So you’ve decided you want to invest in ETF’s or shares, and are interested in using Sharesies. But then you get presented with four pricing plans.
1/. Pay as you go. You pay the maximum of 1.9% per dollar invested OR $5 (US shares), $15 (Australian shares) and $25 NZ shares, depending on which country you invest in. All dollar amounts are in the overseas currency too.
2/. $3 a month. You can prepay $3 a month or $32.40 a year. For that you get $500 (NZD) per month covered for any one off buy or sell orders, and $1,000 (NZD) per month covered for regular (auto) orders.
3/. $7 a month. You can prepay $7 a month or $75.60 a year. For that you get $1,000 (NZD) per month covered for any one off buy or sell orders, and $3,000 (NZD) per month covered for regular (auto) orders.
4/. $15 a month. You can prepay $15 a month or $162 a year. For that you get $5,000 (NZD) per month covered for any one off buy or sell orders, and $10,000 (NZD) per month covered for regular (auto) orders.
Note that Sharesies offers ETF’s and shares from NZ, Australia and the U.S.
All the fees mentioned above are based on the currency of the country you are investing in. For example, if you are on a pay as you go plan and invest $1,000 a month to U.S shares, you will be charged the maximum of 1.9% of $1,000 or $5 USD per month.
As you can imagine, it is a bit of a challenge to calculate how much you will pay in transaction fees when you are originally investing in New Zealand dollars, charged in international dollars, and paying fees in New Zealand dollars.
Thankfully I have done the automation for you. I have made a calculator that lets you compare how much you will be charged under each Sharesies pricing plan based on how much you are investing. And the great thing is the calculator converts all the results to New Zealand dollars, so you know exactly how much you will be charged in your local currency.
In addition, the calculator also provides your transaction fees as a percentage of total invested. This makes it easy to add to your other fees so you have a easy job of knowing your total fee percentage. For example, if the calculator shows your transaction fee percentage as 0.3% and you are charged 0.5% for exchange rate fees, then your total fees may be around 0.8%, assuming no other fees. Not only important in knowing how high your total fees are, but also makes it easy to compare against providers that also charge a percentage.
With this calculator, you can easily see which Sharesies pricing plan is best for you.
Some of the results may be surprising too. For example, you would assume that investing $10,000 a month you would be best off with the $15 a month plan as that covers up to $10,000 a month investing. However, in this example, you would be better off with the pay as you go plan by a difference of over $60 a year. Even the $3 a month plan would see you better off by almost $30 a year despite having a limit of $3,000 a month plan coverage.
For the exchange rate, the calculator assumes the most recent exchange rate. Since future exchange rate is unknown, it has to assume something, so the current rate is as good as any.
Also note, that this calculator is only comparing transaction fees. It is not a total fees calculator. You will be charged other fees when you invest that need to be considered. However, those fees are the same regardless of which plan you go for. For example, 0.5% per dollar invested for exchanging your money from NZ to international dollars. So ensure you add these fees.
So do consider all fees as part of your consideration in deciding which platform to invest in. But for the purposes of this calculator, because other fees are the same regardless of plan, they don’t aid with the decision on which pricing plan to choose.
This calculator is assuming you have done all that homework and decided on Sharesies but are just unsure of the best plan for you.
So if you want to know which Sharesies pricing plan is best for you and how much your transaction fees will be with each Sharesies plan, this calculator is for you.
If you need an investment plan or recommendations , then get in touch today.
The information contained on this site is the opinion of the individual author(s) based on their personal opinions, observation, research, and years of experience. The information offered by this website is general education only and is not meant to be taken as individualised financial advice, legal advice, tax advice, or any other kind of advice. You can read more of my disclaimer here