Help Me Choose

How to join SuperLife

We have four schemes to choose from

SuperLife offers a range of investment vehicles (referred to as “schemes”) so that you can tailor an investment solution to suit your needs.

SuperLife KiwiSaver scheme - KiwiSaver is a government savings initiative to help you save for retirement. To join, you must be a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident under the age of 65.

SuperLife Invest - our most flexible savings and investments scheme. With SuperLife Invest, you choose how much you wish to invest and when.

SuperLife UK pension transfer scheme - a registered overseas pension scheme (“ROPS”) for UK pension transfers. SuperLife manages the UK pension transfer process for you so that you can focus on your investment objectives.

SuperLife workplace savings scheme - an employer-sponsored savings scheme. SuperLife has been helping employers set up employee benefit arrangements for over 15 years. If you are a member of a SuperLife workplace savings scheme and would like to learn more about the benefits available to you, please contact us.

For some investors, a SuperLife solution might include a combination of schemes to manage their KiwiSaver and workplace savings, as well as personal investments. Others might choose SuperLife to assist with their UK pension transfer. Regardless of how you choose to join SuperLife, you will have access to a broad range of investment options, and fees that are among the lowest in the market.

If you’re not sure which scheme is right for you, we’re here to help. Click here to contact us.

Investing on behalf of a child?

SuperLife’s myFutureFund is a way to help save for a child’s future. This enables a nominated guardian to make all the decisions about withdrawing investments and switching between investment options until the child reaches a chosen age (between ages 18 and 25). To sign up a child to SuperLife Invest and nominate a myFutureFund guardian, click here to download the product disclosure statement and application form. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Your investment strategy

Here are some tips to get you started

When you invest for any purpose, such as for your retirement or saving for a first home, you must decide on an investment “strategy”. Your investment strategy is the mix of the different types of assets (i.e. cash, bonds, property and shares) in which your savings are invested. You should also decide how it should be changed over time. Your investment strategy is a major contributor to the returns you will receive from your investments and should therefore be designed to meet your financial goals.

To determine your investment strategy, you should identify the returns you want over the short, medium and long term, and the risks you are prepared to accept. Investment “risk” often refers to the volatility of returns over the short-term and in particular, the chance or likelihood of a negative return.

The general principle is that investments that expose investors to higher risk (i.e. the possibility of a negative return in the short-term) will normally compensate investors, over the long-term, with a higher average return. However, this is only on “average” and the return in any particular year may be very high or very low (or negative). Higher risk options are not guaranteed to provide higher returns over the long-term.

When setting an investment strategy, we recommend considering these five factors:

Timing: When will you spend the money?

Importance: How important is the expenditure?

Diversification: Do you have other sources of income?

Patience: How long can you wait if something goes wrong?

Risk preference: What type of investor are you?

To view our articles and guides on investing, which cover a range of topics, click here. The information we provide about investments is of a general nature only. This means it does not take into account your specific circumstances. If you require personalised financial advice, you should seek advice from an appropriately experienced Authorised Financial Adviser.

Your investment options

SuperLife offers a broad range of investment options

SuperLife's investment options can be combined in any way you choose, and changed at any time free of charge. There is no minimum amount you must invest in a fund.

SuperLife Age Steps: Sets investment strategy for you based on your age and may be suitable if you are saving for retirement.

Ethica: A balanced fund which invests based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors and excludes investments which do not meet our socially responsible investment (SRI) standards.

Managed funds: Five funds that allow you to choose a fund based on your risk-return profile.

Sector and ETF funds: 35 funds that allow you to take control and create your own investment strategy.

SuperLife offers the flexibility to choose one set of investment options for your existing savings or initial investment, and another set of investment options for your future contributions. All you have to do is let us know when you apply to join a scheme, or contact us to let us know.

Planning on making regular withdrawals? We have tools to help.

Reinvest income into the NZ Cash Fund

Each fund receives income (for example, interest and dividends) as part of its overall investment return. Our standard practice is to automatically reinvest the income into the fund it came from. However, another option is to invest the income into the NZ Cash Fund – this may be a better option if you are making regular withdrawals from SuperLife.

Regular withdrawal rebalancing

Over time, market movements will change the proportions of your investments so that they differ from the proportions you set in your investment strategy. Regular withdrawal rebalancing is designed for investors that want to:

reduce the risk of withdrawing money from funds that invest in shares and property at a time when the value of those funds has fallen; and/or

maintain a minimum level of cash and/or fixed interest.

If you choose this option, we will regularly rebalance your investments (normally each month) to maintain the proportions set in your investment strategy; however, we will only rebalance by moving money from higher volatility funds (for example, funds that invest in shares and property) to lower volatility funds (for example, funds that invest in fixed interest and cash), and will not move money the other way.

You can also choose for SuperLife to regularly maintain the proportions you set in your investment strategy (standard rebalancing) or choose not to have your investments rebalanced (no rebalancing).

Managed income

If you are thinking about retirement, SuperLife’s managed income solution pays you a regular tax-free monthly income from your savings, at a level that you choose (e.g. $2,000 a month). As long as you are eligible to make withdrawals, the income can be taken from your SuperLife account and credited to your bank account. The balance of your savings can continue to be invested with SuperLife.

Your managed income can be changed at any time (up or down, or stopped). You also have the flexibility to take out a lump sum at any time and for any reason, for example to buy a new car. This way you can spend your savings when you need to.

Email superlife@superlife.co.nz to learn more about our managed income solution, or call 0800 27 87 37 to speak to one of our friendly customer service members.

Learn more

SuperLife resources

To help you make an informed investment decision, we have a range of online resources for you to draw from. Visit our Resources section to view articles and guides, frequently asked questions about investing, recent newsletters as well as information about upcoming investment seminars across New Zealand.

Invest with SuperLife