Which providers offer a Total World Fund in NZ?
26 Apr, 2026
I am writing this blog post because I am constantly asked where you can purchase a Total World ETF from in New Zealand:
“Could I use Smart or InvestNow?”
“Sharesies, or a sharebroker?”
“What about using a full-service finance company?”
“Is Kernel an option?”
Once you understand that low fees and broad diversification matter, i.e. buying the whole global share market instead of picking stocks or countries, you land in a new kind of confusion… where to buy.
So let’s simplify this. Wish me luck!
This post is not about finding the perfect platform. There isn’t one. But there are some perfectly good options. The goal is to understand them enough to choose one and get on with investing.
First, what are we actually trying to do?
At its core, investing can be simple. Many people in the financial independence space choose a low-fee, globally diversified fund that tracks the whole world and requires very little ongoing decision-making.
That’s where a Total World Fund comes in.
Instead of picking individual companies, you are buying a tiny slice of thousands of companies around the world in one go. Here is an excellent visual by Katie Donegan of what that looks like: FTSE Global All Cap Analysis
It’s simple. It’s diversified. It’s hands-off, and that’s exactly why it works.
But it is also a 100% growth fund. That means volatility. You will see all-time highs and market drops. Both are normal.
Over time, markets go up. The keyword is time. This is a 10+ year investment.
Why are you doing this?
Many people start investing without understanding the end goal. I’d had our daughter investing for a couple of years, and she watched her balance rise before she asked me the most insightful questions:
“Why am I doing this?”
“What is the point?”
It can feel like you are just putting money into an account, watching a number go up and down, and hoping it will be useful, in some way, one day.
I had to explain to her that she was actually building an income-producing asset. A money-making machine if you like.
You are not stockpiling money
When you invest in a Total World Fund, you are not just “saving” - it’s a lot more interesting than that. You are buying global businesses, their future profits, and a slice of future global economic growth.
Over time, this becomes something powerful: a pool of money that can generate income for you.
When our daughter went to university, her investments helped cover her costs. That’s the point of investing.
The idea of “living off your investments”
This is where the 4% Rule (or a variation of it) comes in. In simple terms:
Build a pool of investments
Sell a small percentage each year (around 4%)
Leave the rest invested to keep growing
A commonly used starting point is to sell 4% of your total investment balance per year:
If I have $500,000 invested, I could sell 4%, or $20,000 per year
$1,000,000 invested → $40,000 per year
There are no taxes on gains when you sell, only small transaction fees. Many people use this approach to make work optional.
This works because most of your money stays invested, and it continues to grow. Put simply, you are drawing from an asset that keeps going up in value over time and keeps producing income.
Taxes are refreshingly simple
In New Zealand, many of these big ‘total world’ funds sit within PIE structures (Portfolio Investment Entities), which have a top tax rate of 28%.
Without going too deep here, the key point is that tax (including FIF tax) is handled for you within the fund - a huge weight off many people’s shoulders. You are taxed on income (like dividends and distributions), not on capital gains. So, if your investment grows by $10,000, there is no tax on that gain. When you sell later, the money lands in your account, ready to use.
Here in Aotearoa, we pay income tax - tax on the income you earn. When you invest in a large global fund, they earn, very VERY little income. Forget the concept of ‘living off your dividends’ as that does not apply here. If you have $100,000 invested, and it earns a 1% dividend (i.e. income) of $1,000, you pay 28% tax, or $280, on that $1,000 only. Not on the full $100,000.
For those who are saying, “But Ruth, I am on a 17.5% tax rate, or lower”. Your investment provider links with the IRD, and any overpaid tax is offset against the tax you are due to pay. In my experience, it all works out in the wash.
Why this matters for your motivation to invest
Instead of thinking “I’m investing to build a big pile of money”, think “I’m building something that will one day pay me an income for life”.
Because that changes how consistently you invest, how disciplined you are to keep investing a portion of every single dollar you earn, how you react when markets continuously fall or rise, and how patient you are as an investor.
