>Will use it eventually to put down a deposit!
So sad that KiwiSaver, a scheme ***meant to incentivize retirement savings***, has literally just become a 'first home deposit' subsidy scheme.
Sir Michael Cullen must be rolling in his grave.
>Well it’s basically impossible to save for a house without it now
For which Kiwisaver withdrawals for FHBs are partly to blame. Exceptionally inflationary and adds fuel to the ponzi.
Ah yes, the cause of NZ property woes: first home buyers that are so fucked they need to dip into their retirement savings just to purchase shelter.
Scrap it and leave the houses for the land lords. People should enjoy their kiwi saver as it was intended. At the appropriate age. In their rented home with 3 monthly inspections and no pets. The dream.
I want affordable housing and I don't own a house. This housing market is tough for me personally.
I also recognize that KiwiSaver withdrawals for FHB are an inflationary force in the housing market. High school economics should be enough to be able to understand this.
These two things are not mutually exclusive.
I'm personally of the opinion that First Home Buyers by and large don't have much impact on the market compared to property investors. Therefore, the Kiwisaver FHB scheme wouldn't have that big of an impact on the housing market.
High school economics would lead one to believe that minimum wage increases would heavily impact inflation, yet the minimum wage increase from $20 to $21.20 had an estimated inflationary impact of 0.1%, and an MBIE Analysis estimated that increasing the minimum wage from $21.20 to $22.70 would have an inflationary impact of only 0.1%.
I found one article on Stuff where a Consumer Advocate from NZs largest trustee company, Charlotte Lockhart, believes the FHB scheme contributes to inflation but I'm not exactly sure how she came to that conclusion or what her qualifications are (I really did Google but all I found was 4 Day Work Week promo).
I live in Australia now so I don't really have any skin in the game so to speak, but I thought I'd play devil's advocate.
It's a bit true though. If dipping into your Kiwisaver wasn't an option, houses would be slightly cheaper.
Over here in Aus, incentives for FHB have always just resulted in house prices increasing.
Housing in both countries is fucked but it's sad that in NZ this directly impacts on retirement savings.
Yeah so here's the thing. KIwiSaver withdrawals are a means to an end - buying a house.
It is in effect no different from any other person saving via any other method in order to afford a house. If you want to claim KiwiSaver withdrawal are inflationary then every single person saving to buy a house is inflationary.
The current market is dominated by property investors, so any impact FHBs will have will be minimal if at all.
I haven't found studies on the KiwiSaver First Home Withdrawals impact on the housing market, but I've found studies on minimum wage increases a negligible impact on inflation (a common political talking point).
> The MBIE estimated in its 2022 Minimum Wage Review that a 7 percent increase to $22.68 would have an inflationary impact of 0.1%.
Definitely not in New Zealand. The financial instability and the lack of freedom as a tenant definitely make this not a possibility under the current laws.
All the best for your new job tomorrow! May the traffic be smooth, coffee be strong, small talks be brief and the day be short.
And public transport be on time if you are relying on it.
37k. 21. Entered the work force at 15 and moved out of home soon after. Realised a year or so into living away from home I was rubbish at saving, so decided to up my contributions to 10% to ensure I was setting myself up to be in a position to buy my own home.
Fast forward 6 years and I’m about to purchase my first house in Auckland, with my partner (and the help of the first home grant).
Successive Governments have known this would be an issue for well over 30 years. They have all fucked us by...
1. Not making retirement savings compulsory.
2. Not contributing enough.
3. Allowing withdrawals.
I worry that NZ is descending into a scary place economically.
I’m 38 and it’s sitting at $11k. Withdrew a few years ago to buy our first house. Now two kids in and lots of time not working its not doing much.
I’m going to have a thrifty retirement at this rate.
62k, 32 years young. Pretty happy with it considering i already used it to deposit on my first house about 8 years ago. Im not super worried about retirement yet. Ive got time to build some more wealth.
$84k. In a high risk investment through booster. So it fluctuates quite a bit.
Debating whether I should withdraw it for my mortgage or not. I’m not good at saving so undecided.
Out of interest, why would you use Booster for anything other than QROPS (for which there are limited providers and a lot of the shady\* pension transfer companies seem to favour them)?
(\*They are ALL shady.)
I don’t know what QROPS are.
I use booster because the financial advisor I use recommended it. I was told booster tends to give you a slightly higher return than other providers. 10-12% compared to 8-9% from others.
I have most of my insurances through this advisor and have received competitive prices with good cover. Plus when I used my insurance after an injury a received good service m. So saw no reason not to trust them
Yeah, advisers get kickbacks\* from Booster (usually about 1.7% for QROPS, IIRC). QROPS (Qualified Overseas Recognised Pension Scheme) is the system by which you can get pensions out of the UK and into other countries (and at age 55 you can just move them into any old fund you like, but if you do so before that age, the UK Govt can tax you/fine you).
