At National Capital, our mission is to help 1 million Kiwis become financially secure. To achieve this, our first step is sorting out their KiwiSaver investments.
We offer a KiwiSaver HealthCheck that provides individually tailored recommendations. This service is free of charge so that high fees do not stand in the way of consumers accessing quality financial advice.
With that being said, a business cannot operate with no source of income. Since we do not charge fees to our clients, we accept payments from KiwiSaver providers to service the clients who join their KiwiSaver schemes.
Why do the KiwiSaver providers pay us?
Every KiwiSaver provider should have a duty of care to their clients, which includes giving their clients financial advice on KiwiSaver. But when was the last time your provider pro-actively checked in with you to ensure you have a KiwiSaver strategy that is suited to your goals? The providers we work with are paying us a ‘commission’ for the service of financial advice for their KiwiSaver customers. We think it should be called an advice-fee. The only difference is that instead of the client paying it, the provider is paying it on the behalf of the client.
In a sense, National Capital provides the ‘customer service’ part of their KiwiSaver product. We only work with providers who are willing to pay us as we are providing a valuable service which is mutually beneficial for all parties involved. We monitor the provider’s funds, keep in contact with clients and alter our recommendations based on evolving circumstances.
Commissions is a dirty word
When people think of commissions they think of pushy sales representatives who only sell the products that offer the highest commissions. At National Capital, we are paid by providers, but it’s not a sales commission to push clients to those providers. It’s a fee we get paid for crafting a personalised KiwiSaver Investment strategy and giving financial advice to our mutual clients.
Is the work we do worth getting paid for?
Investing is not a ‘one shoe fits all’ type of game. It's a little more complex than ‘young people invest in a growth fund’ and ‘older folk in a conservative one.’ There are many factors which go into selecting a KiwiSaver strategy. Investment horizon, volatility tolerance, volatility capacity and required returns are just a few on the long list of personal variables that should come into consideration. Due to a large number of providers, it can be challenging to select one that is in line with your ethical, fee and return preferences.
When forming tailored advice for clients, we take into consideration all these factors and recommend not only the best fund, but also the provider we feel is most suited to our clients needs. We work with 12 KiwiSaver schemes and have more than 100+ funds to choose from.
We have helped many clients craft a bespoke KiwiSaver strategy to get them closer to their retirement goals. Our service also includes guiding the clients through their investments and giving them a much better understanding of their own investment strategy and the path they are taking to retirement.
