Scheme offering range of KiwiSaver fund manager options

AUCKLAND: A new KiwiSaver scheme is offering members the ability to choose from up to 28 different funds managed by nine different fund managers.

The scheme will be the first time KiwiSaver investors can access more than one fund manager within one KiwiSaver scheme.

Up to now, investors have been limited to signing up to one KiwiSaver scheme which gave access to one fund manager.

But the InvestNow scheme uses a different approach, allowing investors to pick and mix from a range of funds, meaning investors who want can have their money managed by a range of bigname managers including Milford Asset Management, Mint and Harbour Asset Management, or put in a range of passive funds.

Anthony Edmonds, founder of InvestNow, said for the first time investors could choose from a range of investment options from multiple managers within one KiwiSaver scheme.

‘‘The broad choice breaks the traditional KiwiSaver mould, where providers often only have one manager’s funds available.’’

The fees charged will depend on which underlying funds the investor chooses, with the underlying fund fees ranging from 0.27% per annum for a cash fund up to 1.54%.

But the exact cost will depend on which funds the investor chooses and how much they invest in each fund.

InvestNow will not charge an administration fee on top of those underlying fund manager fees as it will be paid a distribution fee from out of the underlying fund manager fees.

InvestNow already operates an online investment platform which offers nonKiwiSaver managed funds and term deposits to investors.

It launched in March 2017 and has more than $600 million of investments.

InvestNow general manager Mike Heath said its goal was to give New Zealanders the ability to grow their wealth the way they saw fit.

InvestNow is owned by Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS), a Wellingtonbased business that manages more than $4.5 billion on behalf of New Zealand investors and was set up by Mr Edmonds in 2011.

IIS is 60% owned by Mr Edmonds and Emma Levy through Centric Investment Solutions — 15% owned by global investment company Russell Investment Group, 15% by Jonathan and Rebecca Eele and 10% by Andrew Brockway.

Mr Edmonds was previously head of sales and marketing at AMP Capital.

Ms Eele is the chief executive of Mint Asset Management and owns the majority of it with her husband Jonathan, while Mr Brockway is an investment and product manager at IIS. — The New Zealand Herald