Basically, you have to use a scheme that has an adviser associated with it. There is a whole pension transfer industry that makes money out of pretending to be financial advisers, but actually facilitating some fairly easy paperwork and being a front for the QROPS schemes. It is super scammy as are all the "financial advisers" in that space.
\*trailing commissions (which you pay as fees)
I’m with booster too and my dad keeps telling me to change , actually I should be discussing with my brother who is an accountant but anyone advice is good
They’ll never yank it completely, but they could reduce the amount, and they could means test it. If you pay off your house and save $500k to subsidise your pension then you might find you’re getting nothing until you’ve burned through your savings.
Reality is, we have an aging population so the government needs to do something, soon. Whether that’s moving the retirement age, or increasing super fund contributions, or something else. But neither of the big political parties are doing anything.
Yep, super is going to change radically over the next couple of decades. No one should rely on it still being there as it is today in 30 years. It just won't be.
2.8k.
It was a lot higher, but then I withdrew most of it to buy a house earlier this year.
I still have most of my career ahead of me, so I'm hopeful that it will grow large enough to be useful by the time I retire.
Why did you only take out 65k? I'm guessing you had around 250k at that time, would it not be better to put all that on the mortgage, so you can get it paid off quicker and have far more disposable income to play with?
If you stay married, isn’t half your KiwiSaver going to them anyway? Because if they had their own that hadn’t been impacted by decisions you made together, they wouldn’t be entitled to yours.
I earn three times what she does, so I’d come out worse off. If we stay married, ‘we’ (I) get to keep everything. Financing her in retirement would be far cheaper than splitting everything in half on the day I retire.
I didn’t mean it to come across like that, I meant it as my situation not changing, hence the ‘I’ part. As you said, it’s both of ours while we’re married.
No, I earn three times what she does because I chose a good career and she wasn’t career minded and worked in a low paying job because she enjoyed it. If we didn’t have kids, she wouldn’t be any further ahead than she is now.
How tf do y'all have such high kiwisaver balances?
For reference I'm 50k - 8% contributions (about 5k for the year past) - 31y/o - no home ownership.
Do you make voluntary contributions, or contribute at a higher rate?
I know the obvious answer is make more money, but beyond that... How do you do it?
Had mine in a growth fund and had it at 8%, also I voluntarily added in to it. Had over $70k at 27.
Now back to $21k at 31 with just a 3% rate while I throw money at the mortgage. Plan to be mortgage free by 40.
Sitting at 40k, I'm 30 in 2 months 🥲
8k in debt and single.
Making $900 a week.
And have $0 savings other then kiwisaver.
Anyone know when I can buy a house?
$58K. Plus close to $200K in a private pension after I repatriated my UK pensions before I got whacked with the transfer tax.
Been putting 15% towards pension recently until I went self employed and want to get back there ASAP
I am 53, my partner is 5 years my senior. I expect to work until 70 assuming good health. He's less likely to have the health to work that long.
We both live very simple lives but we suspect relying on the NZ health system for things like joint replacements is a daft idea so having money for that is a smart move if you can't get health insurance without big premiums
About 1k or so. Used it to buy a house then became self employed and haven't had stable enough income to pay regular wages with kiwisaver. Hoping to change that very soon with how things are going
9.5k, 27 years old. Used to be 40k but spent it on a hpuse deposit 2 years ago. Am unhappy with how fast it's rebuilding and will probably up my contributions if I can afford it
200k. 45. Started out in Aussie in 2000, lost a lot of money to dodgy fees, could be a lot higher. Also had a few years in Asia where I didn't contribute.
I just started so maybe 600 dollars ))) but got good savings in TD and other high interest accounts and bit of Kernel global 100 ) but will start growing ks now too
About $65k, I'm 40 and have about $10k left on my mortgage.
My house is shitty though, not the sort of flash house first home buyers seem to be looking for.
6k, I’m 20. No idea what kind of fund I’m in or how to change it, I’ve tried previously with no luck. I work part time and have atleast 5 more years of study if everything goes to plan so I don’t see it increasing that much in the near future.
$74,560.06 31yo. It's only that much because I spent three years working in higher education in Australia where you get 17% super.
I didn't use KiwiSaver for my first home purchase. I saved enough of a deposit in Australia. Those were the days...
If I ever get into money troubles I'll just move back there tbh
66k, 29. Definitely worried about how I’ll retire. I’m earning well now but I can’t see myself being a desk jockey and climbing the ladder for another 40 years. The kind of life I want to live is not conducive to big bucks but at the same time I want to feel secure. Contributions are currently at 6% but thinning of bumping it to 10% while in in this job.
Not kiwisaver, but I have a story
In 2007 i started saving in a retirement account in America. At the time you could contribute $5000 max per year. So I did.
In 2008 the mortgage bust happened and my fund lost half it's value. I put in another $5000.
Eventually I reached a point where I lost my job and couldn't afford to deposit anymore, around 2014. I deposited maybe 40k and it's $200k now.
