Kiwisaver Investors Win with Fidelity Life

Kiwisaver Investors Win with Fidelity Life

Options Kiwi Fund number one for over two years

Fidelity Life’s Options Kiwi Fund was named top performing KiwiSaver Fund out of the 113 surveyed by research house FundSource for the two years to 31 January 2010.

With an annual average return of 16.861 per cent over the two years the Fidelity Life Options Kiwi Fund was placed comfortably ahead of the next-placed fund in the survey. In the year to 31 January it returned 45.86 per cent.

One of the more unique KiwiSaver funds, the Fidelity Life Options Kiwi Fund is the KiwiSaver version of Fidelity Life’s popular Options Portfolio. The Options Portfolio, managed by Tyndall Investment Management, is a cash fund that issues options on Fidelity Life and other government bonds.

Fidelity Life CEO Milton Jennings says the alternative, fixed-interest strategy of the Options Kiwi Fund has proved a winner for its KiwiSaver investors and the overall fund is now worth $22.43 million.

“For the customer to gain the best overall results our main focus is on the medium to long term management of all of our portfolios and despite volatile financial markets over the last 18 months this strategy has meant we are out-performing pure fixed interest KiwiSaver funds.

“For our Options Kiwi Fund customers’ the results are already looking good as they think ahead to their retirement funds with an initial $1,000 income invested now worth $1,366,” says Jennings.

Fidelity Life has a stable of seven KiwiSaver investment funds including Balanced Kiwi, ranked second in its sector over two years and Aggressive and Growth Kiwi which rank fourth and sixth in their respective sectors.

CEO Milton Jennings says that KiwiSaver has been a growth area for Fidelity Life with a 15% increase in KiwiSaver schemes requiring more staff to support this growing side of the business and they are fast approaching a total of 50,000 members since the inception of KiwiSaver.

Fidelity Life is also well aware of issues regarding the transfer of KiwiSaver funds between providers that customers nationwide have experienced recently and that there is a need to work together to enable transfers of KiwiSaver accounts within the 35 days required by the government actuary guidelines.

Jennings says that Fidelity Life’s utmost priority is its customers’ and working collaboratively is the best way to complete transfers, and to assess hardship requests and this could best be achieved by working towards a consistent approach across all KiwiSaver providers.

1 Before tax and after management fees.

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