Good morning all

I have been lurking in the background of the forum for a few weeks now, trying to read as many "newbie" posts as possible to try and absorb as much information as I can. I read back about 5-6 pages of posts to get as much information as possible before posting. Everyone seems incredibly friendly on posts so thought I would take the plunge!

My current situation - 30yr F professional, my partner and I have a fairly decent household income with no dependents and fairly frugal. Recently sold my first home (that I had been renting out) and now have $100k+ sitting in a savings account however know that there are better places this could go. Growing up, my family were always OK with money but never ventured into shares etc. so my knowledge is starting from scratch. I am doing a bit of reading, working my way through:

Take charge of your money now - Stephen Parr (reading)
Martin Hawes' Investment Guide - Martin Hawes (waiting on from the library)
Global Investing: a guide for New Zealanders - John Ryder (waiting on from library)
Intelligent Investor - Benjamin Graham (waiting on from library)

As you can imagine, the big wide world of investing involves a lot of researching which is why we want to feel a bit more prepared before jumping straight in. We don't want to invest the full amount straight off the bat, but are wanting to invest a portion of it to get us started and build our confidence in this type of investing. We would also then be investing regularly from our pays.

We were going to sign up with ASB Securities however they are being difficult with their registration process (even though I have been a customer with them for 29yrs). Are they worth the time and effort or is there someone else out there? I have seen the name SuperLife floating around a bit.

Should we make time to see a Financial Adviser or just persist with our own research? Secondly, how do you even begin to research?

Any guidance or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated!


Thanks!