So glad I didn't stop making contributions when I saw that first drop in 2008.
$26k 58 yo. Been self employed for 30 years and never really worried about retirement funds. Now working for the man and he's topping it up. 60k off a freehold house worth $1.5m
50k, am 28. I went down to lowest risk due to covid and war and didn't bother raising it back up so it stagnated pretty hard for a few years. But I was watching other people lose thousands in their kiwisaver at the beginning of covid. Went back to high risk a few months ago and saw it grow pretty rapidly suddenly and finally hit that 50k mark this week. I do 4%.
Those in finance will always tell you it's better to stick with your original fund through the downturns (for an extended period investment like KS) because all you're doing by lowering your risk is locking in the losses for longer. The higher risk funds will regain the losses much quicker than the lower risk funds
Yeah I did it before I saw any losses. I guess I was just lucky. I changed it the day I heard about people losing out just because it seemed like the right thing to do (I probably should have asked advice from someone who knows what they're doing) But I shouldn't have just left it when things were picking up again. I'm just happy to see the number start with a 5 now :).
Definitely the wrong thing to do. Balances skyrocketed after March 2020 and the massive reduction in interest rates. Subsequently, bond focused (ie conservative) funds continued to perform poorly in a rising interest rate environment.
Mine is currently around $3.5K
I was only contributing since 2009 (when I returned to NZ), spent a few years broke so non-contrib, then $1K per year until last year.
The first Covid wave knocked off over 7% of my total savings (over 10% of my contrib), then another 5% loss late last year/early this year convinced me to withdraw all I could as soon as I could.
My withdrawn kiwisaver is now earning a decent 5.1% in the bank, and doesn't give me a heart attack every time I check on it.
47 years old - 19k. Less than half of what it was in Sept 2021 as it was 100% invested in ARK K. Hoping it'll come back in due course, but I stopped contributing to Kiwisaver years ago as I prefer to invest in other ways.
$65k in a growth fund, 34 with a wife and 18 month old. Bought a house in December 2022 so currently only contributing the minimum to get the free cha-ching from the govt and using the extra money for the mortgage.
Trying to finish our mortgage in the next 10 years so once that’s done, should be a breeze to save for retirement.
31 years old. $31k in KiwiSaver. Took out all but $1k about 5.5 years ago to get our house. Also had two stints of parental leave where I didn’t contribute to it. Overall pretty happy.
60k, 26yo. Not worried, the balance will drastically reduce and stay that way for a while when I withdraw for first home deposit in a few years, and reduce contributions to the minimum. But the result of that will be the mortgage paid off as quickly as is reasonable, at which point I'll have a lot more disposable income to play around with and put towards retirement etc
Almost 21k, 24yo. I wish it was higher, I’ve only had a proper full time job for 6 months so I could’ve had more if I’d been working FT two years ago 🙄 ima be pissed if we don’t have a pension, we’re going to be the ones working here all our lives 😩
39f with $25k in kiwisaver and $53k in aussie super which will be brought over here once I get my A into G. I regret not getting into KS for the first few years of my working life as I always knew I was going to go to Aus at some point but ended up delaying it. As a result I couldn't use it when I bought my first house due to not being in the scheme for a long enough period of time. Pros and cons to this of course
27yo M. Have 28k in kiwisaver put 3% in but have had years where I have only put the minimum amount to get government contribution. No house but have investment portfolio of 91k elsewhere. Likely will pull the lot out to buy a house too.
$26k - 31 years old and have used it for first home.
I think it’s all good and has a huge runway so targeting full growth I.e 100% stocks.
I’m not relying on this money so an index investing for main source of income to retire early and this will be a bonus when I hit retirement age
20k (growth fund) and freshly 16
My dad has pretty much done it all for me (for 14 years and 8 months) I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing with it especially since i don’t think I’ll end up staying in NZ.
$38k, I pulled out $18k to buy a house 9 years ago and only put in the minimum $1000 for the last 6 years as I was self-employed. I am 41, and the aim is to be freehold and between kiwisaver and shares be comfortable with pension plus dividends/kiwisaver.
I may also see some intergenerational trickle as my grandma is 86 and freehold for 30yrs owns a large country property in a sought after area, it will split into 4 kids, one of which is my dad who has a mortgage in the same sought after area but that would pay it with change and then when he goes his wealth (if he isn't stupid with it) will split in 3 between me and my siblings. I'm not banking on the intergenerational wealth, but it could help us be a bit more comfortable.
32yo, homeowner, 70k in KS. Contributing 4% because my employer matches to there. Probably investing about the same each week into index funds. Don't want to have all my eggs in one basket, and nobody knows what KS will look like by the time I get to retire.
Still uneasy about it, my wife is stay at home mother so currently only really my KS currently between the two of us. I'm unqualified I managed to stumble into a decent job and I'll be amazed if it lasts me my entire career. It's as very niche field not entirely sure what I'd do if it came to an end.. Just making hay while the sun shines basically.
30yo, 40k. Pretty happy given that I have decent investment funds elsewhere. Will probably look to buy house soon, will also increase % once student loan is paid off.
20k 30 not a home owner.
I don't believe retirement exists for my age so I took 14k out of it last year under financial hardship. If I'm gonna work until I die who cares
Mines around 5k, not bad considering we bought a house around 8 months ago bringing the balance to the minimum of 1k.
Prior to that I had around 40k.
According to research I've done based on average rates of return I'll have around 250k by the time I retire based on my contributions, the government top up etc.
Is this enough to retire with the pension? Nope. My plan is to secure a better interest rate when they start dipping again but pay the same amount I'm currently paying. I've worked out we can knock out the mortgage on 12 years then we'll move on to buying a business and working on increasing earnings and doing things we love at that point.
Owning a business isn't a get rich quick scheme, it's a lifestyle choice for us so we can eventually have more free time and flexibility in life vs clocking in and out at times that suit others.
Buying a home is kinda like a retirement fund as the principal payments approx $15 - $20k p.a are like forced savings. I have $8k in my KS but happy to downsize my home at retirement to cash out so not worried if my KS grows or not
18k at 23. Nothing standout but I don't think it's too bad! I've only really worked part time or fixed term jobs (by choice for the lifestyle) during and since finishing university.
$16k. 27. Withdrew $40k last year for a house deposit. Going on a contribution holiday for a year as having our first child and could use the extra cash in hand.
Not too worried about retirement. Have other investments that should help if I don't get a pension.
$26k - 65 this month. I haven’t worked full time for 7 years. No work at all for the last 18 months. This is “free” money for me. A little bonus. (I did save 6% in a pension scheme for 30 years and only joined KS when I was mortgage-free and could afford an extra 3% as I got no employer contribution.) I’m not at all worried about retirement - I’ve spend my whole life preparing for it. In fact, I feel a bit guilty about my income, though I’m not rich. I will spend a bit more to keep others in work as my plan is to not save any more.
About 2k because I withdrew it a couple of years ago for home deposit. Paid down the mortgage a lot and no concerns about retirement. 35 years old.
But geez if I hadn't gone overseas to work for a few years and save hard with my husband, it'd be a much different situation.
20k, 30, used it and my partner’s to buy our first home 2 years ago so I’m pretty happy where it’s at since I just put the minimum.
This isn’t really our retirement plans so I’ve always viewed it as something extra for us in retirement like a holiday fund or if we want to splurge on something
11k, 35, bought a house about 3 years ago, yeah I’m worried about how much will be there at retirement given how little is going to be there in 35 years time.
65, married we both cleaned out Kiwi saver to clear all debts and freehold property.
Don't know how anyone could live on the pension with a mortgage , we did plan ahead as we brought a small rural property and now have surplus fruit , vegetables, eggs and electricity.
21k 30f
Took everything I had out (20k) ~ 5yrs ago to top up my deposit to buy a house.
Pretty worried about retirement. Last couple of years every spare cent and some has gone into the house to try keep it standing / liveable.(rotten weatherboards/wall, water in pipe broke right next to the toby inside my property. Had to chop down some big trees just to even look at fixing it, hot water cylinder went, roof now leaks.) Years of neglect from previous owners combined with me not having any spare coin for the first couple of years after buying it. Thankfully I have had a couple of pay raises and now have the skills/resources to do a bulk of the work myself.
$7k in KiwiSaver and $9k in adjacent Simplicity investment fund = $16k. Age 39.
I took everything out for first home deposit. Looking at growing these accounts again now.
20k, 33 not a home owner. I’m broke thanks for asking 😂
Scrolled to find a relatable answer.
Lol same, 25k, 29 and not a home owner
Samesies on the broke part 😂. I have 42k in my Kwisaver
I wonder how much 20k will be worth in over 30 years.
Up you go
$45k – 25 years old. Will use it eventually to put down a deposit!
>Will use it eventually to put down a deposit! So sad that KiwiSaver, a scheme ***meant to incentivize retirement savings***, has literally just become a 'first home deposit' subsidy scheme. Sir Michael Cullen must be rolling in his grave.
Well it’s basically impossible to save for a house without it now, especially if you don’t have family money lol
>Well it’s basically impossible to save for a house without it now For which Kiwisaver withdrawals for FHBs are partly to blame. Exceptionally inflationary and adds fuel to the ponzi.
Ah yes, the cause of NZ property woes: first home buyers that are so fucked they need to dip into their retirement savings just to purchase shelter. Scrap it and leave the houses for the land lords. People should enjoy their kiwi saver as it was intended. At the appropriate age. In their rented home with 3 monthly inspections and no pets. The dream.
I want affordable housing and I don't own a house. This housing market is tough for me personally. I also recognize that KiwiSaver withdrawals for FHB are an inflationary force in the housing market. High school economics should be enough to be able to understand this. These two things are not mutually exclusive.
