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Case Studies
Advice that moves
the needle.
Five New Zealand families. Five different starting points. One thing in common — a written plan and an adviser who held them accountable to it.
+$340k
KiwiSaver gain from fund switch alone
$0
Net cost for insurance cover restructure
$2,100
In annual fees eliminated on day one
Featured — Case Study 01
Liam, 28
Software Developer · Auckland
Auto-enrolled in a conservative default KiwiSaver fund at 22, Liam was still there six years later earning $110k. His $18,000 was barely beating inflation — and he had no investment portfolio of any kind.
Switched from conservative default to high-growth fund — projected $340k lifetime gain
Increased contribution rate from 3% to 6% to capture full employer match
Built a diversified PIE-structured managed fund portfolio at $500/month
Delivered a written 5-year investment plan aligned to a future home deposit goal
Outcomes
+$340k
Projected KiwiSaver gain from fund switch alone
$260
Annual govt Member Tax Credit now fully captured
$6,000
Invested in personal portfolio within first 12 months
More stories
Every situation is different.
The approach is always the same.
Case Study 02
Sarah & Tom, 31
Nurses · Wellington
Married and renting, with $68k saved but no plan for reaching a $130k deposit. Tom had zero income protection — neither of them realised ACC doesn't cover illness.
Statement of Advice with a written 36-month goal plan toward deposit target
Income protection (75% of income), life cover, and trauma for both partners
Structured automatic savings split: $1,200/month to savings, $300/month KiwiSaver top-up
“For the first time, we felt like we had a real plan — not just savings sitting in an account hoping we'd figure the rest out.”
26 mo
To home purchase — on track
$3,800
Per month insured income floor if either can't work
Case Study 03
Mike, 44
Business Owner · Christchurch
Running a 12-person joinery business for nine years with no key-person cover and no income protection. Personal investments were scattered across three platforms with overlapping holdings and no strategy.
$750k key-person insurance policy — first business protection in nine years of operating
Income protection covering $12,000/month if unable to work due to illness or injury
Consolidated three platforms into a single PIE-structured managed fund portfolio
“I'd been running a business for nine years and never thought seriously about what happens if I can't work. That's fixed now.”
$750k
Business protection in place for the first time
+4.2%
Average annual return improvement post-consolidation
Case Study 04
Emma, 37
Marketing Manager · Auckland
$190k spread across a workplace KiwiSaver, two overlapping managed funds, and a direct share portfolio she'd stopped adding to. Paying fees on all four with no idea what her blended return actually was.
Consolidated into a two-fund strategy: core PIE diversified fund + growth-tilt satellite
Eliminated $2,100/year in duplicate platform fees immediately
Repositioned from 40% to 70% growth allocation to match her 20-year horizon
“I was paying fees on four platforms and getting worse results than one good fund would have delivered. The consolidation was obvious — once someone showed me the numbers.”
$2,100
In annual fees eliminated on day one
+6.8%
Projected 20-year improvement from allocation shift (modelled)
Case Study 05
The Hendersons, 57
Couple · Hamilton
Own home plus a rental in Tauranga. Eight years from retirement, both KiwiSavers still in growth funds (too aggressive for the timeline), and they'd never stress-tested whether rental income would actually cover their retirement gap.
Shifted both KiwiSavers from growth to balanced — protecting $214k from sequence-of-returns risk
Modelled rental cash flows post-2026 interest deductibility restoration — confirmed positive yield
Built a retirement income plan: KiwiSaver drawdown + NZ Super + rental = $6,800/month
“We thought we were on track. Turns out we were — but for a different retirement than the one we actually wanted. Now we're aligned.”
$6,800
Per month modelled retirement income — $1,200 above target
$214k
In KiwiSaver de-risked from sequence-of-returns exposure
