Ethical KiwiSaver leaves others in its wake

The award-winning, boutique investment firm committed to building a better world has delivered returns of 11.39% per annum over the three-year period in its Growth fund, streaks ahead of the average of 5.01%. Its Balanced and Conservative funds returned two and two and a half times the New Zealand average, respectively.*

This stellar financial performance is a welcome piece of good news for Pathfinder investors considering the state of the financial markets recently.

And it’s a huge achievement for the Pathfinder team, who are justifiably proud of the results. “This has been a really challenging period for investing,” says Pathfinder co-founder & CIO Paul Brownsey. “Our industry has battled the far-reaching effects of the pandemic, historically low interest rates, the worst six- month period for bonds in history, high inflation and technical recessions in some major economies, just for starters. To eclipse 11% per annum for three years for our Growth fund, three percent ahead of our nearest competitor, is phenomenal in these conditions.”

There are a few key things that set Pathfinder – which launched its KiwiSaver product in 2019 – apart from others, Brownsey continues. “One is that we’re truly active managers, allowing us to modify the risks we take on behalf of our investors. We don’t feel constrained to match a benchmark like a passive manager. For instance we have, for a long time, not invested in long-dated bonds. This approach helped us avoid a big sell-off in those securities this year.