Hawes and Forsyth Barr launch 'Summer' KiwiSaver

[UPDATED] A financial adviser is taking a key role in Forsyth Barr scheme and says there is now a commercial incentive for other AFAs to get involved with KiwiSaver.

Monday, September 19th 2016, 11:00AM

Martin Hawes

Martin Hawes is chairman of the investment committee for Summer KiwiSaver. It is a relaunch of the existing Forsyth Barr KiwiSaver product, but Hawes said it was more than a rebrand and includes new technology to help make it easier for people to manage their own asset allocation decisions.

He said many advisers would soon realise there was more of a role for them to play with the superannuation savings scheme.

While it used to be that advisers would only earn pocket change if they were being paid as a percentage of FUM, he said balances were now growing to the point that there was a good opportunity..

"As an AFA, I've seen people with north of half a million dollars in their KiwiSaver accounts. It's unusual but there are people with big balances. There is starting to be a commercial incentive for advisers to wake up to KiwiSaver."

He said while people had been disengaged and not sought financial advice, they were now amassing enough money that they would start to look more seriously at what they were doing with it.

Hawes will lead communications with the scheme’s members. Forsyth Barr’s funds management team will handle day-to- day investment management. "One of the things we will try to do is make it advice-rich. We're going to be communicating with members a lot and we're hoping that's a selling point but I think it's a necessity," he said.

Hawes said his move into KiwiSaver was a natural extension of his mission to reach as many New Zealanders as possible with the message that the small decisions you make today can have a massive impact on your lifestyle in retirement. The scheme was named Summer in reference to Hawes’ 2006 retirement planning bestseller 20 Good Summers – and to acknowledge that retirement can be the best years of your life if your finances are well organised.

Summer KiwiSaver members will have the opportunity to learn about investing from Hawes’ regular communication with them. They’ll also have the chance to put that into action by deciding the weighting of their investment allocated to different investment classes.

“With Summer, you can get involved as much or as little as you choose. We offer the Investment Selection option for members who would rather let us make the decisions for them and keep them informed along the way. Those who like to be more involved can allocate their investment across different funds that invest in cash and domestic and global fixed interest and shares, depending on how they read the market at any given time.”

Hawes said he hoped the information members picked up as a result of their engagement with Summer would help them make other investment decisions. "That's one of my goals, that summer KiwiSaver members get good financial and investment education they can use in other things."

Tags: Forsyth Barr KiwiSaver