Applying for an Investment Fund account only takes a few minutes online here.

You'll need to provide your IRD number and photo ID like a passport and driver's licence. Once we've completed our verification checks, we'll send you information about how to access your online account and make your first deposit.

We also accept applications for joint, children and trust accounts. There's more information about these in the relevant FAQs.

Once you've set up an Investment Fund, it is easy to add another one. You can hold up to ten Investment Funds (one of each) per member number.

There is no minimum initial investment amount and no limit on the value of subsequent deposits.

One-off deposits can be made at any time, or you can set up an automatic payment directly from your internet banking.

You can open an Investment Fund while you're living overseas provided you have valid ID, a current home address (it doesn’t need to be a NZ address) and an NZ bank account.

Please complete the application here you’ll need to provide your details and any overseas tax details (if you’re a tax resident of any other country).

To create a Simplicity Investment Fund account for your child please complete the application form here.

You'll need your child's birth certificate, the parent/guardians ID and all of your IRD numbers handy. You have the choice of adding one or two parents to the application to give them authority on the account.

If you’re already a member of Simplicity, you can use the same email address provided when you signed up. This allows you to view the accounts under one login or you can enter your childs own email address if they'd prefer to have online access to their Simplicity account.

Please be aware that withdrawals from a child's account can only be paid to a bank account in the child's name. They also take control of their account when they turn 18.

You can set up a joint Investment Fund by completing our application form here.

If each investor has a different PIR rate, the higher of the two rates will apply.

Withdrawals can be requested by either account holder.

After we've processed your application, you'll receive an email with login instructions to the member site. If you haven't received an email with your login details please first check your spam folder. If it's not there, just email info@simplicity.kiwi

Logging into the member site gives you access to your online account, where you can view your balance and transactions, make changes to your personal details and also find a range of useful tools.

For a quick tour of the member site watch this video on our youtube channel.

Our member site operates like an app, and you can add it to your mobile home screen. You'll find some simple instructions here.

Security threats are becoming increasingly prolific, as well as more sophisticated, so it is worth adding multi-factor authentication (MFA) to all your financial accounts. It's easy to add MFA to your Simplicity account, just follow our step by step guide.

Yes, you can invest in the name of a trust, but the application process is more involved.

Complete the application form here. You'll need to provide ID for all the trustees and corporate directors (if applicable), a certified copy of the trust deed, any amendments to the trust and some evidence of where the funds have come from. These are legal requirements.

Trust accounts require a minimum balance of $100,000.

You may be able to invest in the name of a company, depending on the Company structure.

Please contact us on info@simplicity.kiwi and provide the name and company number and we can provide further information.

Company accounts require a minimum deposit of $100,000.

For instructions, including Simplicity's bank details, please log on to your online account and click the Deposit button on your Accounts page.

As a fund manager, there are some differences in the way money is transferred compared to a regular bank transaction. The timeframes we provide take into account the time it takes to value your investment and buy units of your fund. Deposits take 2 working days to appear as a pending transaction and 3-4 working days to be reflected in your balance.

To initiate a withdrawal from your Investment Fund please login to your online account and click Withdrawal on the left-hand menu.

Here you can follow the steps to verify your bank account and select the amount you’d like to withdraw.

For trusts and companies, please complete the consent form with signatures of all the trustees/directors and upload as part of your withdrawal request.

It takes 3-4 working days for the funds to arrive in your nominated bank account once we’ve received the request.

As a fund manager, there's some differences between the way money is transferred compared to a regular bank transaction. This means our timeframes take into account the time it takes to value your investment and sell units of your fund. This means withdrawals take 3-4 working days to be received into your nominated bank account.

Fund units

When you deposit funds into (invest in) a KiwiSaver or investment fund, your money buys units of that fund. Units are a share of the fund’s assets (e.g.shares and bonds). The number of units you get when you make a deposit depends on the prevailing unit price. This is set every working day and is based on the total value of the fund’s assets divided by the number of units outstanding. 

