KiwiSaver

I like KiwiSaver, as it provides an incentive for people to save. In fact you have to be very very poor or very very stupid not to go into KiwiSaver as you effectively get a 200% subsidy for the first $30,000 of income you earn. For every dollar you put in, the employer puts in one dollar and the Government one dollar.

The Government is signalling that the Government contribution may be removed or reduced. This is not entirely surprising as when Labour established KiwiSaver there was huge surpluses. KiwiSaver was set up to reduce that surplus.

Today the Government is borrowing $300 million a week. Borrowing money to save money has never been a sustainable strategy, so the changes are not unexpected – especially as there is doubt if KiwiSaver has increased overall savings.

What I would love to see going forward is a co-ordinated approach and policy around retirement savings – looking at public superannuation, workplace superannuation and other private superannuation schemes.

How much of someone’s retirement income should be funded by public super, and how much by KiwiSaver or other private savings?