A First-Timer’s Guide: How to Invest Using Smart
07 Sep, 2025
Trying something for the first time can be confusing, especially for those managing their investments on their own. This fear of the unknown often leads many to hire someone else to handle their investing. I encourage you to take the plunge and buy and manage your own investments.
I understand that, although I know you have the skills to buy, hold, and eventually sell your own investments, the initial experience can be overwhelming. However, there's no need to worry; it's not as difficult as it may seem. It just requires learning a new process and becoming familiar with it.
I often receive emails asking how to invest using Smart, which is the provider I use to purchase my Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF). I want to clarify the process for anyone interested. I’m not paid to write this; I’m sharing it to save time. The next time someone asks, I can forward them this blog post! Additionally, I’m thinking about writing a blog post about InvestNow as well, because you can also buy a Smart ETF cheaply via them.
Assuming you've completed the straightforward sign-up process, which involves uploading necessary identification documents and paying a one-time $30 setup fee, you'll receive your CSN (Common Shareholder Number) and FIN (Financial Identification Number). These numbers are essential for logging into your investment account. I'll now guide you through the steps after sign-up and how to prepare for your first investment.
Sign-up tips:
You will be given the option to reinvest your dividends (often referred to as a DRP or dividend reinvestment plan), and unless you are already drawing income off your investments, tick YES please! In June and December, Smart pays out distributions (dividends), and when you are in the ‘wealth accumulation’ phase of life, automatically reinvesting these buys more shares/units, which grows your wealth that little bit faster.
You can sign up as an individual or in joint names if you are a couple.
Use Smart when you know you can commit to investing hundreds, and then hopefully thousands of dollars each month. To grow your money, you need to invest decent sums of money.
You can buy Smart ETFs in three ways:
Directly with Smart by logging into their website www.smartinvest.co.nz
Via an NZX participant, such as a financial advisor or share broker
For Jonny and I, all three methods have their place. Predominantly, we invest directly with Smart once a month, buying their Total World ETF (TWF). This is our largest monthly investment. However, we also invest a small amount each week with Sharesies (as they are an affiliate of mine and I use them to teach my daughter how to invest), using them to purchase the Smart TWF. Occasionally, when I’ve done a portfolio rebalance, we have used a sharebroker to quickly sell one investment and immediately buy the Smart TWF.
Although we can purchase the same funds from other providers, some may add additional fees and extra charges to the transaction.
| For example: | Fee | |
|---|---|---|
| Directly with Smart | .40% Fund Charge | |
| Trading Platform | Sharesies 1.91% Transaction Fee InvestNow .50% Buy Charge + .06% Fund Charge |
|
| NZX Participant | Tiered fee structure based on the quantity being purchased |
What is SMART
Formerly known as Smartshares, Smart is an investment fund manager owned by the New Zealand Stock Exchange, NZX. Smart offers a range of ETFs that track specific national and global share markets, such as the top companies in the USA, or a fund that tracks global property, or even Bitcoin. By bundling up groups of companies in specific sectors, Smart provides a cost-efficient and passive way to invest. This approach eliminates the need to buy each company individually within that sector or country, making investing more accessible and manageable for everyone.
I don’t pick stocks; instead, I buy all the stocks within one ETF, and I keep hold of them for a very long time.
Anyone can purchase an ETF from Smart, and there are 40 options to choose from. Do you need all 40? No, absolutely not. So, why do they (and every other investment provider) offer so many choices? Much like a supermarket, Smart provides a wide range of options to appeal to different customers. This strategy helps attract more users to their platform, and more customers mean increased income from fees. Ultimately, providing investments is just a business.
When you invest directly with Smart, it is a three-step investment process:
You buy your ETF units directly from Smart
You hold/own your units through an investor portal and share registry called MUFG
You sell your ETF units using a sharebroker
Step 1. How to buy Smart
Although you can log into your Smart account at any time to view your investment balance, you can only purchase investments directly with Smart on the 20th of each month. Why is this the case?
When you invest directly with Smart, you are buying brand-spanking-new ETF units that have never been on the share market for sale. Think of Smart as a factory that only goes into production on the 20th of each month.
Effectively, what they are doing is taking money out of thousands of bank accounts of investors (of which I am one) who have placed an order that month, pooling that money, and using it to make one big batch of new ETF units, which they will then divvy out to investors, based on how many units they paid for. They will also set the price of those new units.
It is only when I choose to turn around at a later date and sell my ETF that trading platforms (such as Sharesies and InvestNow) and NZX participants (including financial advisors and share brokers) can buy and sell them. They are trading ‘on market’ units (units that Smart has already produced, and then sold by me, for example), meaning that they can trade daily.
Because of this, a key distinction between the investment platforms of Smart and InvestNow is that with Smart, you buy on the 20th, and with InvestNow, you can buy Monday through Friday.