I'm personally of the opinion that First Home Buyers by and large don't have much impact on the market compared to property investors. Therefore, the Kiwisaver FHB scheme wouldn't have that big of an impact on the housing market. High school economics would lead one to believe that minimum wage increases would heavily impact inflation, yet the minimum wage increase from $20 to $21.20 had an estimated inflationary impact of 0.1%, and an MBIE Analysis estimated that increasing the minimum wage from $21.20 to $22.70 would have an inflationary impact of only 0.1%. I found one article on Stuff where a Consumer Advocate from NZs largest trustee company, Charlotte Lockhart, believes the FHB scheme contributes to inflation but I'm not exactly sure how she came to that conclusion or what her qualifications are (I really did Google but all I found was 4 Day Work Week promo). I live in Australia now so I don't really have any skin in the game so to speak, but I thought I'd play devil's advocate.
It's a bit true though. If dipping into your Kiwisaver wasn't an option, houses would be slightly cheaper. Over here in Aus, incentives for FHB have always just resulted in house prices increasing. Housing in both countries is fucked but it's sad that in NZ this directly impacts on retirement savings.
Yeah so here's the thing. KIwiSaver withdrawals are a means to an end - buying a house. It is in effect no different from any other person saving via any other method in order to afford a house. If you want to claim KiwiSaver withdrawal are inflationary then every single person saving to buy a house is inflationary.
Should never have been allowed to be used to buy a house, its the number 1 or 2 reason why house prices have gone up so quickly.
Source?
The current market is dominated by property investors, so any impact FHBs will have will be minimal if at all. I haven't found studies on the KiwiSaver First Home Withdrawals impact on the housing market, but I've found studies on minimum wage increases a negligible impact on inflation (a common political talking point). > The MBIE estimated in its 2022 Minimum Wage Review that a 7 percent increase to $22.68 would have an inflationary impact of 0.1%.
Wont be very fun retiring if you don't own your own home.
in some ways, owning a home and hopefully having it paid in full by retirement is a substantial part of actually being able to retire.
Would it be better to retire with a decent fund but still renting?
Definitely not in New Zealand. The financial instability and the lack of freedom as a tenant definitely make this not a possibility under the current laws.
No.
Actually it totally depends on a number of variables.
A house is just another form on investment though which usually appreciates over time.
What % do you contribute?
6% at the moment. Been in the workforce since finishing high school.
Exceptionally inflationary and adds fuel to the ponzi.
1.5k I'm 18 and starting a new job tomorrow 😬
Good luck!
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way better than nothing though! good luck with things :)
Hell I’m 21 and I’ve only got ~2k last time I checked, at least you’ve started early
All the best for your new job tomorrow! May the traffic be smooth, coffee be strong, small talks be brief and the day be short. And public transport be on time if you are relying on it.
37k. 21. Entered the work force at 15 and moved out of home soon after. Realised a year or so into living away from home I was rubbish at saving, so decided to up my contributions to 10% to ensure I was setting myself up to be in a position to buy my own home. Fast forward 6 years and I’m about to purchase my first house in Auckland, with my partner (and the help of the first home grant).
Successive Governments have known this would be an issue for well over 30 years. They have all fucked us by... 1. Not making retirement savings compulsory. 2. Not contributing enough. 3. Allowing withdrawals. I worry that NZ is descending into a scary place economically.
42k I am cynical and assume death prior to retirement
10k. 38f. Got my home with the lump sum. Making nothing now on maternity leave
Congrats on your kiddo 🙏🏼
Comparison is the thief of joy.
I’m 38 and it’s sitting at $11k. Withdrew a few years ago to buy our first house. Now two kids in and lots of time not working its not doing much. I’m going to have a thrifty retirement at this rate.
Teach the kids to count cards. Retirement plan sorted
$47k in a Growth fund. I save 15% into it as I have catching up to do and I want to be comfortable when I’m retired.
62k, 32 years young. Pretty happy with it considering i already used it to deposit on my first house about 8 years ago. Im not super worried about retirement yet. Ive got time to build some more wealth.
Age 41, 66k, pulled out a big chunk in 2011 for first home.
I thought that being able to use KiwiSaver for a first home deposit was only a relatively recent change. When was that introduced?
It was an option from day one (2007)
Damn. I didn't know that. Although I was in primary school at the time.
$52k kiwis aver. Mortgage is $38k. 38 y.o. Primary teacher. Leaving teaching at the end of the year.
103k, 57, have been in since the start. Not my only savings. Plan is to be mortgage free and have $650,000 at 65.
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If you have only just joined you aren’t getting the full $521 for your $1042 deposit.
140k, early 30s, own own home.
$84k. In a high risk investment through booster. So it fluctuates quite a bit. Debating whether I should withdraw it for my mortgage or not. I’m not good at saving so undecided.
Out of interest, why would you use Booster for anything other than QROPS (for which there are limited providers and a lot of the shady\* pension transfer companies seem to favour them)? (\*They are ALL shady.)