Bringing it back to today
If you’re just starting, your balance might feel small, but every dollar you invest is:
buying future income
buying future freedom
At this point, a really common question is “Should I invest all my money at once, or spread it out over time?” People do both. They invest regularly and also make lump-sum contributions when they have them.
What matters most is that the money gets invested.
Final thought on this before I move on
The platform or company you choose to invest with matters. Fees and company structure matter. But what matters more is that you understand why you are investing, and that you commit to the long term. You are building an asset that can support you - not just saving money.
This is why KiwiSaver is such a fantastic investment - it makes you settle in for the long term.
You are literally building the goose that will continue to lay your golden eggs if you let it. Don’t kill the darn goose by selling it! You are building an asset that, over time, can support you.
And that’s a very different thing from just “saving money”. If you are saving money, you are simply delaying spending that money. If you are investing, you are building incoming generating assets.
A few companies are offering a Total World Fund
You’ve got two strong options and two maybes:
Maybe:
Share broker
All give you access to a Total World Fund, but they are not equal.
When I read JL Collins's The Simple Path to Wealth all those years ago, I went on the hunt for low-fee providers. The ONLY options at that time were Smartshares (now known as Smart) and InvestNow. Since that time, many other providers have entered the market, so the ones I’m mentioning are not an exhaustive list, but the ones I feel best fit the principles of those aiming for financial independence.
All of them use a standard sign-up process that verifies your identity with your smartphone and sets up your accounts. Still, despite websites saying “sign up in 5 minutes”, I think you need to allow a couple of hours to make sure you’ve provided everything you need, and have had all your questions (which I’m telling you, you WILL have) answered to your satisfaction. Don’t rush, take your time.
First-time investors, here are a few quick facts:
Smart: $30 setup, $500 minimum first investment, minimum $50/month ongoing investment
InvestNow: No setup fee, $250 minimum first investment, $50/month ongoing investment
Sharesies: No setup fee, no minimum investment
Share broker: It varies!
Option 1: Buying a Total World Fund via Smart
I personally use the Smart Total World Fund. They have an ETFs and index investing explained article that goes deep, and I encourage you to read it.
Smart is an investment provider owned by the New Zealand Stock Exchange, the NZX.
Here’s the key idea: Think of Smart as the place where Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) units are created, and the share market as the place where those units are later bought and sold (traded) between investors.
Those units are:
Held in your name (or joint names)
Linked to your own unique Common Shareholder Number (CSN). You can also have a joint CSN with your spouse
Managed via an independent share registry called MUFG (Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group)
Sold using a sharebroker of your choice
Structurally, you own the units directly. Much like the title of your own home is in your own name.
How it works
Smart uses a three-step process, which is different from what most people expect:
Buy on the 20th of each month.
Units are held in your name via an independent share registry (MUFG)
You sell using a sharebroker of your choice. For example, ASB Securities
Although they work together, each part is distinct/separate from the others.
In reality, this is how it looks for me:
On the 20th, Smart withdraws the amount I want to invest from my bank. I have a set amount I invest each month, and they invest that full amount. If I’ve got extra to invest, I’ve got until the 20th to instruct Smart to invest that too. That is all I do.
My new investments are manufactured and applied to my account on or around the 3rd business day of the following month. For some people, that feels clunky. For me, it's become a monthly routine I can rely on.
If I want to see the value of my investment at any time, I can either log into Smart or MUFG to check.
The monthly investing rhythm
One of the biggest differences with Smart is this once-a-month investing schedule. Why is it so slow?
Think of Smart like a factory. It only makes one product: ETFs. Each month, on the 20th, they gather all investors' money, manufacture new ETF units, and allocate them to investors in proportion to their investment amounts. They set the price, and the number of units they make depends on the total amount of money people want to invest.
You don’t buy daily. For me, that’s a feature. It removes the temptation to time the market, and whether I have $200 to invest or $2,000,000, they can fulfil my order.
