NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Business / Personal Finance / KiwiSaver

Editorial: KiwiSavers need transparency to make right choices

NZ Herald
19 Sep, 2016 05:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Investors deserve transparency. Photo / File

Investors deserve transparency. Photo / File

Editorial

When Michael Cullen, then New Zealand's Finance Minister, announced the creation of KiwiSaver in 2005, it promised to change the way we save and invest our money.

It offered a partial solution to the problem of paying for the retirement of an ageing population and a way for Kiwis to diversify their property-heavy investments without needing to be stockmarket experts.

The scheme began on July 1, 2007. Helped with the juicy incentive of a $1000 kick-start, and automatic enrolment for new employees, it quickly amassed a large number of members. By last month, more than 2.6 million Kiwis had joined KiwiSaver - more than a million enrolled automatically.

A great success then, in terms of numbers. But how much do we really know about how and where our money is invested? Not enough, developments in the past two months suggest.

A Herald investigation found KiwiSaver providers had made $153m of investments in companies blacklisted for ethical reasons by the government-run NZ Superannuation Fund.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

They included armaments firms involved in making cluster bombs, landmines and nuclear weapons and firms making tobacco or guilty of human rights abuses. To their credit, providers have since acted to unwind most of these investments - but only after they came to light in media reports.

This week, thanks to another Herald report, we discover most KiwiSaver providers don't give customers the full dollar amount for fees charged to manage their money.

The ease of enrolling in the scheme - a strength in terms of gaining members - is also a weakness.

Many of those enrolled automatically are put into a provider's default, conservative scheme. If a young saver, for example, doesn't change their investment profile to one reflecting a long working life with the ability to ride out the ups and downs of a more growth-focused fund, they could miss out on tens of thousands of dollars in potential gains.

Part of the responsibility, of course, falls on the investor. But even if they do actively manage their fund, the choice in how KiwiSaver money is invested is usually limited to changing the mix of conservative, balanced and growth investments.

What isn't easily accessible is a full list of which companies and assets are being invested in.

Such a list would encourage Kiwi investors to take more interest in the performance and activities of the firms they're putting their money into.

Discover more

KiwiSaver

KiwiSaver providers dump $109m of dirt

12 Sep 11:35 PM
KiwiSaver

New KiwiSaver provider attracts thousands

13 Sep 11:14 PM
KiwiSaver

KiwiSavers in dark over full fee figures

18 Sep 06:50 AM
Opinion

What to do with $650k burning in pocket

16 Sep 10:49 PM

Yes, switched-on investors can find out these details but it's not enough to mention the investments in the fine print of a disclosure statement - they need to be prominently displayed and clearly understandable. We should be able to follow the companies we invest in the way we do our favourite sports teams.

This knowledge could spark the courage among ordinary Kiwis to consider forms of investment other than the family home - a good result for the individual and our capital markets.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Investors deserve transparency. We need to know where our money is invested and exactly how much it's costing us. As the controversy over weapons investments shows, there's more than just the comfort of our retirement at stake.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from KiwiSaver

Premium
Opinion

Mary Holm: The ways to make your cash last in retirement

04 Jul 05:00 PM
KiwiSaver

'It's security': Push for KiwiSaver access to aid young farmers

27 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Opinion

Mary Holm: Should I pay off my student loan or invest in an index fund?

13 Jun 05:00 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from KiwiSaver

Premium
Mary Holm: The ways to make your cash last in retirement

Mary Holm: The ways to make your cash last in retirement

04 Jul 05:00 PM

OPINION: Renting can be a better option than owning your own home.

'It's security': Push for KiwiSaver access to aid young farmers

'It's security': Push for KiwiSaver access to aid young farmers

27 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
Mary Holm: Should I pay off my student loan or invest in an index fund?

Mary Holm: Should I pay off my student loan or invest in an index fund?

13 Jun 05:00 PM
Premium
'Opening a can of worms': Govt considers allowing KiwiSaver withdrawals for farms

'Opening a can of worms': Govt considers allowing KiwiSaver withdrawals for farms

10 Jun 05:00 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP