Kernel Global ESG

At 0.25 percent, this fund charges one of the lowest fees in the KiwiSaver international share category while delivering a 6.2 percent weighting to Nvidia, the largest single position in a portfolio that runs almost entirely on US tech. The ESG screen has not diluted the concentration: Microsoft, Apple, two classes of Alphabet, Tesla, Visa, Cisco, Amazon and Micron round out the top ten, all American, all familiar names from the growth-stock playbook of the past decade.

With $14 million in funds under management and a year-one return of 18.7 percent, the fund placed 10th in its category over the twelve months to the data cutoff. Nearly 99 percent of assets sit in growth holdings, with international shares accounting for 98.6 percent of the portfolio and a modest 2 percent allocation to Australasian equities. The negative cash position reflects timing or derivative exposure rather than leverage in the traditional sense.

The ESG filter appears to tilt toward technology and payments infrastructure rather than exclude entire sectors. This is a concentrated, high-growth international equity fund built on a narrow base of large-cap US stocks, delivered at a rock-bottom price.

General information only, not financial advice. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.