Seven years in: where Mindful Money is heading next

At the Investing for Good conference in June 2026, Mindful Money Founder and Co-CEO Barry Coates shared an update on the Mindful Money journey, impact, and what’s coming next. Here’s what he had to say.

The problem we set out to solve

It’s almost seven years since then-Finance Minister Grant Robertson spoke at Mindful Money’s launch conference in 2019. From the beginning, our mission has been clear: to make money a force for good.

Our strategy was built on a simple but powerful insight. Everyday New Zealanders as KiwiSaver members and retail investors represent a significant lever for change. Annual surveys consistently showed that most wanted to invest ethically. But two barriers kept getting in the way: a lack of objective information, and no time to do the research themselves.

We set out to remove those barriers.

What we’ve built and what has moved

We started by analysing the portfolio holdings of KiwiSaver funds. Today, we analyse more than 1,000 KiwiSaver and managed funds twice a year up from around 260 at launch.

Without a budget for paid media, growth has come through word of mouth and community sharing. Our website now receives 300,000 unique visits per year. More importantly, investors using Mindful Money’s research have shifted hundreds of millions of dollars into more ethical funds.

Our research has also shone a light on where New Zealand investment money is flowing including into Russian companies aligned with the Putin regime, nuclear weapons producers, companies implicated in human rights violations against Palestinian people, fossil fuel producers still expanding production, and businesses contributing to deforestation and ocean harm.

Fund managers have responded. We’ve seen a meaningful reduction in exposure to harmful companies across the sector. Greater transparency is working, it’s changing how New Zealand invests.

Taking it to Australia

Last month, we launched Mindful Investing Australia bringing the same portfolio transparency we’ve built here to the Australian market. The scale of the opportunity is significant.

Australia will soon hold the world’s second largest pool of superannuation funds. We launched with analysis of 15 super funds managing A$2.1 trillion compared with $160 billion in KiwiSaver. That’s a substantial expansion in the potential for impact.

There’s no comparable free service in Australia right now, and surveys show that most Australians want to know where their money is invested. We’re building our presence through podcasts, radio, print media, and partnerships with aligned organisations. We’re grateful to Australian Ethical for their support in getting us off the ground.

You can explore the tool at mindfulinvesting.au.

Beyond harm avoidance: investing for positive outcomes

Mindful Money started by helping investors identify what to avoid: human rights violations, animal cruelty, weapons, fossil fuels. But avoiding harm is only part of what making money a force for good actually means.

Our surveys show that investors don’t just want to do less harm; they want their money to actively contribute to good outcomes. So we’ve spent three years developing a methodology to make that visible.

We’re soon launching a new tool that identifies funds invested in companies making a substantial contribution to positive real-world outcomes. We’ve defined five key areas for positive investing, with specific criteria for what counts as a significant benefit, not just business as usual. Both listed and unlisted investments are included, reflecting what investors themselves tell us matters to them.

This will be backed by a multi-year campaign to build public understanding of how investment can not only reduce harm but actively contribute to solutions. We want fund managers to look harder for investments that deliver positive outcomes alongside strong returns.

The bigger picture

KiwiSaver and managed funds have a crucial role to play in addressing the challenges ahead. The climate transition, nature regeneration, and building a more equitable economy. Far more capital needs to flow toward the companies and projects driving those solutions.

The stakes are real. Without faster action, we face climate chaos, accelerating biodiversity loss, and deepening inequality. Meeting these challenges requires concerted effort from investors, asset owners, and fund managers alike.

Transparency is the foundation. When people can see what their money is doing, they can make it do better.

That’s what we’re here for. Nga mihi nui.