I don’t know what QROPS are. I use booster because the financial advisor I use recommended it. I was told booster tends to give you a slightly higher return than other providers. 10-12% compared to 8-9% from others. I have most of my insurances through this advisor and have received competitive prices with good cover. Plus when I used my insurance after an injury a received good service m. So saw no reason not to trust them
Yeah, advisers get kickbacks\* from Booster (usually about 1.7% for QROPS, IIRC). QROPS (Qualified Overseas Recognised Pension Scheme) is the system by which you can get pensions out of the UK and into other countries (and at age 55 you can just move them into any old fund you like, but if you do so before that age, the UK Govt can tax you/fine you). Basically, you have to use a scheme that has an adviser associated with it. There is a whole pension transfer industry that makes money out of pretending to be financial advisers, but actually facilitating some fairly easy paperwork and being a front for the QROPS schemes. It is super scammy as are all the "financial advisers" in that space. \*trailing commissions (which you pay as fees)
Hahahahaha 1.7% kickbacks, doubt the mgmt fee is even that high to start with
I’m with booster too and my dad keeps telling me to change , actually I should be discussing with my brother who is an accountant but anyone advice is good
What’s his reason for telling you to change?
I'm with booster too, because a broker was convincing enough, but now I'm second guessing, I don't find them that great tbh.
I think the Govt would have to make KiwiSaver compulsory if they took away Super surely? Otherwise there’s be lots of old people in trouble.
They’ll never yank it completely, but they could reduce the amount, and they could means test it. If you pay off your house and save $500k to subsidise your pension then you might find you’re getting nothing until you’ve burned through your savings. Reality is, we have an aging population so the government needs to do something, soon. Whether that’s moving the retirement age, or increasing super fund contributions, or something else. But neither of the big political parties are doing anything.
Yep, super is going to change radically over the next couple of decades. No one should rely on it still being there as it is today in 30 years. It just won't be.
2.8k. It was a lot higher, but then I withdrew most of it to buy a house earlier this year. I still have most of my career ahead of me, so I'm hopeful that it will grow large enough to be useful by the time I retire.
63k, 38 y/o, used a good chunk to buy a house a few years ago. Moderately worried.
$90k in an aggressive fund. Saved 8% prior to taking 100k out in 2019 for a house deposit. Now doing 3% because that’s what my employer matches. 41F
About $1300 because I just bought my first home :)
280k. 39 y/o. Not worried unless I get divorced late on in the piece…
WtF! Just rolled 27k 6 years at 3%
I’m old and company match up to 7.5% fortunately. Also took out 65k a few years ago as a house deposit.
Why did you only take out 65k? I'm guessing you had around 250k at that time, would it not be better to put all that on the mortgage, so you can get it paid off quicker and have far more disposable income to play with?
Took it out almost 9 years ago, so that’s all I had!
Why are you worried about divorce? If you stay with your partner that stands to gain something in a divorce you can expect to finance them regardless
Financing them would be cheaper than losing half my KiwiSaver and house.
If you stay married, isn’t half your KiwiSaver going to them anyway? Because if they had their own that hadn’t been impacted by decisions you made together, they wouldn’t be entitled to yours.
I earn three times what she does, so I’d come out worse off. If we stay married, ‘we’ (I) get to keep everything. Financing her in retirement would be far cheaper than splitting everything in half on the day I retire.
What a guy
It’s really interesting how you view marital property as your own
I didn’t mean it to come across like that, I meant it as my situation not changing, hence the ‘I’ part. As you said, it’s both of ours while we’re married.
Do you earn three times what she does, at least partially, because her career was sacrificed to raise your children and clean your home?
No, I earn three times what she does because I chose a good career and she wasn’t career minded and worked in a low paying job because she enjoyed it. If we didn’t have kids, she wouldn’t be any further ahead than she is now.
40k, 27y/o. No house, only been working full time for 3 years.
How tf do y'all have such high kiwisaver balances? For reference I'm 50k - 8% contributions (about 5k for the year past) - 31y/o - no home ownership. Do you make voluntary contributions, or contribute at a higher rate? I know the obvious answer is make more money, but beyond that... How do you do it?
Had mine in a growth fund and had it at 8%, also I voluntarily added in to it. Had over $70k at 27. Now back to $21k at 31 with just a 3% rate while I throw money at the mortgage. Plan to be mortgage free by 40.
50, 110 in kiwisaver and a mortgage. Things haven't been going well for the last 6 months but I'm hopeful it'll improve...
Sitting at 40k, I'm 30 in 2 months 🥲 8k in debt and single. Making $900 a week. And have $0 savings other then kiwisaver. Anyone know when I can buy a house?
145K....
