Track your KiwiSaver and investments

Fireball can show your KiwiSaver, investment platforms and individual holdings beside the rest of your money. They count toward your net worth and your FIRE plan, and Fireball keeps money locked until 65 separate from money you can reach sooner.

There are three ways to add them:

Connect a KiwiSaver or investment provider

Many New Zealand KiwiSaver and investment providers can be connected the same way as a bank.

1. Open the menu, then Bank Connections.
2. On the New Zealand tab, connect and choose your provider.
3. Follow the steps to give Fireball read only access.

Choose View supported New Zealand banks on the connect screen to check whether your provider is available. If your KiwiSaver is run by your bank, connecting your bank may bring it in too.

A connected KiwiSaver account shows as KiwiSaver and is treated as locked until 65. A connected investment account shows as Investment. Connected providers share the account balance, not the individual holdings inside it.

Connecting providers needs a Paid plan.

Connect Interactive Brokers

Fireball connects to Interactive Brokers with read only access. It cannot place trades or move money.

1. Open Accounts and choose Add asset or account, then Connect Interactive Brokers. You can also find it in Bank Connections, on the Brokers tab.
2. Choose whether you are opening Interactive Brokers on a Computer or a Phone.
3. Follow the on-screen steps to create a Flex Query in Interactive Brokers. Fireball lists each setting to tick. Two are easy to miss: in Cash Report, tick Currency Breakout, and in Open Positions, choose Summary, not Lot.
4. Create a Flex Web Service token. Setting it to expire after one year saves you reconnecting often.
5. Paste the Flex token and Query ID into Fireball. Add the Token expiry date if you want a reminder a week before it expires.
6. Leave Import all my history on to bring in up to five years of account value.

Fireball brings in:

• Each holding, and cash in each currency, such as Cash (USD)
• Negative cash as a margin loan
• Dividends, after withholding tax, as income
• Deposits and withdrawals as transfers
• Daily account value history

Holdings and cash update once a day. Share and ETF prices on major exchanges update live, and other holdings use the previous close. Options, futures, short positions and forex lines are not brought in.

All your Interactive Brokers holdings appear as one Interactive Brokers row in Accounts. Tap it to see each holding and your account value over time.

Interactive Brokers needs a Paid plan.

Add an investment yourself

Use this for shares, ETFs, managed funds, crypto or precious metals you cannot connect.

1. Open Accounts and choose Add asset or account, then Add investment.
2. Choose the Investment type.
3. Search by name or ticker. Choosing a result fills in the name, currency and current price.
4. Enter the Quantity (units) you own. Add the Cost price (per unit) if you want to see your gain or loss.
5. Under Investment access, choose Available anytime, KiwiSaver or Australian super.
6. Choose Add to Portfolio.

Adding investments by hand is free. Searching for an investment and live prices need a Paid plan. On the Free plan, enter the details yourself and update the price when you want to.

When a holding has a ticker, its price updates while the market is open. A holding without a ticker shows Price updates manually.

Add KiwiSaver by hand

If you cannot connect your KiwiSaver provider:

1. Open Accounts and choose Add asset or account.
2. Choose Add investment, then Managed fund.
3. Enter your investment details.
4. Set Investment access to KiwiSaver.

Use Add investment rather than Add manual account. This tells Fireball that your KiwiSaver is invested money that is normally locked until age 65, rather than cash you can use today.

If your provider cannot be connected, choose Add investment, then Managed fund. Search for your fund, or enter its details manually if it is not listed. Set Investment access to KiwiSaver so Fireball knows the money is normally locked until age 65.

How KiwiSaver and investments are counted

In your net worth

Your net worth groups money by how quickly you could use it:

• Available now, such as everyday and savings accounts
• Sells in days, such as investment accounts and shares
• Locked, such as KiwiSaver until 65 and term deposits until they mature

For more on reading your net worth, see Understand your net worth and financial insights.

In your FIRE plan

Fireball separates your FIRE capital into investments you can reach now, KiwiSaver locked until 65, and cash and other assets that are not given investment growth.

To count as financially independent, you need enough in total and enough outside KiwiSaver to cover your spending until 65. Add your date of birth so Fireball knows when your KiwiSaver unlocks.

In FIRE settings, under the New Zealand retirement section, you can also set:

• Annual KiwiSaver contributions. Include your contributions, your employer's after tax and the government contribution. Leave out anything already shown as transactions in Fireball, or it will be counted twice.
• Assume NZ Super is available. After 65, your savings then only need to cover your spending minus NZ Super.

In your spending and budgets

Money you move into KiwiSaver or an investment platform is categorised as Investment contribution. Contributions, withdrawals and transfers between your own accounts are not counted as spending or income.

You can still plan for them with an Investing budget. Dividends from Interactive Brokers do count as income.

In goals

Save up goals can use cash, term deposits and investments. Connected KiwiSaver is not used for normal goals. A home deposit goal can count your connected KiwiSaver if you turn on Count KiwiSaver. Fireball counts the balance minus $1,000 and only for a New Zealand home you will live in.

Overseas shares and the FIF limit

The Shares tab in Wealth adds up what you paid for overseas shares in Interactive Brokers and your manual holdings. It compares that with the NZ$50,000 foreign investment fund (FIF) limit.

This is an estimate to help you keep an eye on the limit. It is not a tax calculation. Check Inland Revenue's guidance or a tax adviser for your own situation.

Common problems

My provider is not on the list

Not every provider supports a connection through Fireball. If yours is missing, it does not mean you cannot track that investment.

Choose Add investment to enter it yourself. If your fund is not in the search results, enter its details manually. For KiwiSaver, set Investment access to KiwiSaver so Fireball knows the money is normally locked until age 65.

My balance or prices look out of date

• A connected provider: if the balance has not refreshed for more than 7 days, Bank Connections shows a warning. See My bank data is missing or out of date.
• A holding: Price may be out of date means the price is more than 7 days old. Live prices need a Paid plan.
• Interactive Brokers: open Bank Connections, then Brokers, and check the message on the card.

Interactive Brokers needs attention

The card tells you what to fix. The most common causes are:

• Your Flex token has expired. Create a new token and reconnect.
• The Cash Report is set to Base Currency Summary only. Tick Currency Breakout in your Flex Query.
• The statement is too large. Change Open Positions to Summary.
• The Flex Query format is not XML. Change the format to XML.

An investment is counted twice

Fireball does not detect duplicates between methods. If you connect a platform and also add its holdings by hand, both count. Keep one or the other.

Some values are missing from my totals

If the banner Some currency values are unavailable appears, Fireball could not get an exchange rate, so those values are left out. Converting currencies needs a Paid plan.

Common questions

Can Fireball trade or move my investments?

No. Every connection is read only.

Why can I see my KiwiSaver balance but not my funds?

Connected providers share the account balance only. Interactive Brokers is currently the only connection that brings in individual holdings.

What happens if I disconnect Interactive Brokers?

Its holdings and its past dividend income are removed from Fireball. This cannot be undone, but you can connect again later.

Does Fireball tell me what to invest in?

No. Fireball tracks what you have and shows how it fits your plan. It does not give investment advice.