KiwiSaver insight

James Grigor

The NZ Funds KiwiSaver Scheme Growth Strategy was one of the top performing KiwiSaver funds in New Zealand in the first quarter of 2019¹.  The NZ Funds KiwiSaver Scheme LifeCycle 0-54 year old investment option was close behind.

Newly appointed Chief Investment Officer, James Grigor, says NZ Funds’ success was driven by the structural makeup of its KiwiSaver Scheme and NZ Funds’ partnership with a small number of world class investment managers. “On the advice of the global investment experts we partner with, we used the sell-off last year to add to a number of positions which have paid off handsomely in 2019.”

“In general, volatility benefits our clients because it gives us and the managers we work with more opportunity to add value on clients’ behalf.” Grigor says approximately two thirds of the NZ Funds KiwiSaver Scheme Growth Strategy is passively invested and one third is actively invested. “We are style agnostic; we believe there are strengths and weaknesses to both active and passive management, so we use both.”

Grigor says NZ Funds’ long-term approach to investment decision making means it will continue to be subject to periods of volatility, as occurred last year and in 2016. However, the long-term payoff is reflected in the NZ Funds KiwiSaver Scheme LifeCycle 0-54 year old investment option which has delivered top quartile returns – when compared with all KiwiSaver funds available – in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017².