Our first fund performance figures are in, and we're delighted to share the results.

Our flagship fund, the growth fund, ranked second place in the Morningstar KiwiSaver Quarterly report. (See the full report here). In a separate industry survey by Melville Jessup Weaver, the fund placed third against 16 other funds.

It's a brilliant start to the year as this is Simplicity's first performance score card since opening Sept.1, 2016.

In the three months till Dec.31, 2016, the growth fund returned 1.9%, after fees, but before tax. Our balanced fund returned 0.2%, marginally better than the average Balanced fund. And the Conservative fund returned -1.5%, mostly because bonds and fixed interest had a very bad quarter (one of the worst in five years) due to the ’Trump effect.'

Morningstar, in its commentary, emphasised the importance of fees but also the transparency around the fees. 

\"In our opinion fees are an important barometer which tell you more about a fund manager than just the costs,\" said author Chris Douglas.

\"We spend a lot of time talking about fees. It’s the one element of future performance that fund managers (and investors) can control, and even small differences can eat into investors’ returns and future retirement assets and income. Investors should not have to search for the fee associated with an investment product – it should be laid out in a consistent manner, include all costs, and be easy to compare against others.\"

At Simplicity we make it easy for you find your fees, to see your balance, to take greater interest in and control over your retirement savings.

We encourage you to read each individual fund update to better understand what's in each fund, the risks ascribed to it, and also the impact of fees over time. You can find the Conservative Fund here. The Balance Fund here. And the Growth Fund here.

Over time, the small gains we make each quarter will really add up. We chose this investment philosophy to maximise your returns in the long term. In investing, as in life, the tortoise beats the hare.

Below you'll see our returns and rankings according to the Melville Jessup Weaver KiwiSaver survey, which we measured our performance against.