We’re super excited to announce that this month marks 10 years of Squirrel’s saving and investment platform.
Yep, that’s right! Our little investment platform that could has officially hit double digits!
And what better way to celebrate than by taking a moment to reflect back on everything we’ve achieved over the last decade—none of which would have been possible without the help of our investors.
Here are a few of the highlights.
1. There’s enough of you to fill a small town—or a stadium, for that matter.
From humble beginnings, we’ve now got over 12,100 active savers and investors on our platform—including across the Squirrel On-Call Account, Term Investments and Monthly Income Fund.
That’s more than the population of Gore or Te Puke, and enough to pack out the Bay Oval (and then some) 🎉
2. You’re now entrusting more than half a BILLION (yep, with a b) of your hard-earned funds to Squirrel.
Every cent of which is helping to create competition and build a fairer financial system in New Zealand—whether it be simply by choosing to put your money into our On-call savings account and earn better returns, or by helping to fund smarter loan solutions that fill the gap left by more traditional options.
3. Together, we’re helping to address New Zealand’s housing crisis, one build at a time.
Over the last 10 years, our investors have funded the construction of almost 1,000 new standalone homes and townhouses all across New Zealand—from the far reaches of the Far North (the Bay of Islands) right down to the deep South (Invercargill).
4. And we’re filling a gap for otherwise credit-worthy Kiwi mortgage borrowers who—for whatever reason—just don’t meet bank lending criteria.
To date, we’ve provided mortgage solutions to more than 200 credit-worthy Kiwi borrowers who would have struggled to get funding through more traditional options. As far as we’re concerned, if someone’s a quality borrower, being older or needing a bridging finance solution shouldn’t get in the way of their homeownership goals.
5. We’ve helped make people’s tiny home dreams come true.
Our investors have funded more than 150 Tiny Home Loans for people whose dream of homeownership looks a bit different to the quarter acre dream.
6. We’re giving low-deposit first home buyers a leg-up onto the property ladder.
Squirrel’s Launchpad loan—designed specifically for good earners working with a low deposit (as little as 5%)—has so far helped more than 95 first home buyers into a property.
7. People are loving our secondary market (and the ability to access their money when they need it).
Squirrel investors have so far traded more than $300 million in term investments on our secondary market—giving people access to liquidity when they need it (at no cost) and helping others get invested (and earning better returns) faster. Win-win!
8. We’ve paid out more than $70 million in gross interest to our investors.
Not that we’re comparing or anything, but if we were to run the calculations—based on today’s investment balance—our investors are collectively $8 million per annum better off than they would’ve been putting that money in a bank term deposit.
While investing with Squirrel has a different risk profile to a bank, our belt and braces Reserve Funds are doing their job to help protect investor funds, with collectively over $6.5m in reserve supporting our three term investment classes and managed funds.
9. Plus, we’re putting more money back in Kiwi pockets in general.
By holding your money in the Squirrel On-Call account you’re not only upping your returns but helping to chip away at the banks’ monster profits too.
Squirrel On-Call customers are, on average, earning 0.50% more p.a. than what they would across New Zealand’s main bank savings products—which equates to about $835,000 more in Kiwi pockets each year (and not the banks’).
10. Finally—through it all—no Squirrel investor has ever lost a cent.
And while past performance is no guarantee of the future, we intend to keep it that way.
Thank you to all of our investors for your ongoing support—and being part of our journey.
Here’s to the next 10 years.