Wise words from us

NZ investors are being targeted by sophisticated scams. Discover the warning signs, how these schemes operate, and how to stay protected online.

Constant market updates can cause stress and short-term reactions. Focusing on long-term trends and trusting your investment strategy helps smooth out volatility and improve outcomes. Sometimes, the best move is to tune out the noise and let time work in your favor.

Our team spent a rewarding day volunteering at Kelmarna Community Farm in Auckland—an inspiring urban oasis championing sustainability, regenerative agriculture, and community wellbeing.

Our team had the privilege of contributing to the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) Conference Aotearoa NZ 2025, the largest gathering of ethical and responsible investment professionals in New Zealand.

We were recently randomly selected by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) for a monitoring review. We’re now pleased to report that the outcome and feedback were overwhelmingly positive.

Donald Trump’s first six months as president were marked by aggressive policies, especially tariffs. Despite economic logic suggesting tariffs harm growth, markets thrived. Investor confidence persists, partly due to Trump’s unpredictability.

In this “Meet the Manager” webinar, David Gallagher from Artesian discusses their strategy for integrating Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors into their investment process and highlights the positive impact of their company engagement. 

Market volatility is a natural part of investing, but it can test even the most seasoned investors. This article from Dimensional Fund Advisors offers three practical tips to help you stay focused and confident through the highs and lows

Celebrating Excellence in Ethical Advice: Mark Holtom Highly Commended at the 2025 Mindful Money Awards. The awards honour individuals, organisations, and funds that are leading the way in ethical investing across Aotearoa.

Recent events highlight the importance of ensuring that portfolios are well diversified across the number of investments, asset classes, and countries – even for very large economies like the United States. This is a guiding star of the portfolios that our clients are invested into.

We recently had a client who was quite worried about the state of the world – was this a prelude to turmoil and even war?  After spending time talking this through with them, they were much happier. Our comments weren’t just about the usual -markets are volatile but always recover- but also about what history can teach us. They found it so reassuring that we thought we’d share some of it here.

In this session, Professor Tim Naish from Victoria University of Wellington discusses his research on the effects of climate change on Antarctica. Despite being the coldest continent, Antarctica is experiencing some of the fastest warming rates. This webinar will provide valuable insights into the impacts on Aotearoa New Zealand, including rising sea levels.

Fund manager Harbour Asset Management – provider of two funds we use in our ethical portfolios – has produced a summary of the three key themes they observed in working with New Zealand companies during 2024. These are climate change, looking after people and artificial intelligence (AI) governance.

At the beginning of every year, we’re regularly asked ‘what do you think this investment year will bring?’. Of course, we respond with ‘nobody knows, and markets are efficient so everyone’s guesses are already priced in’. But as an evidence-based firm we like to have some data to back this up.

At the end of 2024, Ethical Investing NZ celebrated 10 years in business – and 10 years of success. Based on his decades-long commitment to stewardship, founder Peter Lee brought together his extensive experience of “advising advisers” with his passion for ethical investing. He had a vision to set up a top-flight, professional advice firm based on principles of sustainability.

In a way, “geo-political” has become the word of the year. It means the interplay on a global level of politics, markets and countries. While such events can have profound impacts on the lives of individuals, communities and nations impacted, do they matter for long term asset returns?

Ethical Investing is strongly committed to being a “good corporate citizen” in many practical ways – including volunteering at social or environmental causes. Recently the team helped out at the Kaipatiki Project Ecohub, a North Shore-based environmental initiative.

The NZ ethical investing community’s premier event is the Responsible Investment Association of Australasia (RIAA) annual conference. This year’s in mid-September saw a big presence from the Ethical Investing team – as attendees but also as presenters.

Falling interest rates contain both good and bad news. They’re great if you’re a borrower, such as a business or a mortgage-holder – or the NZ government. However, if you’re someone reliant on term deposits for income, drops are not so good.

Ethical investing is not a static ‘set and forget’ process. Companies that are ‘good’ one day may not remain so, and conversely companies can improve their ratings. That means the fund managers we use regularly review their holdings, replacing companies that are no longer so ethical with ones that have improved.

Last week, we were awarded Highly Commended in the Best Ethical Financial Adviser category – in essence, runner-up. Given the stiff competition we’re absolutely delighted. It’s a real credit to our passionate team.

You may have heard of “benchmarks”. These are basically target returns that an investment is measured against. They are crucial tools to enable you as an investor to ask some key questions.

Income in a trust that’s not distributed to beneficiaries is taxed at what’s called the “trustee rate” – in effect, the trust.  Investors with family trusts will know that for some years there’s been a discrepancy between the top rate that beneficiaries pay (39%) and the tax rate for trusts (33%).

The 2023 election has come and (largely) gone. While the final makeup of the incoming government is still being decided, most commentators aren’t expecting a significant change in governmental priorities anytime soon.

The 2023 election has come and (largely) gone. While the final makeup of the incoming government is still being decided, most commentators aren’t expecting a significant change in governmental priorities anytime soon.

Until recently, ethical investing primarily meant avoiding certain types of investments. However, investors are increasingly looking to actively favour industries and companies wanting to make a positive difference.

In this “Meet the Manager” webinar, John Berry from Pathfinder shares their journey from the beginning, why they are so passionate about doing good for your pocket as well as for people and our planet. Pathfinder is a multi-award winning fund manager that have built a strong reputation for both their positive actions and their strong performance.

Our director, Mark Holtom, joined Bryony Greenhalgh from Pathfinder in the recent Sustainable Business Network ‘Hot Take’ discussion to talk about some of the ways employers can be supporting their employees in this current economic climate. Here is the recording of the discussion.

In this “Meet the Manager” series we’re hosting live discussions with fund managers to cover what they do, where they’re focused and examples of companies they’re invested in.  In doing so, our clients learn more about the underlying funds where their money is invested. This month we’re talking with Betashares.

View the webcast we held on the 22nd of October as the C2C team discuss investment markets and underlying themes.

View the webcast we held on the 20th of May as the C2C team chat about the budget, what it means to NZ and investors.

Listen to the client webcast we held on the 8th of April as the C2C team chat about what’s happening due to Covid-19.

If there is one lesson to be learned, it is that forecasters rarely get it right!

When investment markets bounce around, ask yourself a few key questions.

The evidence-based investment manager that’s leading the way.

Why having all your eggs in one basket isn’t a great strategy.

If you’re looking to donate in a structured way, there are definite advantages to using a donor advised fund like The Gift Trust.