by Editor | 1 Apr, 2021 | Editorials, General
I have been invited to contribute some thoughts for the Easter season, on behalf of the Board of Anglican Financial Care. The first thing that came to mind is that our members and customers are a mixed bunch. Some lay, some ordained, some Anglican, some from other denominations, and some affiliated with the Christian message via their workplaces or their connection with how we work. We’re also spread across Aotearoa, New Zealand, and the Pacific. It’s unlikely that Easter will mean the same to even some of us, let alone all of us.
Lent, the 6 weeks leading up to Easter, has sometimes been a time to fast or give up something. I found the words of Pope Francis entitled “Do you want to fast this Lent?” to be a refreshing approach. They’re easy to find online if you haven’t come across them. My takeaway was rather than focussing on negative thoughts and actions, we can choose to focus on positive thoughts and behaviours, somewhat like Phil. 4:8-9.
What does this look like in practice when we are surrounded by challenges? The wider church, faith, and community context is quite different this year to others. Many of us are somewhat over the impact of Covid-19 on our lives, even while being grateful we live where we do. Our Christian Church leaders have just had their annual meeting with the Prime Minister and focussed on Welfare, Income, and Wellbeing; Covid-19 and Vaccinations; and Housing. The issues they raised are what some term “wicked problems” i.e. thorny, complex, seemingly intractable realities. And faith communities are in the process of reporting to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. We, collectively, are having to account for our past transgressions. These are just a few of the many issues on our radar as Christians.
The community of Mangere that I live in is diverse, complex, exciting, young, challenged, and challenging. The media usually choose to portray the challenges rather than the strengths, talents, and opportunities that exist in abundance. As I write this, I am looking at a stunning, multi-coloured sunrise. It could mean rain if you believe the shepherds. And it could mean the sky was painted with such beauty to remind us that, in the words of the poem Desiderata “with all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”
As Christians we are all called, whether lay or ordained, to share God’s love with others. Sometimes the “sham, drudgery and broken dreams” can feel overwhelming. And that’s where the hope of Easter comes in for me. Easter reminds me that there is always the possibility of a new beginning. God is available to me in my life just as God was experienced by Jesus’ first followers, both before and after his death. The forces that killed Jesus, were unable to stop the ongoing experience of God in our lives that we name resurrection.
So, amidst the busy Easter services for some, the last of the summer holidays for others, the pastoral challenges you may face, the Easter eggs, and the Easter sales, I wish you an encounter with the God of resurrection; an encounter that surprises you, maybe startles you, refreshes you, and then excites you with the possibilities of new life.
Blessings
Vicki Sykes
Deputy Chair, Anglican Financial Care
by Editor | 5 Feb, 2021 | Investment
It is always difficult to predict what is going to happen. Who would have predicted the pandemic, and the variety of responses, in 2020? Returns in 2021 are likely to be just as interesting. Events like the pandemic come and go but returns over the longer term are almost always positive. That said, and depending on your timeframe, the starting point is important.
Near term returns can move around a lot. They are very dependent on what governments and ‘experts’ say and do, and reactions to such. Governments are expected to keep interest rates low in the foreseeable future. They are hoping to fuel a recovery in earnings, which in turn should lead to employment and economic growth. Along with additional policy stimulus and increasing vaccination growth is expected to increase over time. On a positive note, the IMF (International Monetary Fund)1 recently raised its global growth forecast for 2021 to 5.5% from the 5.2% it anticipated back in October.
However, given what is considered to be current, by historic measures, high prices in both shares and bonds (low-interest rates) performances in 2021 could be up or down. Issues or events that could affect this year include developments around US policy, ongoing tensions between the US and China, the approach towards Iran, the level of global trade and initiatives adopted that might address climate issues. On top of all that no doubt developments around the virus will continue to have a big impact. In this environment, it pays to tread carefully / invest wisely. Our strategy remains to endeavour to participate well in the current market rally, while still preserving some measure of downside protection against what we believe to be “frothy” markets.
- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an organisation of 190 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world.
by Editor | 5 Feb, 2021 | Investment
Investment returns (before tax and fees) for the quarter ending 31 December 2020 are:
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| Fund | 3 months | 1 Year (p.a.) | 3 years (p.a.) | 5 years (p.a.) | 10 years (p.a.) |
| Growth Fund | 6.2% | 8.7% | 10.1% | 10.3% | 9.2% |
| | | | | |
| Balanced Fund | 4.5% | 7.2% | 7.9% | 8.3% | 7.8% |
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| Income Fund | 1.4% | 4.6% | 4.2% | 4.4% | 4.5% |
Returns were solid over the quarter despite the growth in virus cases and renewed lockdown announcements. Equities (shares) in particular posted strong gains with most share markets returning over 10% in the quarter. Investment returns were supported by vaccine approvals, more Government policy stimulus (spending), and clarity on the U.S. election outcome. The strength of our dollar held back gains but our overseas fixed income (bond) funds benefitted from the weak U.S dollar that prevailed. Almost all investments achieved positive returns in the quarter. Whilst it is good that the run of positive returns continues we are concerned, as mentioned here before, that both share and bond prices (in general) are at levels that deem it to be prudent, that is to remain well-diversified and carefully invested. Our active management approach has nevertheless enabled us to find sound investments in most environments.
by Editor | 5 Feb, 2021 | General, Investment
Your Christian KiwiSaver Scheme is unique in having direct investment in a pine forest in the southern Hawkes Bay, Hapua Forest. 
Just like KiwiSaver, forestry is a long-term investment with a typical forest usually taking some 25 years to mature. Our forestry land value has soared in recent times as investors have come to realise the ability of forestry to provide a carbon offset.
We’ve almost completed harvesting our first crop which was planted as seedlings in 1992-1993 and since 2018 we’ve been steadily replanting our land. So far over 300,000 seedlings have been planted. The next photo shows an area of seedlings planted in 2018.
Replanting in 2020 faced some obstacles with COVID-19 affecting the availability of labour and the Hawkes Bay drought delaying replanting. Some of the forest land is also not suitable for replanting, we don’t plant along the banks of the waterways and there are areas of native bush that we wish to protect and leave to regenerate. See the photo below of an area of retained native bush.
In our October 2019 article, we mentioned that we source our seedlings from Murrays Nurseries Woodville. Seedlings are ready for planting when 25–30 centimetres tall and are mainly planted by hand. It’s labour intensive and done by skilled teams. The number of trees planted per hectare can vary from 600 to 1,400.
Radiata pine was first introduced to New Zealand in the late 1850s to see if it would be a good candidate for widespread planting. Its excellent growth rate prompted seed imports from California in the 1870s, mainly for shelterbelts and woodlots. By the first forestry planting boom in the 1920s and 1930s, it had been adopted as the species of choice.
It proved to be versatile and grew well throughout New Zealand on a variety of soil types, including coastal sands, heavy clays, gravels and volcanic ash deposits.
Logging is a big deal in New Zealand. It is our third largest industry after dairy and meat.
A third of the world’s radiata forests are grown in New Zealand, with Australia and Chile being other major producers. 
New Zealand now has 1.75 million hectares of planted forest, of which some 90 percent is radiata pine, much in first rotation forests. These forests cover around 7% of New Zealand, which’s about the same area as 10 Stewart Islands. A substantial part of New Zealand (24%) is also covered in indigenous (native) forest.
There are other articles on Hapua Forest in February 2019 and October 2019.
by Editor | 3 Nov, 2020 | Reporting
The September quarter was another positive quarter as shares and bonds both benefited from a number of factors including continued optimism with regards to the development of a covid-19 vaccine, economic recovery and further possible supportive measures from various governments around the world. However, concerns about the likelihood of fiscal stimulus (or spending) from the USA government weighed on sentiment toward the end of the quarter.
The health situation and government stimulus are two very important factors that could influence future returns.
The pandemic has blown the global economy into a very unfamiliar place. Government budget deficits have mushroomed and public debt ratios have surged. Despite this, interest rates have fallen, remain low and many share prices have soared.
