“New Zealand doesn’t have a good record of saving, yet we’re all better off if we have some savings,” says ISI chairman Simon Swanson.

“This is not a mass marketing or advertising campaign telling people to save more. It’s a process to develop a savings framework for New Zealand, and then to look at some of the policy options in more detail. Such a framework is likely to include government, workplace and individual saving.

“A savings framework for New Zealand will set out savings policies, the regulatory environment that protects savers, and the role of all the key players so that people know what to expect and what they need to do themselves,” Swanson says.

ISI deputy chairman Ross Kent says a key strength of the approach is that it is involving a wide range of people and interest groups.

“Getting people to save more isn’t something that the Government can do with a new policy here and there. And having financial institutions hammering people with the ‘save more’ message certainly doesn’t work.

“We’ve all got to work in partnership if we’re going to make some progress. We think employers have an important role to play because saving through the workplace is one of the easiest ways to save. Unions have a role in encouraging their members, even those on lower incomes, to see the benefits of saving a little. And the community in general needs to acknowledge that it’s an issue for everyone,” Kent says.

Swanson said a lot of the debate about saving to date had focussed on superannuation. But people may need to access savings throughout their lives whether it’s for education, buying a house, health needs, retraining, or retirement income.

“We also believe we need to look more closely at the impact saving, or not saving, has on the economy. If New Zealanders had more money to invest – whether it’s invested here or overseas - we would reap the benefits of the return from that investment. At the moment our heavy reliance on foreign capital means the profit from that investment is all sent back overseas.”

“The project is divided into three stages. We’re at the end of the first stage now, but we don’t have a date for when the third stage will be finished. In some respects, the more successful it is, the longer it will take,” Swanson says.

• Stage one – Discussions with a wide range of people, including employers, unions, politicians, economists, etc, to explain and seek support for Saving New Zealand.
• Stage two – Development of a paper with input from interested parties on all the issues related to savings. Savings forum held in late July with the objective of agreeing the outline of a savings framework and a process for proceeding with further work on the detail.
• Stage three – Developing policy detail.