KiwiSaver advice great opportunity: Bascand

Speaking after winning the Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year awards last week Bascand says that when KiwiSaver balances get above a certain level members need to think about advice.

His view on what that level is different to what others have suggested in the past. Bascand thinks the number is between $100,000 and $300,000.

“We think that proportion currently is about a 25% (of KiwiSaver members).

“I think the evidence is that as balances increase about a quarter of KiwiSaver investors will start to look for advice.

“My view is that's a great opportunity for the advice industry in New Zealand who are already providing advice for a broad range of people, mainly people who are already retired.

“And I think there's growing evidence that some of the faster growing advice practices are strongly considering about how they can build in KiwiSaver.”

While Harbour does not have its own scheme it is the manager for the BNZ scheme which has about $6.8 billion in funds under management. On top of that Harbour is used by seven other KiwiSaver schemes and that is another $2 billion in funds under management.