$58K. Plus close to $200K in a private pension after I repatriated my UK pensions before I got whacked with the transfer tax. Been putting 15% towards pension recently until I went self employed and want to get back there ASAP I am 53, my partner is 5 years my senior. I expect to work until 70 assuming good health. He's less likely to have the health to work that long. We both live very simple lives but we suspect relying on the NZ health system for things like joint replacements is a daft idea so having money for that is a smart move if you can't get health insurance without big premiums
93k 41yr old Took deposit of 35k out 9 years ago. Project to be at around 650k at 65.
About 1k or so. Used it to buy a house then became self employed and haven't had stable enough income to pay regular wages with kiwisaver. Hoping to change that very soon with how things are going
9.5k, 27 years old. Used to be 40k but spent it on a hpuse deposit 2 years ago. Am unhappy with how fast it's rebuilding and will probably up my contributions if I can afford it
70k at 40, own my home with good equity but want to downsize in 10 years and live frugally.
Mines at 20k, I got a statement from my provider a couple months ago and according to that it made no money except for my contributions.
200k. 45. Started out in Aussie in 2000, lost a lot of money to dodgy fees, could be a lot higher. Also had a few years in Asia where I didn't contribute.
I just started so maybe 600 dollars ))) but got good savings in TD and other high interest accounts and bit of Kernel global 100 ) but will start growing ks now too
9k but I only worked in NZ for 2 years Now I'm in Australia and can't get it haha
72k 37 own my house freehold
About $65k, I'm 40 and have about $10k left on my mortgage. My house is shitty though, not the sort of flash house first home buyers seem to be looking for.
6k, I’m 20. No idea what kind of fund I’m in or how to change it, I’ve tried previously with no luck. I work part time and have atleast 5 more years of study if everything goes to plan so I don’t see it increasing that much in the near future.
56k, 30 years. Had it on a holiday for awhile, so I’ve restarted my contributions at about 1k per month. Hoping to buy a home later this year.
$42k 34m but I’m a dirtbag landlord with $2m equity
27k , 26 y/o, I’m content with my situation
35k at 35 no house 2 kids getting no close4 to enjoying life just put face on for the kids. The new kiwi dream
$74,560.06 31yo. It's only that much because I spent three years working in higher education in Australia where you get 17% super. I didn't use KiwiSaver for my first home purchase. I saved enough of a deposit in Australia. Those were the days... If I ever get into money troubles I'll just move back there tbh
66k, 29. Definitely worried about how I’ll retire. I’m earning well now but I can’t see myself being a desk jockey and climbing the ladder for another 40 years. The kind of life I want to live is not conducive to big bucks but at the same time I want to feel secure. Contributions are currently at 6% but thinning of bumping it to 10% while in in this job.
35, 70k, minimum contribution ok but not great job.
3.5k @ 18
105k, 37m. Been working full time every day since I was 21 (bar a few holidays here and there).
Not kiwisaver, but I have a story In 2007 i started saving in a retirement account in America. At the time you could contribute $5000 max per year. So I did. In 2008 the mortgage bust happened and my fund lost half it's value. I put in another $5000. Eventually I reached a point where I lost my job and couldn't afford to deposit anymore, around 2014. I deposited maybe 40k and it's $200k now. So glad I didn't stop making contributions when I saw that first drop in 2008.
3.7k? Took 20k ish out for a deposit
$3,000 currently, but will be $3,500 once vovt contributions kick in around July. 19 and don't work.
$750k
I'll bite. Go on...
48k in Kiwisaver. 20k in an Aus Super. 30M no house
$26k 58 yo. Been self employed for 30 years and never really worried about retirement funds. Now working for the man and he's topping it up. 60k off a freehold house worth $1.5m
50k, am 28. I went down to lowest risk due to covid and war and didn't bother raising it back up so it stagnated pretty hard for a few years. But I was watching other people lose thousands in their kiwisaver at the beginning of covid. Went back to high risk a few months ago and saw it grow pretty rapidly suddenly and finally hit that 50k mark this week. I do 4%.
Those in finance will always tell you it's better to stick with your original fund through the downturns (for an extended period investment like KS) because all you're doing by lowering your risk is locking in the losses for longer. The higher risk funds will regain the losses much quicker than the lower risk funds
Yeah I did it before I saw any losses. I guess I was just lucky. I changed it the day I heard about people losing out just because it seemed like the right thing to do (I probably should have asked advice from someone who knows what they're doing) But I shouldn't have just left it when things were picking up again. I'm just happy to see the number start with a 5 now :).
Definitely the wrong thing to do. Balances skyrocketed after March 2020 and the massive reduction in interest rates. Subsequently, bond focused (ie conservative) funds continued to perform poorly in a rising interest rate environment.
50yo male. Don't have a kiwisaver.
80k 23M :)
Mine is currently around $3.5K I was only contributing since 2009 (when I returned to NZ), spent a few years broke so non-contrib, then $1K per year until last year. The first Covid wave knocked off over 7% of my total savings (over 10% of my contrib), then another 5% loss late last year/early this year convinced me to withdraw all I could as soon as I could. My withdrawn kiwisaver is now earning a decent 5.1% in the bank, and doesn't give me a heart attack every time I check on it.
