A good thing about KiwiSaver

I had lunch yesterday with three of my staff at Curia. Two of them are at university and one has just graduated.

Over lunch we got onto KiwiSaver, and all three of them started talking about which KiwiSaver Fund they are with, how much they have earned, what the rate of return has been, and how they aim to use it to help get their first house mortgage.

Now one can debate KiwiSaver at the macroeconomic level – about whether there should be employer subsidies and Government subsidies.

But what struck me, was the difference it has made at an individual level. I can’t imagine before KiwiSaver, three young women (who still have massive student debt) would be talking about their investments, who is getting the best rate of return etc. Developing that culture of savings and investment literacy at an early age is possibly KiwiSaver’s greatest claim to fame.