Summer Conservative Selection
Summer Conservative Selection fund performance summary as at 31 August 2025.
Fund at a glance
Unit price (as at 31 August 2025): $1.2557
Date the fund started: 8 April 2019
For information on fees, see our Fees page.
For more information on the Summer Conservative Selection fund read the latest quarterly fund update and the product disclosure statement.
For the current tactical asset allocation and date of most recent review, please go to the Summer Conservative Selection page.
Fund objective and strategy
See the Summer Conservative Selection page for the Summary of investment objective and strategy.
Fund returns
| PIR | Total since inception (annualised) | 1 Month | 3 Month | 1 Year | 3 Years^ |
| 28% | 3.10% | 1.06% | 3.02% | 4.84% | 4.98% |
| 17.50% | 3.38% | 1.12% | 3.16% | 5.20% | 5.42% |
| 10.50% | 3.56% | 1.15% | 3.25% | 5.44% | 5.71% |
^ Annualised
Fund returns are calculated net of fund charges, trading expenses and accrued tax for a New Zealand resident individual paying tax at the Prescribed Investor Rate identified above.
Top 10 investments
| Asset name | % of fund net assets | |
| 1 | Hunter Global Fixed interest Fund | 24.04% |
| 2 | ANZ transactional bank account | 3.76% |
| 3 | New Zealand Government 1.5% 15/05/2031 | 3.47% |
| 4 | New Zealand Government 4.50% 15/05/2030 | 2.42% |
| 5 | Intermede Global Equity Fund | 2.41% |
| 6 | New Zealand Government 15/05/2032 2.00% | 2.21% |
| 7 | New Zealand Government 14/04/2033 3.5% | 2.11% |
| 8 | New Zealand Government 15/05/2028 0.25% | 1.95% |
| 9 | New Zealand Government 3% 20/04/2029 | 1.77% |
| 10 | NZ Government 4.25% 15/05/2034 Green Bond | 1.51% |
The top 10 investments make up 45.65% of the fund.
Manager's Commentary
How did your portfolio perform?
The Summer Conservative Selection (the fund) delivered a return net of fees and before tax of 1.21% for the month of August. For the 12 months to the end of August, the fund delivered a return net of fees and before tax of 5.79%.
The Global Equities, Listed Property, Global Fixed Interest, NZ Fixed Interest and Enhanced Cash components of the Conservative Fund performed in-line or better than their benchmarks while other funds lagged. For details on the Fund's single asset class funds, see the relevant fund commentary.
We actively manage the fund’s foreign currency exposures and hedge the international fixed interest segment of the fund. The New Zealand dollar fell -1.68% against the US dollar and fell -0.05% against the Australian dollar.
What happened in the markets you invest in?
August saw strong returns from all the major asset classes the Conservative fund invests in.
NZ fixed interest and listed property markets benefited from the Reserve Bank indicating more rate cuts were likely to help restart the economy. Whilst inflation is not yet in the low half of their target band, indicators of demand and disinflation from China exports having to find a home outside of the US gave the RBNZ confidence to lower rates.
Global fixed interest rates absorbed higher US inflation as tariffs work their way into consumer prices but still delivered a positive return.
The NZ and Australian equities markets produced strong results through the critical August reporting season. In NZ, whilst outlook comments were cautious, trading has stopped getting worse and there was a further interest rate cut to buoy market sentiment. In Australia, reporting season was mixed, but the economy continues to show a level of resilience that was not expected by the market. Globally, markets built in more interest rate support and reported solid earnings growth relative to expectations. Japan was the best of the major markets.
What are we thinking about the future?
The dramatic recovery in global equity markets since the April tariff shock has driven many regional markets to multi decade highs. A lot of this strength has come from an increase in valuation, not just strong earnings growth. High valuations are not a good guide to short term returns, but they have been a very good indicator of long-term returns. On average, whenever the US market has traded at 23x earnings, as it does now, the next 10 years price return has been low single digit per annum. The current group of market leading companies are very profitable, but so were the leaders in most of the prior episodes.
Interest rate markets are finely poised. If global economies trundle along at about average growth rates, they look around fair value. If there is a tariff induced inflation shock there is some downside to fixed interest returns, but if the US economy were to falter, they have a lot of room to fall to cushion the economy.
Our large overweight position in NZ listed property has delivered very strong returns over the last quarter, and that position will be a key topic for discussion at our upcoming Investment Committee meeting.
This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any financial product and does not take your personal circumstances into account. All opinions reflect our judgement on the date of communication and may change without notice. Past performance is not a reliable guide to future performance. We recommend you take financial advice before making investment decisions. We have prepared this web page in good faith based on information obtained from other sources, but we do not guarantee the accuracy of that information. We do not make any representation or warranty (express or implied) that this web page is accurate, complete, or current and to the maximum extent permitted by law disclaim any liability for loss which may be incurred by any person relying on this web page.
