Wise borrowing can make sense for risk-takers

So much for Aucklanders' image as the big spenders, risk-takers and debtors.

Sunday, September 25th 2005, 7:14AM

by The Landlord

Wellington and Christchurch dwellers are more inclined to put some of their savings into high-risk, high-return investments than Aucklanders, a recent survey shows.

What's more, they and all other New Zealanders are more likely than their northern compatriots to borrow to achieve their goals and not to pay off their credit cards fully each month.

Wellingtonians are also by far the most likely to buy things on credit sometimes and worry about paying later.

I'm not pointing the finger here. These are not all bad habits. Though it's silly to run up credit-card debt, because the interest rates are crippling, I applaud people with the courage to make well-researched higher-risk investments. And wise borrowing can also make lots of sense.

The survey, of 500 people, was conducted by the Bank of New Zealand.

Predictably, it found that younger, higher-income people and the self-employed are more likely to have riskier investments.

It's also not surprising that men like risk better than women do – though the difference, 25 per cent of men but 9 per cent of women in riskier investments, is surprisingly big.

And the numbers for both genders are disappointing. Apparently, three-quarters of men and nine out of 10 women won't put even a small portion of their savings at risk.

The big high-risk, high-return investments are investment properties, shares and share funds – though perhaps some survey respondents were thinking more of emus and options.

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