Smart Fees
Smart is low-fee because they are just making sure their fund tracks the share market index as accurately as possible, which is cheap to do. It is a ‘passive’ form of investing, i.e., hands-off. ‘Active’ fund managers are trying to ‘beat’ the index. If the index returns 10%, they are aiming for more - and that requires more person power, research and analysis. This costs money, and you, the investor, will pay those costs in much higher fees - without the reassurance that their extra work will actually make you more money.
For the Smart Total World Fund (TWF), you pay:
0.40% annual fee
As with any fee, it will slightly reduce your returns over time. Which is why you want low fees. Low fees leave more money in your portfolio.
To think about it practically: If you had a $10,000 balance x 0.40% = $40/year in fees.
Liquidity
The share market is exactly that, a market where people are buying and selling their wares. Just like you might go to the supermarket only to find your favourite item is out of stock, it can be the same on the share market if you are buying and selling using a sharebroker. Smart solves this problem. If you have a large lump sum and want to invest it all at once, they can fill your order. You are not reliant on there being enough sellers on the other side of that trade. Smart removes this issue by creating new units and fulfilling your full order each month, regardless of size.
Finally, to sell your Smart units, you use a sharebroker of your choice. More on this below.
Who Smart suits
People who:
Like monthly investing
Want simplicity
Don’t want to manage tax
The ability to invest large lump sums when needed
Prefer owning units in their own name using their own CSN
Are not trying to time the share market
Option 2: Buying a Total World Fund via InvestNow
I use this for my KiwiSaver. You can find the same fund outside of KiwiSaver via the Foundation Series Total World Fund.
InvestNow is the other major low-fee option in Aotearoa. It is an investment platform that lets you buy a range of funds and shares from a long list of providers (including Smart products). Their Foundation Series funds are unlisted managed funds, meaning you are investing directly into the fund itself rather than trading units on the share market.
Think of InvestNow as a supermarket for investments.
I know their range of options confuses people. So, why do they, and other providers, offer such a staggering array of investments? It’s all about funds under management (FUM). The more money flows through their trading platform, as people buy and sell, the more income they earn from those transactions. It’s just business.
How InvestNow works
InvestNow is a platform. Instead of buying directly from the provider, as you do with Smart, you buy, hold, and sell investments from all sorts of companies, all in one place.
For many people, it feels easier to use because of this ‘one-stop shop’ structure.
InvestNow itself is owned by Apex Group, a huge global financial services provider.
With InvestNow:
Your investments are held in your name on their platform
Sit under a custodial structure
Not under your personal CSN
You can invest in joint names
The investments are:
Held separately from the day-to-day business
Ring-fenced from any issues with the company
Managed by an independent custodian
To put it in layperson's terms, if they couldn’t afford the rent on their building, they couldn’t use their investors' money to pay it. The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) would get involved if it did.
So, although the structure is different to Smart, where you own your shares/units/funds separate to the platform, under your own CSN, the key point is: Your assets are not owned by InvestNow. Instead, they hold them on your behalf.
I felt it was important to mention this because, sadly, here in Aotearoa, we are familiar with several major investment company collapses in which firms mishandled investors’ money. The investment industry has learned a lot from these failures. The FMA has a watchful eye over the industry, and to allay your concerns, InvestNow have written an article called The safeguards in place for your hard-earned money that details the security of their platform.
How you invest
You can:
Invest on any weekday - they trade once per day
Set up automatic contributions on your investing schedule
Invest large (or small) lump sums when needed
Buy and sell within the same platform
Everything happens in one place. Typically, if you buy on a Monday morning, your investment will show up in your account by Wednesday/Thursday. If you were selling, your money will be back in your account by Friday. Like Smart, provided you have entered your correct tax details, they manage your tax obligations.
Buying a Total World Fund via InvestNow
Here’s where things overlap. Those who have read JL Collins or completed Rebel Finance School immediately go looking for a Total World Fund they can buy from New Zealand. There are two obvious options using InvestNow.
