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Sharesies KiwiSaver Review (2026)
Sharesies is NZ's largest low-fee share investing platform, offering fractional NZX/ASX/US investing from 1 cent alongside a self-select KiwiSaver scheme built from 11 base funds.
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Brent Coleman
What is Sharesies?
Sharesies was founded in Wellington in 2017 as a low-fee online share investing platform. It is used across New Zealand and Australia, and reports more than 1,000,000 customers and over $12 billion invested on the platform. Sharesies is a certified B Corp and says it is carbon neutral for its business operations.
The company is privately held and has raised over $50 million in venture capital from investors including Icehouse Ventures and Amplo. Its founders and directors include Ben Crotty, Brooke Roberts, Jon Macdonald (Chair), Leighton Roberts, Martyn Smith, Richard Clark and Sonya Williams.
What can you invest in?
Sharesies offers NZX, ASX and US shares and ETFs, plus a small range of managed funds:
- Pie Funds (2 funds): Australasian Dividend Fund, Global Climate Friendly Fund.
- Pathfinder (3 funds): Global Responsibility Fund, Global Water Fund, Global Property Fund. Only the Global Responsibility and Global Water funds are marketed as socially responsible. Other funds on the platform, including the US 500 Fund, may hold defence or fossil-fuel companies.
- Smartshares index ETFs: the bulk of the range, including NZ Top 50, Australian Top 20, US 500, NZ Property, Australian Resources, Europe, NZ Mid Cap, Emerging Markets, Global Automation & Robotics and Global Healthcare Innovation.
- Funds from AMP Capital and Mercer (TAHITO) are also on the platform.
Sharesies also runs Sharesies Save, an on-call savings account with no fees or fixed terms and interest calculated daily and paid monthly, plus Kids Accounts.
The Sharesies KiwiSaver Scheme
Sharesies runs its own KiwiSaver Scheme, and it works differently from most. You build an investment plan from one or more of 11 base funds, and you can add your own picks from over 150 NZ and US listed companies and ETFs. Up to half of your plan can go to your own picks, with no more than 5% in any single pick.
Joining takes around 10 working days if you're transferring from another provider, or around 5 days if you're new to KiwiSaver. Tax is calculated and paid for you.
Each base fund invests in one fund from another manager. Sharesies doesn't manage the money itself:
| Base fund | Underlying fund/manager | Annual fund charge | Timeframe | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharesies Milford Aggressive Fund | Milford Aggressive Fund | 1.15% | 10+ yrs | Higher |
| Sharesies US500 Fund | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF | 0.09% + 0.50% FX | 10+ yrs | Higher |
| Sharesies Total World Share Fund | Vanguard Total World Stock ETF | 0.12% + 0.50% FX | 10+ yrs | Higher |
| Sharesies Generate Focused Growth Fund | Generate Focused Growth Fund | 1.31% | 8+ yrs | Higher |
| Sharesies Pie Global Growth 2 Fund | Pie Global Growth 2 Fund | 1.49% | 5+ yrs | Higher |
| Sharesies Pathfinder Ethical Growth Fund | Pathfinder Ethical Growth Fund | 1.35% | 8+ yrs | Higher |
| Sharesies Smart Growth Fund | Smart/SuperLife Growth Fund | 0.51% | 9+ yrs | Higher |
| Sharesies Fisher Funds Growth Fund | Fisher Funds Growth Fund | 1.20% | 7+ yrs | Higher |
| Sharesies Smart Balanced Fund | Smart/SuperLife Balanced Fund | 0.50% | 6+ yrs | Medium |
| Sharesies Milford Balanced Fund | Milford Balanced Fund | 1.07% | 5+ yrs | Medium |
| Sharesies Smart Conservative Fund | Smart/SuperLife Conservative Fund | 0.47% | 4+ yrs | Medium |
Fund providers pay Sharesies to be offered as base funds in the scheme.
