How many Kiwis has KiwiSaver Saved?

What do we need to do to make our good retirement scheme great?

The answer to the headline is obviously none of our feathered friends, but there are plenty of the human variety who have reason to be thankful. And, with some fine-tuning, we could improve KiwiSaver so it can help many more Kiwis save for a better retirement.

A few years back I had a regular slot on Radio Live (now Magic Talk) with renowned broadcaster Karen Hay. It was a live show where listeners could ring in and ask their money questions; it was called “Your Money” and I just loved it. As you can imagine we got some pretty interesting questions!

One night a young chap rang up and said he was a first-time caller, long-time listener, which should have made me suspicious from the getgo. He went on to ask, in a very dulcet tone: “How many Kiwis has KiwiSaver saved?” I thanked the caller for his question, knowing the voice (but more on that later) and replied: “I’m not sure, but I suspect quite a few Kiwis are better off financially.” We kept him on the phone a bit more asking about his KiwiSaver, what fund he was in and finally let him off the hook shortly after. Clearly getting a little more than he bargained for.