You can actually buy Smart’s Total World Fund (TWF) through InvestNow, or you can buy their ‘house-brand’ fund, called InvestNow Foundation Series Total World Fund.
Yes, much like a big supermarket offers home brand products. So does InvestNow.
Fees
To purchase the InvestNow Foundation Series Total World Fund:
You will pay 0.50% to buy
Annual fee of 0.06%
You will pay 0.50% to sell
They can fill your exact dollar order, meaning if you invest $1,000, the full amount will be invested, even if that means buying a small fraction of a share. Overall, it’s a simple structure: a small entry cost, a tiny annual fee while you’re invested, and a small cost to sell.
To purchase the Smart TWF using InvestNow:
You will only pay the ongoing 0.40% annual management fee charged by Smart.
You can only buy whole units, so if you had $1,000 to invest and each unit was $3.00, you would have $1 uninvested because you could not purchase a full share.
InvestNow uses a broker-dealer, who is a market maker, meaning there is no limit on the amount that can be processed, and they can create new units as and when required. InvestNow only trades once per day; if you miss the cutoff, your investment will be processed the next day, which means you are buying or selling based on their schedule, not your own.
Deep discussions (and math) with Alan and Katie Donegan on the NZ-specific session of Rebel Finance School 2025 concluded that, from a fee perspective, InvestNow Foundation Series had a slight edge over Smart. But, as detailed, it doesn’t all come down to just fees; there are other structural features to consider.
Who InvestNow suits
In my experience, InvestNow suits people who:
Want everything in one place
Prefer to sign up with one company
Want the flexibility to buy on any weekday
Understand they are investing under their name, but not their CSN
Option 3: Sharesies (and why it’s different)
You can also buy a few different variations of a Total World Fund (including Smart TWF) via Sharesies, and many people start there.
Their platform is easy to use, and it has been an excellent tool for teaching my daughter how to invest. But here’s the trade-off: You can trade throughout the working day (which encourages share trading), and you pay much higher fees due to additional brokerage costs. For the Smart Total World Fund, she is paying a 1.9% fee. That is VERY high.
In my opinion, Sharesies is great for:
Learning
Getting started
Teaching the key skills of consistency and habit when investing
But over the decades, those higher fees eat into your investments by tens of thousands of dollars.
Many people start with Sharesies, learn how investing works for them, find their rhythm and then move to a lower-fee platform like Smart or InvestNow.
Option 4: Investing using a sharebroker
There are many NZX participants (sharebrokers), which are companies that will buy and sell shares for you.
I occasionally use a sharebroker (currently ASB Securities) to sell my Smart shares.
They are good for large, one-off trades, but the fees you will pay will soon add up if you are making small, frequent investments.
Last year, I rebalanced our investments (I have stopped buying the US 500. Well, sort of.), selling all our Smart US 500 and immediately buying the Smart Total World Fund. It was a quick process, and our money was out of the share market for a very short time. For these larger, one-off trades, using a broker was a cost-effective choice.
I don’t want to go too deep into the weeds here, but in my experience, people who buy and sell through a broker are more likely to actively trade. They try to buy low, sell high, and time the market. This is not the behaviour of a successful long-term investor.
Unlike Smart or InvestNow, where the buy price is set for you, using a broker allows you to place orders at a price you choose. Whether you actually get that price is another story. In theory, you can try to take advantage of market dips to “buy on sale” or sell when prices are high. But this requires you to watch the market closely and react to it, which is a far more involved way to invest. Most people can’t keep it up.
Those in the financial independence community who hold their shares directly (as I do with Smart) tend to use a broker more systematically. They might sell a set amount each month, quarter, or year to generate income. The key is that it’s planned and consistent, not reactive.
The fees soon add up otherwise.
With ASB Securities, for example, you will pay:
$15 up to $1,000
$30 up to $10,000
0.30% above that.
These fees make brokers far too expensive for small, regular investments, which is one of the reasons platforms like Sharesies came into existence, allowing people to invest very small amounts.
