The survey, ‘Rise of the Money Robots: Kiwis’ attitudes to roboadvice’, examines Kiwis’ attitudes to roboadvice and whether they would consider using it to help manage their financial futures and lift low engagement levels in retirement planning.

The Perceptive Research survey of 1001 people looked into Kiwis’ attitudes toward the use of roboadvice to automate the management of investment and retirement savings.

While only 8% of respondents had heard of roboadvice for financial planning, one in five would consider using a roboadviser to manage their retirement planning.

But almost half of respondents said they would prefer a human financial adviser over a roboadviser for professional opinions and views, or when there were changes in financial or personal circumstances.

“The survey findings clearly show that Kiwis see roboadvice as complementary to human financial advisers, rather than as a total replacement of experts,” said Kiwi Wealth's head of retail wealth and marketing, Joe Bishop.

“That reflects how new roboadvice is as a concept, and the lack of a proven track record for the technology here. However, that’s changing, and we expect things to only accelerate.”

He said the move to clear the way for roboadvice as part of the Financial Advisers Act review was an important step.

“The technology coming online now has advanced well beyond what was around when the FAA became law in 2010. If we’re to bridge the advice gap and get people involved in planning for retirement, particularly with KiwiSaver, roboadvice will be vital.”

The survey also found fewer than one in five New Zealanders have a financial adviser. Twenty per cent had not checked their retirement finances in the past year.

It showed older clients were the least likely to trust roboadvice.