Netwealth shows faith in local shares
Netwealthis to offer unlimited Australian equities investment choice in its superannuation master trust.
Previously, investment in Australian equities was limited to 30 per cent of the total funds in the master trust.
There are some restrictions to the new investment option, with 70 per cent of the portfolio having to be invested in the Top 100 ASX shares. Also, no more than 10 per cent must be invested in any one share.
The remaining 30 per cent can be invested in any ASX-listed share, but no more than five per cent of that can be invested in any one share.
Netwealth managing director Michael Heine says the new option is in response to requests from planners who want to switch their clients out of poorly performing managed funds.
“Planners want their clients’ portfolios to be diversified, and this new option in the master trust allows then to move clients away from low capital-growth investments such as managed funds,” he says.
“It is also providing the investor with all the flexibility of a self-managed fund without the responsibility.”
The on-line investment platform has also recently addedColonial First Statemargin lending products to its menu.
Heine says there has been a lot of interest expressed to Netwealth recently from dissatisfied planners in large institutional dealer groups, as many of them are hit with higher fees for small account balances.
“Many dealer groups are discouraging smaller clients and hitting them with high minimum fees which are hurting their retirement savings,” he says.
“Netwealth is assisting many advisers to move their clients to the platform, even providing staff to go and deal with the paperwork for them.”
Fees on Netwealth are based on funds under management, Heine says. The sliding scale for fees starts at 1.25 per cent for accounts below $100,000. There is a minimum investment in the platform of $10,000.
“We are currently waiving all transfer-in fees for new and existing clients to help them avoid higher fees,” he says.
Currently, Netwealth has more than $50 million of funds under advice and about 12 dealer groups have signed up to use the platform. There are about 300 managed fund products available on the platform.
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