Quote Originally Posted by Snoopy View Post
Hi DAF,

First my condolences for your loss, as I assume that being left that much it must be from a close relative. $600k is a substantial amount of money to deal with. I would have to ask the question do you really want to use it all for other purposes? If those 'other purposes' include paying off debts, including the house mortgage then I would say go for it. But $600k, or even $300k can be invested to provide a significant ongoing income, particularly if invested in the NZ sharemarket. If you are not comfortable with investing in the sharemarket yourself , you could get it professionally managed in a 'share market fund'.

Brokers tend to favour a higher allocation to bonds in a balanced investment portfolio as you get older. If you are a younger generation to the person that left you the money, I would suggest liquidating the bond portfolio first. Many people do not appreciate that you can lose substantial capital on listed bonds. With interest rates low they are barely any less risky than shares at the moment IMO.

SNOOPY
Thanks, Snoopy. While the loss is some time ago now, I am thankful every day for how my father provided for my brother and me.
The 'other purposes' do include managed funds. I was deliberately vague as I wanted to focus responses on the point about how to get advice on selling down rather than getting into a debate about the pros and cons of managed vs dyi investing!

My key question now about brokers is can I expect them to develop a strategy of what to sell and when or will they leave those decisions to me and just clip the ticket for transactions that I could conduct myself?