Kiwis leaving retirement planning too late

Kiwi Wealth offers a Future You retirement forecasting tool to help people determine whether they are on track for their savings.

But a third of its users so far have been aged over 44 and two-thirds are over 45.

Head of retail wealth and marketing Joe Bishop said that meant many people were not getting started early enough.

“Being engaged and active in your savings as you get closer to retirement is great, but to give yourself the best chance of making the finish line in good financial shape, decisions have to be made much, much sooner,” he said.

“That’s why we think of retirement saving as a marathon. For many Kiwis retirement is a long way off, just as the finish line is a long way off when you start out in a marathon. But to give yourself the best chance of finishing a marathon you have to make a series of strategic decisions that keep you in the race.  The most important of which is knowing what your race or retirement goals are.”

Kiwi Wealth’s Future You tool shows that a 30-year-old male earning an income of $50,000 and contributing 3% into the Kiwi Wealth KiwiSaver Scheme Balanced Fund could have $175,600 at 65, potentially giving him an estimated income of $8700 a year.