The Monday Call

After 35 years covering financial services, Philip Macalister has seen New Zealand’s advice sector through booms, busts and enough industry buzzwords to fill a small dictionary. Through Good Returns, the website he founded, he’s become the industry’s institutional memory, one finger permanently on its pulse.

Advice is changing on almost every front: who can access it, how businesses are structured, and how consolidation and succession are playing out. Investment, mortgage and insurance advice, KiwiSaver and retirement are all part of it too – especially in an election year bringing new government policy.

AI is speeding all of this up, making financial information faster to find, cheaper to access and easier to use than ever. Join the NZ Funds team as we talk to Philip about the opportunities these changes create for the industry, and how they can benefit both advisers and the clients they serve.

Ask different AI models who is the best KiwiSaver provider or investment manager and get a potpourri of different answers. All confident. Most contradicting each other. AI is likely recycling whatever’s loudest online. Yet there’s no single 'best' - only the best for you, with your goals and your circumstances.
Richard Conway, CEO of The Optimisers and a leading voice on AI and search optimisation, is an authority on how these models reach their conclusions. The implications go far beyond retirement savings; AI is now influencing how people choose accountants, lawyers, power companies, even doctors.
Join the Monday Call team as we speak with Richard about what this means for investors, advisers and consumers alike. There’s no debate AI is powerful and convenient, but should we hand over how we make important decisions? Or does good advice really require care, context and judgement – and an understanding of what matters to you?

As Chief Executive of Southern Cross, Nick Astwick heads one of New Zealand's most significant organisations, with close to one million members and a unique view of the health, ageing and wellbeing of the nation.
With 25 years at the heart of New Zealand business, including almost a decade at the helm of Southern Cross, Nick is one of the country's best-informed voices on longevity, and what it means for how we plan, secure and spend our later years.
Join the Monday Call team for an important conversation on New Zealand's future: the opportunity to extend our healthspan, the changing economics of healthcare, and how we can build a healthier, more prosperous community.

Stephen Witt won the Financial Times Business Book of the Year for The Thinking Machine, his biography of NVIDIA founder Jensen Huang. He writes for The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and GQ, examining the forces reshaping technology and the global economy.

With rare access to Silicon Valley's leaders, innovators and investors, Stephen reveals how breakthrough technologies can ignite waves of capital investment, create and destroy fortunes, dismantle old industries and transform society.

Join the Monday Call team for a conversation on the forces - seen and unseen - defining this era. Are we witnessing the greatest investment cycle in history? How will AI reshape work, wealth and power? When will humanoid robots arrive? And who will capture the gains from this new industrial age?

It's been a year of headlines. Conflict in the Middle East, higher oil prices and geopolitical uncertainty have tested investors, yet the global economy remains remarkably resilient. Beneath the surface, growth is holding up, share markets have moved higher, and new opportunities are emerging.

The investment landscape is also broadening. AI and US technology remain powerful themes, but opportunities are appearing elsewhere - in cyclical sectors and markets beyond the United States. New Zealand is among them, with improving economic indicators, rising confidence and early signs of renewed momentum.

Mark Brooks, NZ Funds Chief Investment Officer, returns to the Monday Call alongside James Grigor and Stephan Clark to explore the forces shaping markets today. They will discuss the outlook for the second half of the year, where opportunities may emerge, and what it means for long-term investors.