For example, if on Monday a fund has a total of 8 million units outstanding and the total value of the fund’s assets is $80 million, Monday’s unit price is $10 per unit. Anyone buying or selling units in the fund on Monday will receive that unit price - so if an investor deposits $1,000 at Monday’s unit price they will receive 100 fund units in their investment account.

Unit pricing

There is a two working day delay for our KiwiSaver and Investment Fund unit prices. This is to ensure full and accurate valuations of the fund’s assets. We need to wait for all transactions to be completed and reconciled, and for overseas investment markets in different time-zones to close so we can confirm an accurate value for all of the fund’s assets. An accurate unit price is very important to ensure all investors who make deposits or withdrawals are treated fairly.

If you make a fund deposit on a given working day, we need to wait two working days for the unit price for that day to be calculated and available - we can then confirm your deposit and how many units have been added to your investment account.

Deposits   

KiwiSaver deposits (i.e. “contributions”), and Investment Fund deposits (i.e  “subscriptions”) are investments into a fund to add to your overall investment. For each contribution or subscription, you receive additional fund units in the respective fund.

For deposits, we use the unit price on the day your funds are identified as being cleared on the fund’s bank statement. So if you make a payment from your bank account on Monday, the funds will normally appear on the fund’s bank statement the next working day (Tuesday morning in this example). Provided you've used the correct payment references identifying who the investor is and what fund you're depositing into, it will be processed at Tuesday’s unit price. Remember that we need to wait two working days before Tuesday’s unit price is calculated, so we can only confirm your deposit (and in particular the number of fund units you receive) on Thursday morning. 

Once the deposit has been received, identified and allocated against the appropriate fund we can’t reverse this transaction or return the funds.

Withdrawals

You can think of a withdrawal (sometimes called “redemptions”) as cashing in your units and taking out your investment. We cancel the appropriate number of fund units in your account to reflect the value of your redemption and pay the net proceeds, after accounting for any tax that may be owing at that time, into your nominated bank account.  

Valid withdrawal requests that are received before 5pm on a working day are processed at the unit price for that day. Valid withdrawal requests received after 5pm on a working day, or on a weekend or public holiday, are processed at the unit price for the next working day. So if you submit a valid withdrawal request before 5pm on Monday (assuming it's a working day), we will process the withdrawal at Monday’s unit price. Remember that we need to wait two working days before Monday’s unit price is calculated, so we can only work out the number of units to cancel on Wednesday morning. When that is done, we can make the payment to your nominated bank account, which might take up to a day to show in your account. 

Once a valid withdrawal (redemption) request is received, accepted and processed by Simplicity, we are not able to cancel this request.

Switches

A switch is a withdrawal from one fund with the proceeds deposited into another fund (two transactions in one). Switch requests submitted through our online member app before midnight will be processed at the unit prices for both funds on the following working day. That means if you submit a switch request through the member app on Monday night at 9pm, the switch will be processed at Tuesday’s unit price (assuming Tuesday is a working day). Remember that we need to wait two working days before Tuesday’s unit price is calculated. We can only work out the number of units withdrawn from your old fund and add them to your new fund on Thursday morning. 

Note: once a switch transaction is accepted, you can’t cancel it or submit any more transactions until that switch transaction has been completed a few days later. For that reason we apply a midnight deadline on the same day to allow you a chance to cancel your switch transaction if you change your mind. So if you submit a switch request on Saturday morning, you have until midnight on Saturday to cancel it - if you don’t cancel it before the deadline it will be processed at Monday’s unit price, and the switch transaction will be confirmed on Wednesday. 

All of our diversified funds have the same annual fee: $2.50 for every $1000 invested (0.25%). Our Global Share and Bond funds charge 0.15% p.a., or $1.50 for every $1000 invested. The NZ Cash, Share and Bond funds charge $1 for every $1000 invested (0.1%). 

