New research from the Commission for Financial Capability shows that in the last two weeks of April, 34% of households were in difficulty and 40% were at risk of getting into hardship. In total, 38% of households had already experienced some loss of income.

She said New Zealanders were less financially resilient than people in some other countries because of their low levels of household savings; a large number of people with jobs in tourism or international education; and the rate of casual work and temporary contracts. Sixty per cent had savings equivalent to less than a month’s income.

Wrightson said, if financial advisers were serious about helping New Zealanders in trouble they should not charge for their services when they assisted during this time, and think about a collective way to pool their knowledge and advice.

“There are different ways of earning money in this business.”

There would be a business opportunity for advisers who had the mana in the community and were a friendly face to help people through difficult times, she said.

“Advisers who become like a trusted friend, I suspect they will do well. The collective thing for the advice sector is probably the most important thing. Given the scale of what we are facing, what they could do collectively would be my challenge.”

The research showed that 7% of KiwiSaver members had switched to a lower risk fund, locking in the market losses of late March. In addition, 22% of renters were considering a hardship withdrawal from their KiwiSaver fund, which Wrightson said could affect their ability to buy a house in future.

Only 5% had sought financial advice and 12% were considering it. The commission said work should be done to increase people’s understanding of the purpose and mechanics of KiwiSaver.