With so much uncertainty around, we remain cautious with all our investment activity. We expect that asset prices will remain volatile (i.e. go up and down) in the short term but that returns should be positive over the longer term.
Investment returns (before tax and fees) for the quarter ending 30 September 2020 are:
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| Fund | 3 months | 1 Year (p.a.) | 3 years (p.a.) | 5 years (p.a.) | 10 years (p.a.) |
| Growth Fund | 3.2% | 5.1% | 9.2% | 9.6% | 8.7% |
| | | | | |
| Balanced Fund | 2.6% | 4.7% | 7.4% | 7.9% | 7.5% |
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| Income Fund | 1.2% | 3.7% | 4.0% | 4.2% | 4.5% |
Not already a member of Christian KiwiSaver Scheme? Join other like-minded Kiwi Christians growing their savings ethically today!
by Editor | 3 Nov, 2020 | Investment
Investing with Christian values
We invest your savings in the Christian KiwiSaver Scheme, and all the other funds we manage, under our Ethical Investment Policy, a policy based on our Christian values. We call it being Ethical at Heart.
We recently looked at what underpins our approach to ethical investing, which might be better termed value-based investing. We started from recognising that economic decisions involve values-based choices and that the Christian tradition recognises that these choices are made in a world marred by human failure and its consequences. And yet we have a God who is active in restoring the world and a church which seeks goodness and the growth of human flourishing.
When applied to the work of Anglican Financial Care, as your fund manager, this means that we recognise the order of New Zealand society, including the legal requirement for the organisation to act in the financial interest of its members. As we do so, we expect that a participation in the economic life of our nation and world informed by Christian ethics will be fruitful, and that investing in those things which God loves will be productive as well as tending towards the restoration of the world.
Some investment opportunities will be so marked by evil or its consequences that we will not invest, even if the potential financial reward is high. However, many other investment opportunities are ethically mixed. For example, concrete has been rightly called “the most destructive material on earth,” but concrete is widely used as a cheap and effective way to build homes desperately needed by the poor. It can be ethically preferable to invest in a concrete producer — if the purpose of the investment is to meet human need. Most forms of investment will involve complicity in a degree of disorder – and therein lies the challenge of values-based investing. Our primary function is to prudently build your nest egg with solid returns whilst keeping to our values.
It is no accident the church’s mission is expressed positively (how we share in the good that God is doing), rather than negatively (how we avoid evil). Our investment activity will similarly express the ways in which we are participating in the good God is doing in the world. Theologically, our bias is towards optimism about the restoration of the world, not withdrawal from the world. We are required to build, produce and multiply. This means we will continue to invest, even though this involves us in the mess of a broken world, because we believe that by wise investment choices we can support what tends towards the good.
Our investment activity, then, will be informed first by a desire to support and encourage what is good. We are not defined primarily by what we reject. Our defining mark of ethical commitment is that we support the signs of God’s restoring work in the world. We will work hard to make wise and ethical investment choices, and to explain clearly why we believe our investment choices support the mission of the church.
How do we actually do this in practice? We start from a list of sectors which we consider are in essence contrary to Christian values. This list includes alcohol, animal welfare, armaments and defence, fossil fuels, gambling, pornography, and tobacco.
We are aware that there are fiduciary implications from screening out all these stocks (shares), so we lift the lid on these sectors to see if there are any stocks within these sectors that could be included. We use some international investment research to help in this respect. We then go through a robust process with our investment committee to justify any inclusion that we think is warranted.
The Christian KiwiSaver Scheme has from its very beginning in 2007 been invested under Anglican Financial Care’s Ethical Investment Policy. As an organisation Anglican Financial Care formalised its commitment to ethical investing in 2002. However, even prior to that we endeavoured to make investment choices that aligned with Christian values, which form the foundation of our organisation. Our Policy is not static just as the world around us is constantly changing.
Not already a member of Christian KiwiSaver Scheme? Join other like-minded Kiwi Christians growing their savings ethically today!
