Smiths Insurance and KiwiSaver
Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver

How we’re paid

How we’re paid. Every dollar, before anything changes.

We receive commissions from the schemes on our advised panel, so we don’t call ourselves independent. What we do instead is publish the whole arrangement: who pays us, how much, when, and what protects you from the conflict. Here it is, in detail, in plain English. and you get every dollar confirmed in writing before any switch is lodged.

Craig Smith Business Services Ltd · FSP712931 · FMA Class 2

How we’re structured

Three things that are true about Smiths.

    01

    No in-house fund

    We don't run a KiwiSaver scheme of our own. We don't run an investment fund of our own. We're a financial advice business; the funds we move clients to are run by third-party providers. That means we never have a structural reason to push a Smiths-branded product over a third-party one.

    02

    No charge to you

    Clients don't pay us directly for advice. We do not charge an hourly fee, a project fee, or a retainer. The Health Check is free, the Switch is free, the ongoing review is free.

    03

    Full disclosure of how we get paid

    When we move you to a fund on our recommendation panel, the provider pays us commission: an up-front commissions on Booster, Generate and Fisher Funds switches, plus an annual trail in the range 0.25% to 0.5% of your balance, varying by provider. You get written confirmation of the exact dollars before your switch is lodged. The full breakdown is in our statutory FAP disclosure.

Let’s talk about the money. When you complete a switch into a scheme on our panel, the provider pays us commission. Booster, Generate and Fisher Funds pay an up-front commission at the point of switch; the annual trail commission, calculated on the size of your balance, sits in the band 0.25% – 0.5% per year, varying by provider. On a $100,000 balance that’s $250 – $500 a year, paid by the provider out of the management fee they already charge you. You never pay us directly.

Before any switch is lodged, you receive written confirmation of exactly what we’ll be paid. every dollar, on paper, before anything about your KiwiSaver changes. If you read it and walk away, that’s fine; nothing has moved.

The question that matters: would the difference in commission from one fund to another bend our advice? If we’re honest about it, no. The trail gap across the recommendation panel is about 0.25%. The gap between the strongest and the weakest 10-year performer is closer to 1.5% per year compounded. The difference in total fund fees is similar. Recommending the higher-commission fund over the better-fitting one would cost the client far more than we’d earn. and within a year or two they’d notice and leave.

What protects you

We follow a documented advice process. Same questions for every client, same scoring matrix, same written recommendation rationale. If a fund outside the band of best-fit funds gets recommended, the file has to explain why. Compliance reviews this. Smiths is FMA-licensed; we also undertake an annual external compliance audit.

We do notaccept above-standard rebates from any provider in exchange for steering members. If a provider offered one, we would decline. That’s the rule.

Why we don’t charge you a fee

Some advisers charge a fee for service and rebate the trail to the client. It’s a defensible model. We chose the other side: no charge to the client, take the commission. The reason is access. Most New Zealanders won’t pay $500 out of pocket for a one-hour KiwiSaver review, even though they should. KiwiSaver is too important. By taking the commission and making the advice free, we get to talk to people who otherwise wouldn’t pick up the phone.

The trade-off: you should know exactly how we’re paid, in plain English, before you decide to work with us. That is the entire purpose of this page.

Scope of advice

Who pays us, and who we actually recommend.

We hold agency agreements with five providers: ANZ, Booster, Generate, Milford and Fisher Funds. Our recommendations are limited to four funds across Milford and Booster, chosen on published 10-year records. ANZ is never a switch target. that agency exists so we can look after members who are already there. Fisher Funds and Generate appear in our comparisons so you can see how the recommendation panel stacks up, and because we hold those agencies you can choose to switch into them. that’s your call, not our recommendation.

What we don’t advise on

The schemes below sit outside our advised panel. We do not provide personal financial advice on them. If you’re with one of these today, we’re happy to discuss whether moving to one of our recommended funds would suit your situation. but we cannot recommend you stay with, or move into, a scheme outside our panel.

  • ·ASB KiwiSaver Scheme
  • ·BNZ KiwiSaver Scheme
  • ·Westpac KiwiSaver Scheme
  • ·Simplicity KiwiSaver Scheme
  • ·Kernel KiwiSaver Plan
  • ·Mercer KiwiSaver Scheme
  • ·AMP KiwiSaver Scheme
  • ·Kōura Wealth
  • ·Aurora KiwiSaver

Common questions

Things people ask us.