The 19th of each month is the most crucial date in my investing calendar. It is the day to confirm how much I will invest on the 20th. I have a note in my calendar to remind me to make sure my investments are all set to go for the month. If I miss it, I'll have to wait another month.
Log in to your account at www.smartinvest.co.nz. You will find the Login at the top right of your screen.
You will need to know your nine-digit CSN (Common Shareholder Number) and your four-digit FIN (Faster Identification Number).
Investing with Smart Login screen. You will need to know your nine-digit CSN and your four-digit FIN.
Once logged in, you will see your:
CSN/Holder Number -
Name -
Address -
If any of this is incorrect, make sure you follow their prompts to make changes. Always keep your personal details, bank account details and tax information up to date.
The next thing you see is your Holding & Regular Savings Plan (RSP) details.
Your Unit Balance (how many units you own of a particular ETF), plus the total value, is shown here. I’ll often just log in to check this dollar balance if I’m updating my net worth spreadsheet on the first of the month.
You have a couple of options here.
If you have a very regular income, you will be able to invest a specific amount each month, which you can enter here. First-time investors start with a minimum investment of $500, but then the minimum monthly investment drops to $50. You can increase this amount. Whatever amount you enter here will be deducted from your bank account on or after the 20th of every month. You can change it at any time if needed, but setting and forgetting is generally best.
I, on the other hand, have a very irregular income and am never sure, until the 19th of the month, how much Jonny and I can invest. However, I can commit to $200 a month, so I set that as my Monthly Contribution. Unless I change it, $200 a month will be deducted from my bank account on or around the 20th.
I commit $200 as my Monthly Contribution.
If you only invest a set amount of money each month, you are all set. You can move down to check that your Direct Debit (DD) details are correct. Your money will be taken out of this bank account.
But, if you have an additional amount you want to invest, move down to Lump Sum Contributions.
Due to our irregular income, I will always make a lump sum contribution in addition to my RSP. An irregular income can not be an excuse NOT to invest. So, I’ve set up a strategy to continue to push myself to find money that we can invest. Once a week, I have an auto transfer of funds from our cheque account to a bank account with its own suffix (a sinking fund). I add extra when I can and let this money accumulate throughout the month. Then, on the 19th of each month, I check the balance of that bank account, double-check I’m OK to send it to long-term investments, and that is the “Lump Sum Contribution” I will make. It varies each month. Typically, we invest about 30% of our monthly take-home pay.
If you have a large lump sum, such as an inheritance, that you want to invest, this is where you enter the amount. It resets to zero each month.
I will always make a lump sum contribution in addition to my RSP.
You only use the Additional Funds section if you are buying a different ETF for the first time. For example, if I wanted to start buying an Australian ETF, I would find it here. But, as you can see, when you invest for the very first time, you must make a $500 investment into that fund.
TIP: If you are investing for the very first time, I encourage you to make the minimum investment amount they will allow. Then, follow the entire process through over the following two weeks, so you can begin to feel comfortable with the whole buy and then sell process. After several months of investing the minimum amount, you will feel educated enough to increase your monthly investment amounts. Use these first few months as your investment education.
Once you are satisfied that your Direct Debit (DD) details (your bank account) are correct, tick the box “I agree that Smart is authorised to direct debit my account for the full amount applied for”. And, of course, make sure that this sum of money is sitting in your bank account, ready to go!
TIP: If you have a joint account, make sure that the other person knows money is sitting there waiting to be removed by Smart so that they don’t inadvertently spend it.
Tax Residency is the next section where they are specifically asking if you are a tax resident in any other country. If you have a joint account with Smart, you need to answer for each person. Investing is a serious business; you must answer honestly.
Click NEXT.
The next page is a summary that confirms the ETF you are investing in, the amount you are investing, and the bank account from which the money will be withdrawn. This is your final opportunity to make changes.
Smart summary screen that confirms the ETF you are investing in, the amount you are investing, and the bank account from which the money will be withdrawn.
Finally, enter your Email Address and Mobile Phone Number so Smart can send a copy of this information - your Investment Overview. They collect your phone number because they may phone you if there is an issue. I once invested a large amount of money, which was at odds with my usual $2,000 - $3,000 monthly investment, and they phoned me up to make sure I had not made a typo!
Once you press SUBMIT, you are done.
Your Investment Overview will immediately arrive in your inbox. Read it. Keep a copy for your records.
Now it's a waiting game.
This is the part that confuses people.
The money you want to invest will be taken from the bank account you nominated on, or after the 20th of the month. Depending on the day of the week the 20th falls, it sometimes takes until the 23rd for the funds to be withdrawn from my bank account.
