KiwiSaver members not on track

David Boyle, group manager of investor education at the Commission for Financial Capability, said one of his biggest concerns about KiwiSaver was that savers would think that, having signed up, they did not need to do any more.

“People join and in a lot of cases they’ve ticked the box and think ‘I’ve done that, I should be set’. But they haven’t worked out what that might mean when they get to retire,” he said.

He said just contributing the 3% of income minimum, matched by the employer contribution, would not be enough to give most investors are comfortable retirement.  “Three per cent [of your income] is not going to get you there, even if you start really early, it’s not enough. That is a real problem.”

ANZ research has shown that 79% of savers want more than the $370 per week a single person can get from the pension in retirement.