It’s been a remarkable decade.

Ten years ago, Simplicity started around a kitchen table with a simple idea: investing doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive, and as we grew, our members should share in the benefits of scale. Today, we have more than 200,000 members, with over $12 billion invested. We’ve also given more than $14 million to charity via the Simplicity Foundation, with that figure now growing by more than $11,000 a day.

And as we turn 10, we’re keeping another promise we made from Day 1. We’re cutting our fees, again. From 1 October 2026, the annual fee on all our diversified KiwiSaver and Investment Funds will drop from 0.24% to 0.23%.

It’s our eighth fee cut in 10 years.

A small number that can make a difference

At first glance, a change from 0.24% to 0.23% might not look like much. But it represents a 4.2% reduction in the fee you pay. And when you’re investing for decades, keeping fees low matters - because every dollar you don’t pay in fees stays invested on your behalf.

Keeping fees low has been a core part of the Simplicity model from the beginning.

Over the past decade we’ve repeatedly reduced what members pay as we’ve grown. We removed annual membership fees for under-18s in 2018, reduced the membership fee in 2020 and removed it completely in 2021. Fund fees have also fallen several times, including reductions to 0.30% and then 0.29% in 2023, 0.25% in 2024 and 0.24% in 2025.

The latest reduction takes our diversified fund fee to 0.23% per year, from 1 October.

Fees matter

Keeping fees low matters because every dollar you don’t pay in fees stays invested for you. And paying more doesn’t guarantee better returns. New research from Simplicity Chief Economist Shamubeel Eaqub found that, across KiwiSaver funds over the past decade, higher fees did not on average deliver higher returns after fees.

You can read Shamubeel’s research and download the full report here.

Sharing the benefits of scale

For us, this latest fee cut is about more than simply moving a number from 0.24% to 0.23%.

Simplicity is New Zealand's nonprofit fund manager. As we grow, we want the benefits of that scale to flow back to our members through continuing to lower our fees, while also continuing to give 15% of the fees we charge to the Simplicity Foundation.

So, to everyone who has joined us over the past 10 years, thank you. Thank you for trusting us with your money, thank you for supporting a different way of doing things, and thank you for helping us work towards a future that’s better for you, yours and Aotearoa New Zealand.

Ten years in, we’re very proud of how far we’ve come.

And we still think this is just the start %)

*The fee reduction to 0.23% applies to the Diversified KiwiSaver and Investment Funds, not the Single Sector Investment Funds, and is effective from 1 October 2026. Simplicity NZ Ltd is the issuer of the Simplicity KiwiSaver and Investment Funds Schemes. For Product Disclosure Statements, please visit our website simplicity.kiwi. For more on the latest cut and information around our fees, go to simplicity.kiwi/fees. The information in this article is general information only, not personalised financial advice or a recommendation. It does not take your circumstances or goals into account. Future performance is not guaranteed and past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. Information is current at posting and may change without notice.