For the first time, you will see a company called MUFG referred to. On my bank statement, I see that “MUFG pensions & market smartshares” has removed the exact amount I requested to invest from my account. At this time, you will receive an email letting you know how your Smart application is proceeding.
This is very much worth reading at least once because it tells you the all-important next steps:
Email from Smart, letting me know how my application is proceeding.
“The next step is for your units to be created”
This simple sentence is important because when you invest using Smart, you are buying brand-spanking-new units that have never before been “on the market” for sale. The Smart ETF factory is about to start production for the month. The reason why there is a delay in receiving your Smart units once you have purchased them is that they have to make them. Effectively, what they are doing is taking money out of thousands of bank accounts of individual investors, pooling that money, and using it to make one big batch of new ETF units, which they will set the price on, and then divvy out to investors, based on how many units they paid for.
The final email I receive from Smart is usually around the 3rd of the next month when they inform me that my new Smart units have now been allotted to me. The buying process is now complete. Below is a copy of a $1,400 purchase I made earlier in the year:
Email from Smart informing me my new Smart units have now been allotted to me.
Now, if I log into Smart, the number of units I hold has increased.
Step 2. You own your units through an investor portal called MUFG.
You are now done with Smart for the month. Check back in on the 19th to start the process again.
You simply used them to purchase your units. Once the transaction was complete, your units were issued and are now stored with MUFG, the independent share registry Smart has chosen to work with.
MUFG stands for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. It's an enormous banking/financial institution and for our purposes, they are the independent share registry that Smart have chosen to use to store and monitor our Smart ETF units. Long-time users of Smart will know the name “Link Market Services”. MUFG purchased Link Market Services in 2024.
TIP: If you are new to investing, you will need to get used to the fact that financial institutions are forever merging and acquiring other financial institutions, or just generally changing their names. Smartshares became Smart. Link Market Services became MUFG.
First-time users will also need to create an account with MUFG. Fear not, it’s not that difficult to do. Just follow the link in the email they send you that says “You will find information on how to manage your investments online, via the investor centre”. You will need your CSN and FIN numbers.
I know what you are saying, “Ruth, come on! Really? Do I have to sign up for yet another platform? #%@! Why?!”
Yes, yes, you do. And for good reason.
You use MUFG to manage your Smart investment because the registry, not Smart, holds your shares directly. This direct ownership gives you more control over your investments. The registry directly registers them in your name, using your CSN, instead of your shares being held in a ‘custody model’ by your provider or broker.
This is another major difference between using Smart and InvestNow. You own your units under your CSN and name. The analogy I use is that the local council doesn’t own the title to my house; I own it. And by having ownership, I have more control over my home.
This direct registration also gives you more control over corporate actions like dividends and shareholder meetings, but to be honest with you, this is not something that I, as a single ETF holder, ever really engage with. To me, owning units in my name was the most important factor.
When I log into MUFG, I see a list of all the investments I’ve owned in the past, and the ones I currently own. This is where I can find the distributions/dividends that Smart paid out in June and December, and it is here that I can see exactly how much the units I currently own are worth, as the value of the units changes throughout the day.
MUFG screen showing all my past and current holdings.
Think of the process so far this way:
Smart is the supermarket. I walked in, purchased the one thing I wanted, and left.
When I got home from shopping at Smart, I put my purchase in my pantry. MUFG is my pantry.
We’ve been buying Smart for a decade, so we have a lot of units sitting in our pantry.
You will receive a Securities Transaction Statement via email from MUFG after each purchase detailing your purchase. Keep these emailed statements for future reference. More on this in a moment.
3. You sell your ETF units using a sharebroker
If you are an ETF investor like myself and Jonny, you are a ‘buy and hold investor’, which means you may spend many years buying, and never sell a single thing. We have purchased new ETF units monthly for years. We have never ever missed a month. But it is rare for us to sell.
For most investors who choose to use Smart, they only engage with buying through Smart and holding through MUFG.
But every investor should reach a point where they start selling their investments. After all, the entire point of buying investments was and is to grow wealth to provide an income at some future point. When that time comes, I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but you will need to sign up for one more platform: a share brokerage platform.
You need to use a sharebroker to sell your shares.
Brokers are plentiful. Here is a list. You can choose whichever one you want.
We have sold shares just a handful of times over the years, typically when we wanted to rebalance our portfolio (by selling off some ETFs we no longer needed and reinvesting the proceeds into the one ETF we now use), or to apply The 4% Rule.
Each broker has different systems and charges different rates; I suggest asking around to find out who offers the best rates for you. Last time we sold, I used ASB Securities based on the recommendation of trusted friends who invest. You will pay a brokerage or administration fee when you sell your shares. You pay when you buy, and you pay when you sell, but you do have the opportunity to shop around for low brokerage fees.
