Kiwis Can Hold Diversified Growth Funds, From Multiple Managers, In A Single KiwiSaver Portfolio.

Innovative online savings platform InvestNow has knocked back claims that the current ‘single scheme’ KiwiSaver rule limits member choice.

Mike Heath, InvestNow General Manager, said recent media comments alleging the current law restricting KiwiSaver members to one scheme is ‘incredibly bad practice’ misses an important development in the sector.

“At InvestNow we’ve solved what some media commentators are calling a flaw in the design of KiwiSaver that restricts diversification by preventing members from joining more than one scheme,” Heath said. “By applying our existing platform technology, Kiwis don’t have to have all their KiwiSaver eggs in one basket - with us they can choose multiple managers at once.”

InvestNow empowers New Zealanders to generate and manage their own wealth through a platform that removes traditional barriers while giving members wider choice and flexibility.

Without the need of a middleman or adviser, InvestNow customers can self-manage investments, picking exactly what they want and need.

Currently, 80% of InvestNow KiwiSaver customers invest into one of the many diversified growth funds on the platform.

“Kiwis want growth diversified funds for their KiwiSaver portfolios, so we’ve taken it a step further by providing our customers with the ability to spread their investments across a range of diversified growth funds from multiple investment managers,” Heath said.

“We have just added the extremely popular Milford Active Growth Fund, the Fisher Funds Growth Fund and the Smartshares Growth Fund to our KiwiSaver scheme. These new funds join our existing growth diversified funds from Harbour Asset Management, Hunter Investment Management, Mint Asset Management and Pathfinder. Our customers can allocate their KiwiSaver contributions across any combination of these seven growth funds.”

As well, there is no extra cost for InvestNow customers to spread their investments across multiple managers and/or funds. “It’s simple maths,” he said. “For example, if a customer has invested equally in four funds for their KiwiSaver ie 25% each, and each one had a management fee of 1%, the total cost is still 1%.”

InvestNow KiwiSaver currently offers over 30 funds from 13 underlying investment managers including the three new growth funds from the high-profile NZ firms listed above.

“We have shown that being part of a single-scheme from InvestNow directly addresses the limitation cited by some KiwiSaver critics. Our customers can easily have more than one manager looking after their KiwiSaver nest egg,” Heath said. “Linking smart technology to member needs seems a better way of solving the KiwiSaver investment choice conundrum than loading unnecessary administrative costs and reporting complexity with a multi-scheme approach.”

For KiwiSaver members who do want greater investment freedom, it has also never been easier to make the switch between schemes, he said.

Technology coupled with regulatory intervention has significantly accelerated the speed and simplicity of switching KiwiSaver providers. A recent upgrade to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) system, for instance, has cut scheme transfer times dramatically while providers, including InvestNow, have simple, efficient member onboarding processes.

“But we’ve found there is still a misconception among many New Zealanders that switching KiwiSaver schemes is hard,” Heath said. “Since launching our scheme, one of the most common concerns we hear from prospective members is about the perceived difficulties of switching providers – and they’re often amazed when we show them how easy we’ve made it for them.”

For more information please visit the website www.investnow.co.nz 

InvestNow

InvestNow is 100% owned by Implemented Investment Solutions (www.iisolutions.co.nz), a Wellington-based investment industry specialist business. InvestNow is a Financial Service Provider (FSP534448).

InvestNow offers 1 unlisted property fund (PMG Funds), 108 unlisted PIEs, 33 listed variants (Smartshares ETFs) and 12 Australian Unit Trusts covering shares, fixed income, property and other assets in both NZ and global markets.

InvestNow provides investors, who know what they want to do, the ability to directly invest in a compelling range of funds from both NZ and Global fund managers - namely AMP Capital, Antipodes Global Investment Partners, ANZ Investments, APN Property Group, Castle Point, Clarity Funds Management, Devon Funds Management, Elevation Capital, Fisher Funds, Franklin Templeton, Harbour Asset Management, Hunter Investment Management, India Avenue Investment Management, Lighthouse Funds, Milford Asset Management, Mint Asset Management, Morphic Asset Management, Nikko Asset Management, Pathfinder, Pie Funds, Platinum Asset Management, PMG Funds, QuayStreet Asset Management, Russell Investments, Salt Funds Management, Smartshares and Vanguard.

Without the need for a middleman, and our no-advice direct investment service, InvestNow does not charge any administration or transaction fees. Investors can manage their portfolios, investing in PIE funds, Listed PIE Funds (Exchange Traded Funds – ETFS), unlisted Property Funds and Australian Unit Trusts, 24/7. The minimum investment, in a single fund is $50, if part of a regular investment plan, or $250 for one-off purchases.

In April 2018 the business took over the direct fund investment business of Rabobank NZ.

In October 2018 InvestNow added bank term deposits to it’s service and now offer term deposits from ANZ, Bank of China, BNZ, China Construction Bank, Heartland Bank and SBS Bank.

In September 2020 InvestNow launched the InvestNow KiwiSaver Scheme, providing Kiwis with the ability to build their own KiwiSaver portfolios from a range of fund managers and their funds, with no administration fee and/or the need to involve an adviser or middleman. Managers currently available in the InvestNow KiwiSaver Scheme are AMP Capital, Castle Point, Clarity Funds Management, Fisher Funds Management, Harbour Asset Management, Hunter Investment Management, Milford Asset Management, Mint Asset Management, Pathfinder, Russell Investments, Salt Funds Management and Smartshares.

InvestNow provides investment accounts for NZ Individuals, Joint Accounts, Family Trusts and NZ Companies.

As an additional layer of online security, we utilise two-factor-authentication for customers when logging in to their accounts. We will send the customer a unique Passcode as part of the login process, for which they can select e-mail or text messaging

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