Hello 2026 — it’s already shaping up to be a busy one at Squirrel.
If you managed to take some time off over the break, I hope it involved a bit of rest and recovery, maybe some adventure and plenty of good company.
We stayed at home this year and leaned into a staycation, and it was wonderfully relaxing!
Demand is strong (and we’re working hard to keep up)
The topic at the top of the list for our term investment investors is how quickly we can meet demand and get your money working harder.
For a bit of perspective, we originated around $350m of loans in 2024, which grew to almost $650m in 2025 (calendar years). We’re targeting similar growth again in 2026.
That doesn’t happen by accident. It reflects a real push to grow the volume of quality loans. We hope those numbers give you some reassurance that things are moving in the right direction.
Managed funds and the dreaded ‘cash drag’
For our managed fund investors, the funds aren’t immune to what’s known as cash drag.
In simple terms, they’re holding more cash than we’d ideally like, which takes a little edge off returns.
We’re actively investigating options to improve how that cash performs as the fund grows and we’ll update you once we’ve landed on the right solution.
Personal loan term investment update
We’re nearing a decision on the future of our personal loan term investment.
Despite ongoing work, we haven’t been able to scale lending at the level needed. We’ll update you in about six weeks with the outcome.
A quick note on investor demand
We’ve seen particularly strong demand from investors as bank term deposit rates have slipped below the 4.00% mark.
We know that after tax, many bank offerings struggle to keep up with household inflation, which is running well ahead of general inflation.
We really do appreciate the trust you place in us—especially in an environment where making your money work a bit harder genuinely matters.
What we’re building for you
Right now, we’re working through a heap of new features, with a big chunk scheduled to roll out in May. These will give you the ability to ‘bucket’ your investments, including multiple On-Call accounts.
There are also a number of other improvements we think you’ll really value – shaped directly by customer feedback over the past 18 months.
I’ll give a sneak peek at what’s coming up in our March webinar.
Once these features are released, our focus will shift to joint accounts and kids’ accounts, and the ability to manage money on behalf of another person.
Plenty to look forward to in the next round of major development milestones.
Questions, comments, ideas?
As always, if you've got any feedback, I'd love to hear it—what we're doing well or where we could be doing better. If there are any topics you'd like us to cover in our March webinar, flick me an email at dave@squirrel.co.nz and let me know.
