Pathfinder has added to the KiwiSaver high-growth movement with the soft-launch of an aggressive option this month.
The new Pathfinder diversified strategy dials-up the exposure to risk assets to 90 per cent compared to 70 per cent for its standard growth fund.
John Berry, Pathfinder chief, said the manager created the High Growth Fund following strong demand from several financial advisory groups that have seeded the product.
“A full public launch will follow soon,” Berry said.
He said higher-risk strategies make sense for KiwiSaver members who might have decades left before retirement. The manager currently offers the standard set of conservative, balanced and growth KiwiSaver funds.
The Pathfinder move comes amid a flurry of risk-up diversified KiwiSaver product releases over the last couple of years with high-growth converts include ASB, ANZ, Kōura, QuayStreet, Simplicity and Westpac.
And last month InvestNow and Pie Funds put new higher-risk diversified strategies on their respective KiwiSaver menus.
However, the Pie KiwiSaver Aggressive Fund won’t open until May 1, according to chief executive, Ana-Marie Lockyer.
Lockyer said the risk upgrade allows Pie to “give our members more options aligned to the nature of long-term investment through KiwiSaver”.
Pie has changed its KiwiSaver risk mix in other ways, too, after adding an exposure to bitcoin last year.
The iShare Bitcoin Trust is now the third single-largest holding in the Pie KiwiSaver growth fund, representing more than 2.3 per cent of total assets as at the end of 2024.
A former bitcoin-sceptic, Pie chief investment officer, Mike Taylor, said the shift in sentiment followed a “substantial devaluation of paper money” in the previous couple of years along with the launch of regulated trading venues and improved digital asset technology.
“There’s a famous saying in finance: If the facts change, I reserve the right to change my mind. Back in 2024 when we invested, the facts have changed and that is what led to our investment,” Taylor said.
“This investment has proved to be a good buy for our members having seen 30-40% growth since we have invested.”
Bitcoin has crept into a couple of other KiwiSaver schemes as well, notably NZ Funds (through various underlying crypto exposures) and Kōura, which offers members a dedicated fund.
At the end of last year Kōura rebranded its Carbon Neutral Crypto Currency Fund to the Bitcoin Fund in a change officially certified this month.