Milford KiwiSaver Review (2026)

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Milford Asset Management is a top-performing New Zealand active fund manager, managing $35 billion+

Brent Coleman

Finance Creator & Banking Professional

Published:

October 6, 2026

Last updated:

October 6, 2026

What is Milford?

Milford Asset Management is one of New Zealand's largest active fund managers. Today they manage $35 billion+ with 220,000 clients, largely in growth focused funds. Investors can access Milford directly, through a financial adviser, or through an online platform including but not limited to Sharesies and InvestNow.

What can you invest in?

Milford's fund range includes 12 funds in total, spanning cash, bonds, balanced, growth and equity mandates. Six sit within the Milford KiwiSaver Plan (Cash, Conservative, Moderate, Balanced, Active Growth, Aggressive); the other six, plus a twelfth closed-to-new-investment Dynamic Fund, are only accessible outside KiwiSaver, e.g. via InvestNow.

Fund	Part of KiwiSaver	Net assets
Cash Fund	✓ Yes	$192.3M
Conservative Fund	✓ Yes	$463.4M
Moderate Fund	✓ Yes	$337.3M
Balanced Fund	✓ Yes	$2,579.2M
Active Growth Fund	✓ Yes	$8,957.1M
Aggressive Fund	✓ Yes	$3,350.0M
Australian Absolute Growth Fund	No	$167.08M
Diversified Income Fund	No	$3,632.85M
Dynamic Fund	No	Closed to new investment
Global Corporate Bond Fund	No	$414.16M
Global Equity Fund	No	$2,843.63M
Trans-Tasman Bond Fund	No	$2,180.96M
Trans-Tasman Equity Fund	No	$792.42M

KiwiSaver fund net assets: Morningstar KiwiSaver 360 Quarterly, Q2 2026 edition (data as of 30 June 2026). Non-KiwiSaver fund net assets: InvestNow fund search, checked Aug 2026.

Milford's KiwiSaver Active Growth Fund ($8.96bn) is by a wide margin the largest individual fund in the range, nearly a quarter of Milford's total $35bn+ under management. All funds are PIE structured with active management and a 0% buy/sell transaction fee, though a small buy/sell spread of roughly 0.07 to 0.17% applies per fund.

Fees

Fees vary by fund. The six-fund Milford KiwiSaver Plan is shown first, followed by Milford's wider, 12-fund Investment Fund range (non-KiwiSaver):

Milford KiwiSaver Plan: Annual Fees (estimated)

Fund	Base Fund Fee	Performance Fee (estimated)	Total Fund Fee
Cash Fund	0.20% p.a.	Not Applicable	0.20% p.a.
Conservative Fund	0.85% p.a.	Not Applicable	0.85% p.a.
Moderate Fund	0.95% p.a.	0.01%	0.96% p.a.
Balanced Fund	1.05% p.a.	0.02%	1.07% p.a.
Active Growth Fund	1.05% p.a.	0.20%	1.25% p.a.
Aggressive Fund	1.15% p.a.	Not Applicable	1.15% p.a.

Milford Investment Fund range (non-KiwiSaver)

Fund	PDS Fee	QFU Fee
Active Growth Fund	1.05%	1.05%
Aggressive Fund	1.15%	1.15%
Australian Absolute Growth Fund	1.30%	1.05%
Balanced Fund	1.07%	1.05%
Cash Fund	0.20%	0.20%
Conservative Fund	0.85%	0.85%
Diversified Income Fund	0.85%	0.65%
Dynamic Fund (closed to new investment)	1.35%	n/a
Global Corporate Bond Fund	0.85%	0.85%
Global Equity Fund	1.35%	1.35%
Trans-Tasman Bond Fund	0.65%	0.65%
Trans-Tasman Equity Fund	1.05%	1.05%

Independent Total Cost Ratio data (Morningstar KiwiSaver 360, Q2 2026 edition, year to 30 June 2026) shows realised costs of Active Growth Fund 1.25%, Balanced Fund 1.07%, Conservative Fund 0.85%, Aggressive Fund 1.15%, closely matching Milford's own estimated Total Fund Fees above.

Scale

Milford manages $35 billion+, the majority of it in growth focused funds. Per Morningstar KiwiSaver 360 (Q2 2026, as at 30 June 2026), the KiwiSaver Plan specifically ranks #4 among all KiwiSaver providers by assets under management (NZ$15.9 billion, 10.8% market share). It is the first quarter Milford's own AUM has been large enough to place ahead of BT/Westpac in the top-five provider ranking.

The bottom line

Milford is a genuine active management alternative to the passive and index funds that dominate much of the NZ market, with a long track record and among the largest individual fund sizes recorded in this comparison. The trade off is meaningfully higher fees than passive competitors, and a $1,000 minimum that sits above most low cost platforms.