Thousands of New Zealanders now have more than $1 million saved in online DIY investing accounts.
Sharesies co-founder Leighton Roberts said this week that the investing platform now has more than 1500 portfolios with more than $1 million invested.
Fewer than 100 of them included KiwiSaver.
"It has escalated over the last 12 months," he said. "Particularly as markets recovered. Quite a few people bought in quite heavily during the turmoil earlier this year."
He said he was surprised by the holdings of the larger portfolios.
"Across that group there's 1100 different instruments being held, which is way more than I would have expected for portfolios this size."
He said while funds were the majority of most Sharesies' investors' portfolios, those with $1m-plus balances had invested heavily directly in companies such as Tesla, Rocket Lab, Nvidia, Infratil, Xero, Meridian, Ryman, Air New Zealand and Fonterra.
"It's probably half and half New Zealand and US shares … way fewer ETFs than normally makes up a portfolio. I guess these people have gone in with quite high conviction."
Some could be people who were being given shares from companies they worked for, such as Xero and Meridian, he said.
"In general, the larger portfolios on our platform look to be making quite conviction-based decisions."
Some might have built up their investments over a long period, he said, and some transferred into Sharesies. "Some like Rocket Lab and Nvidia have seen such big price rises that the actual buy-in didn't need to be that huge to hit these numbers. My daughter I think is up 1000 percent on Rocket Lab although that unfortunately is nowhere near $1 million."
He said it was good to see confidence in investing growing.
Waimarie Marks, managing director of Hatch and Invest Direct said there were just over 1200 portfolios with more than $1m on her platforms.
She said investing platforms had been around for long enough that people had become comfortable with them.
"It's the ability of people to have optionality over a longer period of time. We saw a big boom in 2021, and 2020 with Covid too then it mellowed out a bit but with the economic conditions and interest rates changing again, having the ability to invest in something that can be bigger than what we've normally had access to - that's what is driving it. There are multiple market options for products, fixed interest, all those things allowing people to do more."
Thousands of New Zealanders now have more than $1 million invested through online platforms like Sharesies and Hatch. Photo: Supplied/123rf
She said people were educating themselves about investment and using AI. "It's easier to consume now, it's not as scary."
Dean Anderson, founder of Kernel Wealth, said he had some customers with tens of millions of dollars in their accounts who were looking for cost-effective or DIY options for the investments.
"We see this as a growing category - driven by those looking for a long-term, digital-first, tax and fee efficient way to manage intergenerational wealth. Feeding into this is also our wider Kiwi success, where there are so many outstanding companies and startups having success, being sold, and creating a new generation of wealth in New Zealand. This first generation of material wealth are looking for a different solution compared to the past."
He said older generations had the bulk of the wealth but there was also a "first wave" of inheritances coming through to their children.
"They're receiving some assets and going 'what do we do with this now'. They're much more in control, looking for a more digital-led solution. They want choice.
"It generally surprised me, the size of the accounts. The balances we're talking about, I would have assumed 12 months ago those accounts would have an adviser but they don't. They may be setting up their own structure, managing it themselves - people with multimillion-dollar accounts are well informed and making their own decisions."
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