just dipping your toes in

• Learn to find reputable finance content you can trust

• Ignore the scary news headlines and stick to your own timelines

• The biggest return on investment is investing in yourself

Note:

The content shared in this blog reflects the author's personal experiences and should not be taken as financial advice. Individual circumstances vary, and readers should seek professional guidance before making any investment decisions.