"The rate of KiwiSaver membership growth picked up noticeably in August after slumping in the wake of the Government's May Budget," said Sam Stubbs, Chief Executive Officer of KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments. "Almost 20,000 new members signed up in August, increasing total member count by 1.1% to just short of 1.8 million New Zealanders," he said. "If this rate of sign up persists, the total member count will exceed 1.8 million at the end of this September and will reach two million within 10 months."
"The big jumps in original joining method categories were around 9,000 each in opt in via provider and automatically enrolled by employer," he said. "There has been some optimism recently expressed in business confidence surveys that might be reflected in more automatic enrolments of new employees."
"The Rugby World Cup may also have increased automatic enrolments due to a burst of new hiring to cope with expected demand from rugby fans." "With all the doom-and-gloom spilling in from overseas regarding Europe's sovereign debt problems and America's near recessionary economy, it's a positive sign that the automatically enrolled category grew by a healthy 1.4%."
"Growth in automatic enrolments was the highest rate, compared with opt in via provider (1.1%) and opt in via employer (0.6%)."
"The major issue with such robust growth in automatic enrolments is that many new KiwiSaver members will not be in the most appropriate risk profile for their age and objectives because default funds are very conservative."
Tower Investments also owns Tower Insurance which provides various insurance policies for health, rental property, vehicle ownership and more.
Sovereign credit risk spreads fear through markets
KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of financial market performances for the month of August, 2011.
"August was a climactic month for ever-increasing worries over sovereign creditworthiness," said Sam Stubbs, Chief Executive Officer of KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments.
"Early in August Standard & Poor's downgraded the long-term creditworthiness of the US federal government from AAA to AA+ on negative credit watch in part because of political bickering in Washington DC that had brought the government to the brink of defaulting on its scheduled payments," he said.
"Focus then shifted onto the apparent inability of the leading governments within the euro common currency area to get firmly to grips with quarantining the sovereign debt crisis contagion of Greece, Ireland and Portugal off from the larger economies at risk of Spain, Italy, and now even France."
"Political discord is now channelling directly into sovereign credit risk and causing investors to fear that government IOUs are not the 'risk-free' proposition that they have long been taken for granted as being." "The paradoxical result of sovereign credit risk fear was that investors bought government bonds in a flight to safety, pushing down yields at the longer end of the curve."
"It was risky assets - particularly shares - that got hammered, although they suffered also from rising concerns that the US economy is sliding inexorably back into recession."
"US official unemployment remains stubbornly anchored at around the 9% mark, but actual unemployment and underemployment must be a lot higher despite all the fiscal support and monetary accommodation that has been thrown at the American economy to date."
"This high unemployment is a stark signal that what US government authorities have done thus far isn't working successfully down at the real economy level of Main Street USA."
Best performers for the month of August were New Zealand bonds (+2.0%), global bonds (+1.5%), and commodities (+1.0%).
Worst performers for the month were global shares (-6.8%), hedge funds (-3.7%), and New Zealand shares (-2.1%).
Risky assets were still holding up for the year to August, with commodities ahead +25.8%, New Zealand equities +9.5%, and global equities +8.1%.
"The big jumps in original joining method categories were around 9,000 each in opt in via provider and automatically enrolled by employer," he said. "There has been some optimism recently expressed in business confidence surveys that might be reflected in more automatic enrolments of new employees."
"The Rugby World Cup may also have increased automatic enrolments due to a burst of new hiring to cope with expected demand from rugby fans." "With all the doom-and-gloom spilling in from overseas regarding Europe's sovereign debt problems and America's near recessionary economy, it's a positive sign that the automatically enrolled category grew by a healthy 1.4%."
"Growth in automatic enrolments was the highest rate, compared with opt in via provider (1.1%) and opt in via employer (0.6%)."
"The major issue with such robust growth in automatic enrolments is that many new KiwiSaver members will not be in the most appropriate risk profile for their age and objectives because default funds are very conservative."
Tower Investments also owns Tower Insurance which provides various insurance policies for health, rental property, vehicle ownership and more.
Sovereign credit risk spreads fear through markets
KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments has released its monthly analysis of financial market performances for the month of August, 2011.
"August was a climactic month for ever-increasing worries over sovereign creditworthiness," said Sam Stubbs, Chief Executive Officer of KiwiSaver provider TOWER Investments.
"Early in August Standard & Poor's downgraded the long-term creditworthiness of the US federal government from AAA to AA+ on negative credit watch in part because of political bickering in Washington DC that had brought the government to the brink of defaulting on its scheduled payments," he said.
"Focus then shifted onto the apparent inability of the leading governments within the euro common currency area to get firmly to grips with quarantining the sovereign debt crisis contagion of Greece, Ireland and Portugal off from the larger economies at risk of Spain, Italy, and now even France."
"Political discord is now channelling directly into sovereign credit risk and causing investors to fear that government IOUs are not the 'risk-free' proposition that they have long been taken for granted as being." "The paradoxical result of sovereign credit risk fear was that investors bought government bonds in a flight to safety, pushing down yields at the longer end of the curve."
"It was risky assets - particularly shares - that got hammered, although they suffered also from rising concerns that the US economy is sliding inexorably back into recession."
"US official unemployment remains stubbornly anchored at around the 9% mark, but actual unemployment and underemployment must be a lot higher despite all the fiscal support and monetary accommodation that has been thrown at the American economy to date."
"This high unemployment is a stark signal that what US government authorities have done thus far isn't working successfully down at the real economy level of Main Street USA."
Best performers for the month of August were New Zealand bonds (+2.0%), global bonds (+1.5%), and commodities (+1.0%).
Worst performers for the month were global shares (-6.8%), hedge funds (-3.7%), and New Zealand shares (-2.1%).
Risky assets were still holding up for the year to August, with commodities ahead +25.8%, New Zealand equities +9.5%, and global equities +8.1%.
About the Author:
For further information please contact: Sam Stubbs, CEO TOWER Investments: Tel: 09 369 2284. Financial commentary is not considered to be financial advice. Always use an approved financial advisor.