Wednesday 18 January 2012

KiwiBank and Gareth Morgan up a tree … [updated]

imageimageSo KiwiBank is to buy out Gareth Morgan Investments, including the Gareth Morgan KiwiSaver Scheme—a case of the politically appointed “People’s Bank” buying out the self-anointed “People’s Financier.”

KiwiBank’s CEO Paul Brock reckons “The ‘aligned values’ of the two businesses reinforced the decision to buy rather than build.”

Rarely has a truer word been spoke. Their “values”are aligned—and in more ways than one:

These are two entities clearly made for each other.

So now the directors of Gareth Morgan Investments are eager to get a payday for their consistent underperformance.  And with this buyout of industry-leading underperformers, KiwiBank has once again confirmed their own.

UPDATE: Taking time today out of his busy schedule writing another book about how good he is, Gareth Morgan  responded today to criticism of his funds’ less than stellar performance (his balanced fund has returned a negative - 0.1% per annum since inception; its “growth fund a negative -3.4% p.a.; its conservative fund  faring better at a positive 2.4% p.a, which still however sees his investors losing against inflation) blaming, in order, the ignorance (of others), the financial illiteracy (of others), and the league tables produced by ratings agencies Morningstar and Fund Source—who shamefully use actual figures instead of the ones provided by the voices in Gareth Morgan’s head—before pausing to point out his funds had done brilliantly against the “benchmarks” in his head.

He also said a “key focus” for GMI with respect to its KiwiSaver funds was “wealth preservation,” at which performance he maintained anyone criticising his growth portfolio’s return of negative 13.1% just doesn’t understand risk like he does.

He then touted for KiwiBank’s Kiwisaver work, before heading off to the travel agent to book his next holiday.

4 comments:

Mark Hubbard said...

I'll simply repeat what I commented on the NBR thread:

Some of us, free men, understand that our long term freedom, and our long term prosperity, turns on a free market and limited government. Jesus Morgan just grew the government. The commission of every one of his investors - many of whom wouldn't agree with the Nanny State - now goes to grow the welfare state and the growing tax take needed to contain the violence of it, plus the violence of the coercive Big Brother State to extract it.

That's what he's sold out. My freedom, again.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to see if Gareth makes a voluntary CGT payment.

Kiwiwit said...

Ah, so its taxpayers who really will be paying for Blanket Man's funeral.

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