Quotemonster launches KiwiSaver research tool

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Quotemonster's owner, Quality Product Research, is teaming up with financial research company Morningstar to start offering advisers information on all the various KiwiSaver products now available.

Friday, August 16th 2024, 10:27AM 1 Comment

by Jenny Ruth

Kiwimonster will offer similar information on the different products in much the same way that Quotemonster provides advisers with information on life insurance and associated products, director Russell Hutchinson told a Quotemonster event in Lower Hutt earlier this week.

His company has decided to start offering the KiwiSaver service because KiwiSaver is now life insurance advisers' second most-offered service, Hutchinson said.

“Our whole business model is about supporting you, but you're the ones giving advice,” he said.

The new service will allow advisers to compare the different characteristics of each KiwiSaver offering as well as allowing them to create statements of service documents for their records so they can show why they recommended a particular product.

The company also wants advisers to provide feedback so that it can collate information on adviser preferences and their perceptions of the service offered to them by the KiwiSaver providers they deal with, Hutchinson said.

Advisers will be able to record things such as their client's risk tolerance, how much gains or losses the client would be comfortable with and they will be able to show how a client's existing KiwiSaver product compares with others.

Generate business development manager Paula Damen told advisers that KiwiSaver has grown to $108 billion in assets under management with 3.2 million people signed up and most of them are under the age of 45.

About 41% are in growth funds, 23% in balanced funds and 22% in conservative funds, but 324,689 haven't made an active choice of fund.

But Generate, one of the KiwiSaver providers, has seen more and more members making an active choice.

“We believe in advisers and we believe in advice and we believe every KiwiSaver member should get advice,” Damen said.

“More and more are moving into growth funds – if you're not advising them, someone else is,” she said.

Damen noted that Australia's superannuation scheme now has A$3.5 trillion in assets under management and that compulsory employer contributions have gone from 3% in 1992 to 11.5% now and that's due to go to 12% from July 1 next year.

“In NZ, we're seeing a lot more discussion about making 3% compulsory,” she said.

More KiwiSaver members are realising that “banks are not the place to save money,” and are moving their accounts to independent fund managers such as Generate, she said.

Putting clients into KiwiSaver can mean additional income for advisers – Generate pays an up front commission of $300 but it also pays a 0.25% trail commission.

Tags: Quotemonster

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