TIP: There are those out there who were so keen to invest that they got started before they really knew what they were doing. And as a result, they have small investments scattered about on different investment platforms. A tip is that if you own shares or ETFs that you want to sell, and you are a user of Sharesies, you can transfer your individual shares and ETFs into Sharesies at no cost, and then sell those investments via Sharesies. You’ll pay a fee to sell (you will pay a fee to sell whomever you use), and once the money is in your Sharesies wallet, you can withdraw it to your bank account. It’s a quick and easy way to divest yourself of shares, using a platform you may already be familiar with.
Most people who have taken the time to read this blog post won’t be regular sellers of shares; you are more likely in the accumulation phase. So, what I would recommend to you is to take the time to learn how to buy with Smart, work out where your shares are stored with MUFG and then ‘complete the loop’ by selling off $50 worth of shares and having that money returned to your bank account. This way, you have followed the entire buy, hold and sell process right to the end, and you are more likely to feel you understand the entire process.
I’ve met many people who have purchased shares and have no idea how to sell. This, in turn, makes them fearful that their investment is an entire Ponzi scheme and makes them wonder if it really even exists! It does! But it's your job to learn and understand how it works.
When we first started investing as a way to learn, we completed our first sale. Then, half a dozen years went by before we ever sold again. By then, you guessed it, the original brokerage service we used had been acquired by another company, and I had to sign up all over again, but at least I knew what to do.
Ultimately, you will reach the point that many in the F.I. community have, where they have spent a decade or two growing their ETF investments, and then finally they quit their jobs and start selling small amounts of shares each month, each quarter, or each year. What once felt like an unfamiliar process - logging into a share trading platform - soon becomes second nature.
How do you know if investing actually works?
Now you know how to buy, store and sell your ETFs, the next question you will inevitably ask yourself is, “Am I making or losing money?”
I use a company called Sharesight to track the performance of my investments. It is free to use if you have fewer than ten investments, which those in the F.I. community tend to have.
Each month, when I receive my “Securities Transaction Statement” from MUFG, I forward it to Sharesight, and they add it to my portfolio.
TIP: In Sharesight, go to Settings > Trade Confirmation Emails - and copy the Portfolio Email Address. Forward your Securities Transaction Statement to this email address, and it will immediately populate your Sharesight portfolio with this new information.
Whenever a distribution/dividend is paid, Sharesight automatically adds this to my portfolio.
In this way, I know in real time how my investment is performing, the total return, capital gain and distributions, plus the quantity of units I hold, and the current share price. I also use Sharesight to monitor our KiwiSaver and Sharesies investments so that I can track them as well.
In real time, Sharesight shows me how my investment is performing.
Final Thoughts
The buy-once-a-month aspect of Smart is unusual in these times, where we can buy and sell on share trading platforms all day long. When we first started investing, the only low-fee providers available to me were InvestNow and Smart. To be perfectly honest, at that time, I didn’t know, nor understand the differences between the two, and our choice came down to Smart having a better user experience at that time (InvestNow has since improved and remains a viable, but different, alternative). Also, I figured that I was as close to the source - the NZX - as I could possibly be. I now understand that they are quite different investment platforms, with InvestNow selling on-market Smart ETFs, which is why you can buy and sell daily. Furthermore, if I were to invest with InvestNow, I wouldn’t use my CSN because I’m not directly holding the units in my own name. Instead, I’m holding the units via a custodian, and they keep track of my ownership.
In the last decade, other investment companies have come along that are worthy of consideration. Yet, we stick with Smart. The primary reason is down to the one thing that you have to have if you want to be a successful investor: creating good habits. The 20th of the month is our North Star. We have created a solid habit of having our money in order so it can be invested on the 20th of the month, without fail. Yes, we have this period of ‘no man's land’ when our money leaves our bank account on the 20th, but we don’t receive the product till the end of the month. Still, because it's a low-fee investment, and because of dollar cost averaging over time, and the fact that I own units under my CSN, I’m good with that.
Slow and steady wins the race for Jonny and I.
If you would rather invest your money into a Smart ETF at any time, then use a share broker, a financial advisor, InvestNow or Sharesies, but just know that, particularly with Sharesies and a financial advisor, you will pay a much higher price for doing so. You may not create the habits that you need to make you a good investor.
Habits are key.
Whomever you choose to use, create a rigid investment timetable, and stick to it. Make investing for your future a priority. Invest on your own schedule, without fail. If you buy, then sell shortly thereafter, you are not yet ready to become an investor.
There is no perfect investment platform. There is no perfect investment. But we have found one that is perfectly good enough for us, and combined with our excellent track record of actually investing once per month without fail, our wealth has grown.
So, there you have it!
Hopefully, that should answer the many questions I receive about using an investment provider such as Smart.
You’re welcome.
