Our latest FMA investor profile features Riki Manarangi of Te Arawa, Ngāti Raukawa, Kuki Airani (Cook Islands), Lonelyseat.co.nz and the NZ Shareholders’ Association.
Talk investing with Waikato entrepreneur Riki Manarangi and one word comes up often: innovation.
“I look for investments that are something new to be involved in,” he says, “quirky or different.”
“Life is too short to just do boring.”
Indeed, Riki Manarangi is something of an innovator himself.
He got into investing while a student in the early 2000s, using one of the first DIY trading websites.
“I’m always keen to try new opportunities and platforms and I thought this is quite fascinating, and an opportunity to move money out of a generic model, into something I thought was innovative.”
More recently he started Lonelyseat.co.nz, which connects motorists with people needing deliveries.
And it’s there that much of his efforts are currently focussed.
“You only get a limited amount of widgets to play with,” he laments.
He has KiwiSaver and owns property too, but right now is most excited by cryptocurrency.
“I find it a fascinating opportunity,” he says, “because it’s a worldwide phenomenon and there’s a lot more information about it, a lot more awareness, which creates more engagement and investing by others, and with that comes more opportunity to have informed discussions about it.”
He says mitigating risk means having a diverse portfolio, and “not putting all your eggs in one basket.”
Not that he’s averse to risk. In fact, he encourages more investors to take it, especially if they’re young.
“The biggest risk is not taking any,” he says, quoting Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. “That applies to people with term deposits earning less interest than inflation. It makes no sense but they’re so scared of risk that they’re losing money, which is a greater risk than investing!”
