Fractional Shares - The Definitive New Zealand Guide

Our guide explains fractional shares, their pros and cons, which investment platforms offer their purchase and sale, and must-know tips and facts

Updated 29 September 2021

Know This First: What are Fractional Shares?

If you were to purchase shares in a company at $10 per share and a balance of $100, You'd be able to buy ten shares. If the share price was $100, you could buy 0.1 shares with $10. Fractional shares are a portion of a total share in a company's stock.
When buying fractional shares, your shares are held in a custodial account or ‘street name’. The custodial account or ‘street name’ convention has made it possible to offer lower fees however are still owned by you.
Fractional shares offer great ways of building diversified portfolios without the high-value cost.
Over the last ten years, fractional shares have risen in popularity among young investors. Fractional trading platforms offer versatility when purchasing shares and allow any investor to get direct exposure without buying the entire share.
Fractional shares also include exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Additionally, fractional shares act the same as regular shares, providing both dividends and voting rights. Shareholders can receive fractional shares through stock splits, mergers or acquisitions and dividend reinvestment plans.

To explain fractional shares in detail, our guide covers:

MoneyHub Founder Christopher Walsh shares his comments about Fractional Shares

Sharesies has arguably pioneered the way for New Zealanders to consider fractional shares, and I think that is a great thing for anyone wanting to learn more about investing.

While NZX-listed shares don't usually trade for over $100, US-listed shares price a lot higher - Alphabet Inc ($2,500+), Tesla ($800+) and Apple ($100+) are just some examples. Fractional shares let you buy a small portion and still get exposure to the company without the need to invest in an index fund or managed fund. In essence, fractional shares are affordable and easily bought and sold.

While the potential returns of owning 0.10 of a Mainfreight share or 0.25 of a Tesla share won't be life-changing, fractional shares allow New Zealanders to have a direct investment and learn more about the company as a result.

Pros and Cons of Fractional Shares (vs Full Shares)

Pros

Affordable: To purchase a fraction of a share means you can invest what you have, usually with no minimum investment. On the other hand, full shares require you to buy a unit in full, accompanied by high fees making it unprofitable to buy smaller quantities.
Dollar-Cost Averaging: With little to no fees, fractional shares allow those with lower incomes to benefit from dollar-cost averaging. However, dollar-cost averaging with Full shares may not be as viable due to higher fees per trade.
Diversification: Low-income investors benefit because fractional shares make it affordable to diversify across various investments, leaving their eggs in multiple baskets. Full shares make it harder to achieve cheap diversification due to the high fees and purchase of the entire share.

Cons

The Range of Stocks and ETFs are Limited: Fractional investment platforms may not provide every stock and ETF you're after. This selection will vary from platform to platform. Full share platforms will be able to provide access to all companies that trade on its exchange.
Trade Execution Delays: Some investment platforms brokers may not execute your market order until there are enough orders to make a significant wholesale purchase. You may find the quoted price and the completed price may differ. Full shares will allow you to buy and sell the share without this delay in pricing.
May not suit advanced traders: Fractional share providers offer many options for new investors looking to get their feet wet. In addition, most fractional share providers offer international market and shares trading. The difference is you won't find any advanced trading instruments (currently) such as options or futures that you could with Full share providers.

Platforms Offering Fractional Shares

Unsure where to start when it comes to fractional shares? Our list of platforms has you covered:

Sharesies

What you can invest in: Companies, Exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Managed funds
Order types: Market orders, Limit orders, Auto-invest.
Minimum investment: No minimum.
Kids accounts: Yes
Foreign Exchange fee: 0.4% currency exchange fee.
Trading Fees: (0.5%) Up to $3,000 + (0.1%) For amounts over $3,000 = Total fee per order.
What share markets do they offer: New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX), Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), Nasdaq, New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE)
Platform: Web
What we like about Sharesies
- Sharesies offers the most options for available exchanges; you can invest in more than 7800 options.
- Sharesies simplifies the idea of investing with lots of entry-level information for new investors.
- Their podcast ‘Lunch Money’ complements its investment platform, chatting with Kiwi and Aussie executives about critical financial topics.

Important to note - Prices and processing times:

Exchange-traded investments - The price you'll see for exchange-traded investments is shown with a delay of at least 20 minutes while the market is open. Meaning in most cases, the price will differ from your buy or sell price. The orders may be fulfilled small bits at a time with 30 days before it is either partially completed or fully cancelled and funds returned to your wallet.
Managed funds - Managed funds will always show a different price than the sell or buy price. The price shown is the latest mid-price the fund provider has given and is always at least one day old. The mid-price includes adjustments by the transaction fee for the fund and is how we reach the buy and sell price. The fund provider will also determine its costs.

