Kernel Global Infrastructure Fund vs Squirrel Monthly Income Fund

The most material structural difference between these two funds is the nature of their underlying assets and the risk profile that follows. The Squirrel Monthly Income Fund holds individual New Zealand residential construction loans, each secured by property, diversified across many borrowers but concentrated in a single asset class and geography. The Kernel Global Infrastructure Fund holds listed global infrastructure equities — companies such as Enbridge, National Grid, and American Tower — spread across multiple countries and sectors. This difference in asset type drives a stark divergence in risk indicators: Squirrel sits at 2 (low) on the standard seven-point scale, while Kernel sits at 5 (medium-high), despite both funds allocating approximately 98.31% to growth assets, a figure that underscores how differently regulators and managers can classify "growth" depending on asset type.

Fee structures differ substantially. Kernel charges an annual fund charge of 0.25%, compared with Squirrel's 2.14% — a gap of nearly 1.9 percentage points annually. Kernel is the larger fund at approximately NZD 510 million; Squirrel holds approximately NZD 210 million. Neither fund discloses a five-year return figure in this snapshot, so like-for-like historical performance cannot be compared here.

Both funds sit outside KiwiSaver, so neither affects your KiwiSaver scheme account balances. Squirrel's income-oriented construction-loan model targets regular distributions; Kernel's listed-equity model targets capital growth alongside income from infrastructure assets.

Verify all figures against each fund's current product disclosure statement and latest quarterly fund update on FMA Disclose before relying on any of this information.