What moving to New Zealand taught me about KiwiSaver

By: Gonzalo Hernandez/ Picture supplied

After four years of holidays, I finally made the move to New Zealand in September last year. What I brought with me, besides an Aussie accent, was a 10-year career in funds management, for firms whose underlying clients spanned from mum and dads to some of Australia’s largest superannuation funds. One of the first things I noticed in everyday conversation was that New Zealanders don't talk about KiwiSaver the way Australians talk about “their super”.

In Australia, superannuation is a national obsession where people know and keep a close eye on their balances and argue about their respective super fund's performance at barbecues. They read their annual statements, and when the government tweaks the contribution rate or changes the tax treatment, it leads the evening news.

Here, KiwiSaver often feels more like a direct debit people set up when they started their first job and haven't thought about since.