The NZX Participants list shows your options for buying and selling, but each will come with its own products, services, and fee structures - so do your math.
Coming back to liquidity again, the ability to buy or sell on your own timeframes and at your desired price. Large buy or sell orders may not fill instantly. It can take time, it will require monitoring, and it could be priced differently from what you wanted.
In contrast, investing directly with Smart or InvestNow guarantees your order will be filled, regardless of size, but you don’t get to choose the price, nor the exact date/time to buy.
What about Kernel?
I added a short piece here because this is another platform I'm frequently asked about.
Kernel is a good platform with a clean, modern user experience and low fees. Much like Sharesies, they have done a fantastic job of normalising investing in the share market, and they provide a lot of educational resources.
But here is the key issue for the type of investing I’m talking about in this post: They simply do not offer a Total World Fund. Yet.
Instead, you are currently required to build your own version of a global portfolio by selecting a mix of their index funds. In theory, that sounds fine, but in practice, people struggle.
My inbox is full of questions like:
“How much of each fund do I buy?”
“What funds do I buy to mimic a TWF?”
“Am I too heavy in the US?”
“Do I need emerging markets?”
“How, and how often, do I rebalance?”
My answer? “No idea”.
And before they know it, something that should be simple has become complicated, and they have moved from “Buy one fund and get the whole world” to “Build and manage your own global portfolio and adjust as necessary”.
Trying to build your own TWF creates confusion, second-guessing, and a tendency to tinker - which is exactly what we are trying to avoid. I have recently learned that Kernel will be releasing a TWF ‘soon’, and it will be interesting to see what form it takes. Watch this space.
So… which provider should you choose?
This is where people want a definitive answer that I can’t give: Not a financial advisor: can’t give financial advice.
But honestly, with all the reading, learning (I’m still learning) and research I’ve done over the years, and all the people I meet who are actually investing in a Total World Fund, and making working optional, they make their choice from a short list of good options.
Are you suffering from analysis paralysis?
You might be interested in how I made my choice a decade ago. There was no varied choice of providers and products as there is today, and the ONLY low-fee options available were Smart and InvestNow. Each was offering a far smaller range of investments than they do now.
At that time, I didn’t understand that one would let me invest under my CSN, the other would not, that one let you buy, hold, and sell in one place, and the other needed me to sign up with a sharebroker. But I knew enough to want a low-fee, large fund. So, you know what it came down to? At that time, the InvestNow user experience was truly awful. Their website had links that didn’t work, which didn’t fill me with confidence, whereas Smart was sleek. When I asked them questions directly, they answered them. Looks and functionality won out. I’m happy to report that technology has come a long way, and both platforms now provide a good user experience.
And this is the point I want to get to. Don’t bog yourself down in so many details that you fail to start investing. For the sake of simplicity, there are many nitty-gritty details that I’ve left out of this post (which you can ask in the comments below if you feel so inclined). Instead, here are two basic good options, with a few other choices thrown in for good measure. Dig into each, make your decision, then start. Invest consistently for a set period of time, of your choosing, and then review it. During that time, continue learning, buy some shares, and sell some too, to see how the theory works in practice. During your review period, if you need to make a change, make it - even if that means selling the lot and changing provider - then move on.
What actually matters is using a platform that offers low fees, provides broad diversification through a massive global fund, and encourages you to invest consistently and stay invested over decades.
Final thought
Those who invest in a Total World Fund and sell off a small portion each year to fund their lifestyle have cracked the secret: investing does not need to be complicated.
I’ve watched people cautiously approach investing for the first time hundreds of times.
People spend weeks, sometimes months, trying to choose the “best” platform. Meanwhile, they are not investing - and that is the real risk.
So here’s what I’d say to you: Pick one. Start. Keep it simple. Review. Refine. Keep going!
Because in 10, 20, 30 years, it won’t be the platform that made the difference. It will be the fact that you started and stayed consistent.
Phew, if you stuck with me till the end, well done! That was a big effort! Hope it helps, though.