Are you independent?
No. We receive commissions from the schemes on our advised panel, so we don't use that word. What we are: a licensed advice firm with no in-house fund, a four-fund recommendation panel chosen on published 10-year records, and full disclosure of every dollar before anything changes.
How much do you actually earn from a typical client?
On a $100,000 balance, the trail commission is between $250 and $500 per year, depending on the provider. Booster, Generate and Fisher Funds also pay an up-front commission at the point of switch. You get the exact dollar figures in writing before your switch is lodged. We earn the trail for as long as you stay invested. which is also the structure that gives us the financial incentive to look after clients well. If you leave, we stop earning.
Do you ever recommend NOT switching?
Yes, regularly. If your current scheme already fits your goals, risk profile and timeframe. or if the small uplift from switching wouldn't justify the disruption. we recommend you stay. We don't move every client. Our process explicitly considers "do nothing" as a valid recommendation.
Why don't you just charge a fee instead?
Some firms do. typically $300-$500 for a one-off review. It's a defensible model. We chose the commission model because it lets us advise people who would never pay a fee out of pocket, even though they should. KiwiSaver matters too much to gate it behind a paywall. The trade-off is full disclosure of how we're paid, which is what this page is.
What if a provider offers Smiths an above-standard incentive?
We refuse it, on file. We've done this. If a provider tried to make Smiths the exclusive recipient of a higher trail rate or any "booking bonus", we'd decline and document the refusal. The reason isn't moral high ground. it's that the moment a scheme is paying us more than the others, our advice on that scheme has become commercially compromised, and a regulator would say so.
Are you also paid by the insurance side of the business?
Yes. Smiths gives advice on personal risk insurance (life, disability, health) on a separate panel of insurers, paid by commission from those insurers. That's a separate disclosure and lives on the main Smiths site. This site (kiwisaver.smiths.net.nz) covers the KiwiSaver side only.

A note, signed.

Forty years of looking after Christchurch families.

I started this business in 1984. We’ve had one job since then. to give Christchurch families straight, plain-English financial advice without the jargon, the upsell, or the gatekeeping.

For most of that time, that meant insurance. The KiwiSaver side has grown to be the bigger conversation over the last decade. partly because the scheme has matured, and partly because so many people have ended up in default funds that don’t fit them and have lost real money compounding the wrong way.

Our promise has always been simple: we’ll tell you the truth about how we get paid, we’ll move you only when moving makes sense, and we’ll be here to take the call when you need us.

If anything on this page raises a question, my number is at the top of the website. Call. No pitch, no charge.

Craig Smith signature

Craig Smith

Director, Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver

How we keep the lights on

Plain English. The same as our statutory FAP disclosure.

Who advises: Craig Smith Business Services Limited (FSP712931), trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, holds a Class 2 licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority. Our principal Craig Smith provides the KiwiSaver advice.

Scope of advice: We give personal financial advice on a defined panel of KiwiSaver schemes. We do not provide personal advice on schemes outside that panel. The website lists the current panel; if you are with another scheme, we can talk you through whether moving to one of ours would suit your situation, but we cannot recommend you stay with or move into a scheme we do not advise on.

How we get paid: Smiths does not charge you fees for advice. When you complete a KiwiSaver with one of our panel schemes, the scheme provider pays us an upfront fee (where applicable) plus an annual trail commission calculated on your balance. Trail rates vary by provider in the range 0.25 % – 0.5 %. We do not adjust our advice based on which scheme pays the higher trail; our advice process is documented and consistently applied.

Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Returns shown on this site are historical (sourced from the FMA Quarterly KiwiSaver Disclosure, Sorted Smart Investor and provider PDS), net of fund fees and at a 28 % PIR unless otherwise stated. Information on this site is general in nature and is not personal financial advice. Personal advice considers your goals, situation and risk tolerance. for that, please contact us.

Full statutory FAP disclosure is at smiths.net.nz/disclosure. The list of advised schemes on the public disclosure document is in the process of being refreshed to reflect recent panel additions; this website lists the current panel, and our advice is given on those schemes only.

Craig Smith. Director, Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver

Director, Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver
Craig Smith Business Services Ltd · FSP712931 · FMA Class 2

Why we advise on these schemes →

Ready when you are.

Run the 90-second Health Check, see our advised panel, or call us on 03 374 6800.

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