There are no entry, exit or switch fees in our investment funds. If you top up your investment in any fund, you won't be charged an administration fee but will be paying management fees on the full amount invested.

Simplicity investment funds are structured as PIEs. PIE stands for Portfolio Investment Entity. A PIE invests the contributions from its investors in different types of investment.

The tax rate for your investment earnings from a PIE is referred to as your prescribed investor rate (PIR). See our FAQ on What is my PIR to calculate your rate. 

The investments within the Defensive, Conservative, Balanced, Growth, High Growth, and Homes and Income funds are taxed based on the tax regime that relates to each of them.  So, for example, there is no tax paid on capital gains from New Zealand and Australian shares; only on dividends.  International shares are taxed under the fair dividend rate (FDR) regime, where tax is paid on a 5% rate of return, regardless of the actual return.  All returns from bonds, both local and international, are taxed as income.

As the Investment Fund is a portfolio investment entity (PIE), taxable income is calculated daily within the Fund and only accounted for at an investor level, if the investor makes a withdrawal.  Otherwise, your PIE tax is accounted for at the end of each financial year at your personal investor rate (PIR).  Any tax payable or tax rebate is based on each investors' PIR.  The tax is deducted or rebated to each investors' account.  Although every investor receives a PIE tax statement in May, for the vast majority of investors PIE income and tax paid does not need to be accounted for in a tax return.

You nominate your PIR (the options are 10.5%, 17.5% or 28% based on the last two years of income) when you initially invest in a PIE and you are expected to change it if your circumstances change.  If you nominate a rate that is too low you will need to deal with Inland Revenue to pay the correct amount and any penalty. If you nominate a rate that is too high, the refund will be included as part of your end of year square up.

We, as the Fund Manager, deal with the tax on your behalf in a Portfolio Investment Entity (PIE).  Any tax owing is deducted either in the event of a withdrawal, or at the end of the financial year, and we send you a statement reflecting this.  You should ensure we have the correct PIR for you.

You can see information about tax return and PIE income on the Inland Revenue website here https://www.ird.govt.nz/toii/pie/individuals/how-tax/pie-investors-individual-return.html

Investment Fund annual statements are sent via email in early May. If you also have a KiwiSaver fund, these annual statements are sent in late May.

You can also see your statement/s when you log in to your Simplicity account, under the Forms/Documents tab.

Please note these statements are usually just for your records, as in most cases a personal tax return doesn't need to include PIE income.

Your Prescribed Investor Rate (PIR) is the rate of tax you pay on the income generated from your investment.

The best place to work out your PIR rate is on the IRD's PIR calculator here.

It's your responsibility to update your PIR rate if it changes. If you're a Simplicity member, you can update it by logging into your account here. Click on your investment fund and then on the left-hand menu select 'My info'.

For joint Investment Fund accounts where the account holders have different PIRs (Prescribed Investor Rates) tax is applied at the higher of the two rates.

Simplicity has ten investment fund options outside of our KiwiSaver scheme.

In addition to our four diversified investment funds - Conservative, Balanced, Growth and High Growth funds (0.25% p.a., or $2.50 for every $1000 invested), we have six single sector funds - the Hedged Global Share Fund, Unhedged Global Share Fund and Hedged Global Bond Fund (0.15% p.a., or $1.50 for every $1000 invested) and the NZ Cash, Share and Bond funds (0.10% p.a., or $1 for every $1000 invested).

To see a breakdown of each fund and what it’s invested in, go to the Investment Funds page and select the fund or funds you're interested in. There is more information in our Statement of Investment Policies and Objectives here.

The fund type you invest in will depend on your reasons for investing, your age and stage of life and also your risk appetite.

To find out what kind of investor you are and for other useful information check out some of the tools on sorted.org.nz including their Investor Profiler here. 

