Fees

The fee we charge members covers all the regular ongoing costs we incur in the management and administration of the Scheme, such as:

• Trustee services
• Administration services
• Investment management services
• Registry and custody costs
• Marketing
• Auditing
• Legal
• Printing and postage

There are no extra fees for entry, withdrawal or changing your investment direction.

Our fee is up to 1% of your member account balance per year, subject to a minimum of $50 per year. 

The amount of your fee may vary depending on your investment direction, the fee for each investment portfolio and your account balance. The fee for each investment portfolio is set out in the following table.

Other costs and expenses

As well as our fee, there are other costs and expenses associated with investing your money that you should know about:

• The costs of buying or selling investments, such as brokerage, are usually included in the purchase price of the investment. In this way, they are an indirect cost to members of the Scheme.
   
• The costs of investing in assets, such as the charges for investing in other funds, are reflected in the reported returns for those funds.  These are a cost of investing that are indirectly borne by members of the scheme.

• If the Trustee of the Scheme incurs costs or expenses in relation to the Scheme that are not covered by our fee, they are entitled to recover those costs from the Scheme.  To date, the Trustee hasn’t charged the Scheme for any costs or expenses (other than third party investment related costs), and they need to consult with us before any such cost or expense is incurred.  Because the Trustee has obligations at law and under the Scheme’s Trust Deed that may require them to incur these costs or expenses, there is no limit on the amount they may incur and recover in carrying out those obligations.

For the record

• Our fee is calculated and deducted from your account on a monthly basis, based on the total value of your account balance at the end of each month.
   
• The scheme documents have provision for our fee to be increased to a maximum of 2% per year, but only if the increase is agreed between the Trustee and the Manager as necessary to cover additional costs.
   
• The minimum fee of $50 per year may be indexed to the Statistics New Zealand Consumers' Price Index at the end of every third Scheme year.
   
• The Trustee may, at its sole discretion, charge any member or group of members a lower fee than what is stated.