Your own picks cost a 1% transaction fee on contributions up to $1,000 per pick, and 0.1% above $1,000. There is also a 0.15% p.a. administration fee on each pick's balance, which is built into the unit price.
Returns to 30 June 2026, annualised, after fund charges and before tax, for the seven base funds with published figures:
| Base fund | Launched | Since launch p.a. | 1yr | 3yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sharesies US500 Fund | 20 Mar 2025 | 28.85% | 30.96% | N/A |
| Sharesies Milford Aggressive Fund | 4 Mar 2024 | 11.08% | 10.98% | N/A |
| Sharesies Pathfinder Ethical Growth Fund | 24 Feb 2023 | 11.56% | 13.20% | 10.93% |
| Sharesies Pie Global Growth 2 Fund | 9 Feb 2023 | 14.25% | 25.67% | 15.06% |
| Sharesies Smart Growth Fund | 3 Mar 2023 | 12.93% | 17.20% | 12.92% |
| Sharesies Smart Balanced Fund | 8 May 2023 | 11.89% | 13.70% | 10.65% |
| Sharesies Smart Conservative Fund | 10 May 2023 | 8.79% | 8.43% | 7.51% |
Fees
Sharesies' brokerage, FX and other platform fees:
| Fee type | Amount |
|---|---|
| NZ share brokerage | 1.90%, capped at NZ$25 per order (cap reached above about NZ$1,316) |
| US share brokerage | 1.90%, capped at US$5 per order (cap reached above about US$264) |
| AU share brokerage | 1.90%, capped at AU$15 per order (cap reached above about AU$805) |
| FX fee (NZD to USD, NZD to AUD) | 0.50% |
| Account/membership fee | $0 |
| Minimum investment | $0.01 |
| Managed fund fees (set by the fund manager, not Sharesies) | About 0.30% to 1.30% p.a. |
| Advised portfolio fee | 0.20% p.a. of balance + capped 1.9% transaction fee per underlying ETF trade |
| Instant bank transfer fee | 0.95% of transfer value, capped at $3 per transfer (first top-up free) |
| Fast withdrawal fee | 1.9% of unsettled amount withdrawn early |
Three optional monthly plans lower the effective brokerage rate if you invest regularly. Unused coverage doesn't roll over to the next month. The $15 plan also gives you live US market pricing, which is otherwise delayed.
| Plan | Cost | Buy/sell orders covered | Auto-invest orders covered | Effective brokerage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $3/month | $3/mo | $500 NZD/month | $1,000 NZD/month | About 0.60% (excl. auto-invest) |
| $7/month | $7/mo | $1,000 NZD/month | $3,000 NZD/month | About 0.70% (excl. auto-invest) |
| $15/month | $15/mo | $5,000 NZD/month | $10,000 NZD/month | About 0.30% (excl. auto-invest) |
Is your money safe?
NZX-listed investments are held in the NZX Depository under New Zealand Depository Nominee Limited. Cash and fund investments are held by Sharesies Nominee Limited on bare trust. Both are run separately from the Sharesies platform company, so your money and investments aren't mixed with Sharesies' own funds and would stay safely held if the platform company went under. Both are audited by KPMG.
US shares are held through DriveWealth, the same broker-dealer used by Hatch and Stake, which carries SIPC coverage of up to US$500,000 (including US$250,000 for cash).
What's on the platform
- NZX: 124 listed companies and 46 ETFs
- ASX: 1,900+ listed companies and 350+ ETFs
- US markets: 5,300+ listed companies, 2,500+ ETFs and 200+ OTC instruments
- Managed funds: 13
The bottom line
Sharesies is one of New Zealand's most accessible ways into share investing, thanks to its 1-cent minimum and fractional investing. At 1.90%, its brokerage is on the expensive side for small, occasional trades unless you use a monthly plan.
Its KiwiSaver Scheme stands out for flexibility. Few NZ providers let you mix funds from other managers with your own share picks. The cost of that flexibility is an extra layer of transaction and administration fees on anything you pick yourself.