If you're still not sure after researching the options yourself, we recommend you consult with an independent financial advisor, preferably one with a fee-based structure, so they make a decision that is unbiased and not tied to commissions. We can't give you personalised advice ourselves.

Our Investment Funds are different from term deposits where you invest a set amount for a specified time, and you’re guaranteed a certain rate of return on top of the original amount you invested. With a Simplicity Investment Fund, you’re investing in assets which go down as well as up in value. You can see their performance over various timeframes here.

A quarterly fund update will be published on our website, detailing our Funds' performance. An annual report will be emailed to members directly. 

Members can also log on to their online account here and track the performance of their fund/s since the date they joined.

Our business is ultimately a social enterprise, so responsible investing is an important issue for us and our members. We specifically exclude investments in companies with significant involvement in activities such as fossil fuel extraction, weapons and gambling.

We also exclude companies that have contravened the principles of the UN Global Compact on Anti Corruption, Human Rights, Environment and Labour.

You'll find more information on our Ethical Investing page.

As a fund manager we choose to focus on areas of social responsibility where we can have a constructive involvement e.g. donating 15% of our management fee via the Simplicity Foundation to charities, and being an active shareholder in New Zealand companies on behalf of our members, where appropriate.

We don’t invest in companies that own proved & probable fossil fuel (coal, oil, or gas) reserves, and companies classified under the Bloomberg DM Ex NZ ESG Screened Index Methodology and the Bloomberg MSCI Global Aggregate Sustainability Select SRI Float Adjusted Indexes as being involved with fossil fuel production and supporting products and services. See more on the Ethical Investing page.

Our hedging policy is set using the market average hedging ratios of providers that make up at least 80% of KiwiSaver industry funds under management, resulting in our equity investments being 50% hedged into New Zealand dollars. The hedging policy will be monitored quarterly and adjusted from time to time to follow the average within a range 40% - 60%.

The foreign exchange exposures in each Fund are hedged as follows:

For international equities in our diversified funds, 50% of the exposure is invested in the Simplicity Hedged Global Share Fund which is fully hedged into New Zealand dollars and 50% into the Simplicity Unhedged Global Share Fund.

For international bonds, we invest in the Simplicity Hedged Global Bond Fund that is fully hedged into New Zealand dollars.

The hedging strategy is managed by DWS.

DWS is the manager of our international investment portfolios. 

DWS is one of the world's leading asset managers with over NZ$1.7 trillion under management globally.

We moved from Vanguard to DWS International GmbH (DWS) on 28 April 2023. For more details about the change, and how it benefits members, click here.

If you have any issues or concerns about your investment, please contact us: info@simplicity.kiwi

If for any reason Simplicity is not able to resolve the matter, you can also contact the Public Trust at: Public Trust Corporate Trustee Services PO Box 1598 Shortland Street Auckland 1140 Phone: +64 9 985 5300 Email: cts.enquiry@publictrust.co.nz

If Simplicity or the Supervisor are unable to resolve your complaint, you can contact the Financial Services Complaints Ltd (FSCL). They can be contacted at: Complaint Investigation Officer PO Box 5697 Wellington 6145 Phone: 0800 347 257

Investing in someone else's Investment account is a great thing to do, contributing to the recipient's financial future.

Follow these simple instructions:

1. Confirm that the person you are gifting to is a Simplicity Investment Fund member.

2. In order to gift into a Simplicity member's Investment Funds account, you will need the following information:
• Member's SIMF number
• Member's fund type

3. Login to your bank and use the pre-assigned payee Simplicity Investment Scheme in your bank's 'bill payment' system.

Input the following information to make a deposit of your chosen amount.
Particulars: Member's surname
Code: Member's SIMF number (SIMFXXXX)
Reference: Member's Fund Type (Balanced or Growth etc)

If your loved one had a Simplicity account please contact the Investor Services team at info@simplicity.kiwi for the next steps to take. We'll need to know their full name, date of birth and IRD number.