When the value of your portfolio is over $25,000 (amount invested in Kernel funds + Kernel Wallet balance), we charge a platform fee of $5 per month, inclusive of GST.
The platform fee doesn’t apply when investing in the Kernel KiwiSaver Plan or saving with Kernel Save.
Is this platform fee just on the money I have invested?
The platform fee applies to your total portfolio value, meaning any money you have invested in Kernel funds or sitting in your Kernel Wallet ready to invest.
How is the fee paid?
We deduct the platform fee, in arrears, at the end of each month from your Kernel Wallet.
If you have joined Kernel part way through a month, we may adjust the platform fee deducted at the end of that month to reflect this.
If you don’t have enough funds in your Wallet when we try to deduct the fee, then we will deduct the amount you owe us when funds are available. We might make more than one deduction if we can’t cover the platform fee at once.
Note: If you have an auto-invest set up and at least $25,000 invested, you'll need to make sure platform fees are covered in order for your auto-invest to successfully go through.
Why do we charge this fee?
The platform fee covers our fixed administration costs (things like transaction costs, legal and& compliance fees) and enables us to lower our annual fund management fee. This is important because low investment fund management fees mean more of your portfolio returns are left for you, rather than eaten up by high fees.
If you have any questions about our fees, contact us.