Hatch

What you can invest in: Companies, Exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Managed funds, American Depositary Receipts (ADR)
Order types: Market orders, Limit orders, Stop-buy orders, Stop-loss orders, Auto-invest.
Minimum investment: No minimum.
Kids accounts: Yes
Foreign Exchange fee: 0.5% currency exchange fee.
Trading Fees: 0 - 300 shares: $3 USD flat fee. 301+ shares: 1c USD a share, e.g. 301 shares is $3.01. Kids accounts: Brokerage 50c USD
What share markets do they offer: Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
Platform: Web
What we like about Hatch
- Hatch has a straightforward, easy-to-use site that makes it simple to get your head around if you’re an investment platform newbie.
- Hatch handles all the taxes for its US shares and helps you with your NZ obligations.
- It’s possible to filter Investments in a simple setup with investment types easy to find and sorted into, ADR’s, IPO’s, Companies, ETF’s. For example, suppose you’re interested in investing in companies that pay dividends. In that case, Hatch even provides two options to “Non-dividend payers and Dividend payers.
- Hatch webinars cover different economic issues every six weeks called “Wine & Wealth”, providing easily digestible wealth information.

Stake

What you can invest in: Companies, Exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Managed funds, American Depositary Receipts (ADR), Inverse & Leveraged ETFs.
Order types: Market orders, Limit orders, Stop-buy orders and, Soon to be added: Margin Trading, Short selling, Options
Minimum investment: $50 NZD deposit, $10 USD minimum for trades.
Foreign Exchange fee: $0 Per trade. 1% On deposit and withdrawal only
Trading Fees: $0 Brokerage fees. $0 FX Fees per trade
What share markets do they offer: Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
Platform: Web, IOS, Android
What we like about Stake:
- Stake’s $0 Brokerage fees $0 FX or no monthly fees remains unmatched on our list of providers.
- They are boasting a sleek and stylish app. Stake keeps its design UI and UX simplistic and easy to navigate.
- The ability to execute up to 3-day trades in a rolling five day trade period (any more, you get marked as a pattern day trader and potentially restricted from day trades for up to 90 days). Holding a balance of USD 25k makes you exempt from this rule.
- Stake offers an excellent sign-up bonus where you get to spin the wheel for a free share from GoPro, Dropbox or even Nike. Sign-ups using your referral lets you turn again, both receiving a free share.

Stake also provides lots of value to its users with its free content:
Offering lots of extra online content and information to its users, Stake covers various current financial topics on its blog:

The Wrap: Brings together the week's news in the financial market.
Stake Updates: IPO’s, Changes to the Stake app.
What I'm Trading: Interviews their users and how they invest.
Under the Spotlight: Takes a closer look at the markets most famous companies.
Stake Academy: Helps bring newbies up to speed with learning the basics of investing in stocks.

Important to note - Processing times:
The standard settlement time of sell trades on the US exchange is T+2 days, where T is the transaction date, and + 2 refers to 2 business days from the transaction date. In addition, Stake Black provides you with instant buying power allowing reinvestment of funds once your sale is executed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Fractional shares are usually simple, but any investment carries risk so our list of anticipated questions helps explain what's important.

What happens to my money if my investment platform goes under?

Sharesies: All client investments and money are held within bare trust under Sharesies custodian company Sharesies Limited. All customer funds are held under a client trust bank account.

Hatch and Stake: Both platforms use Drivewealth as their US broker. If Drivewealth goes through insolvency, your shares are covered under the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). This protects against the loss of cash and shares held by a customer at a financially troubled SIPC-member brokerage firm. The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000 USD, which includes a $250,000 USD limit for cash.

Our guide What happens to your investments if Hatch, Sharesies, Stake, InvestNow or other platforms shut down? has more details.

Are dividend reinvestment plans (DRP) available?

Fractional investment platforms such as Sharesies, Stake and Hatch don't offer dividend reinvestment plans ("DRP"). However, you’ll be able to participate in DRP with some other investing platforms - if this is important, make sure DRP is offered before signing up.

What is a share dealer/trader, and what does this mean for me?

If you buy shares intending to sell for a profit, Inland Revenue (IRD) may consider you a share dealer or trader. It’s the IRD’s responsibility to prove that you’re a trader if you are. The IRD generally looks at these behaviours as indicators someone may be a trader:

Regularly buying and selling shares,
Significant amounts invested in shares, especially when a portion is borrowed
Buying highly volatile shares to flip at a profit (e.g., GME or AMC)

Do I have to pay tax in the US?

The providers in our list complete W8-BEN forms for the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS). These are to ensure the correct deductions for withholding tax is made on your behalf.

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