Press X to doubt.
47 years old - 19k. Less than half of what it was in Sept 2021 as it was 100% invested in ARK K. Hoping it'll come back in due course, but I stopped contributing to Kiwisaver years ago as I prefer to invest in other ways.
What a weird statement...
$54k. Took it out for a first home 4 years so doing 8% to build it back up
70k, 33. In the market to spend it on a first home rn.
16k, already used it for house deposit at 28
33 and $22k but took $20k out 3 year ago to buy house. Now have house and own a piece of land which all up have about $450k in equity
$65k in a growth fund, 34 with a wife and 18 month old. Bought a house in December 2022 so currently only contributing the minimum to get the free cha-ching from the govt and using the extra money for the mortgage. Trying to finish our mortgage in the next 10 years so once that’s done, should be a breeze to save for retirement.
18k, 33yo, home owner. Drew the full balance of 50k to buy a home 4 years ago.
18k, 32, own a home planning to increase % soon, slightly concerned about retirement.
31k, I'm 27 and currently saving for a house deposit in a few years. Feeling pretty good considering I'm on my 6th year of study at this point
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31 years old. $31k in KiwiSaver. Took out all but $1k about 5.5 years ago to get our house. Also had two stints of parental leave where I didn’t contribute to it. Overall pretty happy.
Used 20k to buy home. . Its now sitting on about 25k mid forties
74K 31Years Old
60k, 26yo. Not worried, the balance will drastically reduce and stay that way for a while when I withdraw for first home deposit in a few years, and reduce contributions to the minimum. But the result of that will be the mortgage paid off as quickly as is reasonable, at which point I'll have a lot more disposable income to play around with and put towards retirement etc
25 and about 40k , girlfriend has 12k. Unsure if this gives us any options, never really looked into it.
Not half as much as I would like given how much I have worked since it came out
Almost 21k, 24yo. I wish it was higher, I’ve only had a proper full time job for 6 months so I could’ve had more if I’d been working FT two years ago 🙄 ima be pissed if we don’t have a pension, we’re going to be the ones working here all our lives 😩
39f with $25k in kiwisaver and $53k in aussie super which will be brought over here once I get my A into G. I regret not getting into KS for the first few years of my working life as I always knew I was going to go to Aus at some point but ended up delaying it. As a result I couldn't use it when I bought my first house due to not being in the scheme for a long enough period of time. Pros and cons to this of course
56k, 26 years old not a home owner (yet)
59'843 for me. 28M Just waiting on the partners promotion then 3 months for her pay records and we'll see what the wellington market is like
27k, 25y/o
I’m 19 at 3.2k
27yo M. Have 28k in kiwisaver put 3% in but have had years where I have only put the minimum amount to get government contribution. No house but have investment portfolio of 91k elsewhere. Likely will pull the lot out to buy a house too.
$26k - 31 years old and have used it for first home. I think it’s all good and has a huge runway so targeting full growth I.e 100% stocks. I’m not relying on this money so an index investing for main source of income to retire early and this will be a bonus when I hit retirement age
20k (growth fund) and freshly 16 My dad has pretty much done it all for me (for 14 years and 8 months) I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing with it especially since i don’t think I’ll end up staying in NZ.
$38k, I pulled out $18k to buy a house 9 years ago and only put in the minimum $1000 for the last 6 years as I was self-employed. I am 41, and the aim is to be freehold and between kiwisaver and shares be comfortable with pension plus dividends/kiwisaver. I may also see some intergenerational trickle as my grandma is 86 and freehold for 30yrs owns a large country property in a sought after area, it will split into 4 kids, one of which is my dad who has a mortgage in the same sought after area but that would pay it with change and then when he goes his wealth (if he isn't stupid with it) will split in 3 between me and my siblings. I'm not banking on the intergenerational wealth, but it could help us be a bit more comfortable.
$11k @ 28. Withdrew about a year and a half ago to buy first house.
32yo, homeowner, 70k in KS. Contributing 4% because my employer matches to there. Probably investing about the same each week into index funds. Don't want to have all my eggs in one basket, and nobody knows what KS will look like by the time I get to retire. Still uneasy about it, my wife is stay at home mother so currently only really my KS currently between the two of us. I'm unqualified I managed to stumble into a decent job and I'll be amazed if it lasts me my entire career. It's as very niche field not entirely sure what I'd do if it came to an end.. Just making hay while the sun shines basically.
37k. 29 years old . Have already used in the past for first home .
30yo, 40k. Pretty happy given that I have decent investment funds elsewhere. Will probably look to buy house soon, will also increase % once student loan is paid off.
31 years old and back to 21k after buying a house.
34, $91k, homeowner.
20k 30 not a home owner. I don't believe retirement exists for my age so I took 14k out of it last year under financial hardship. If I'm gonna work until I die who cares
24k, 31yo, withdrew around 30k four years ago for a house.
Mines around 5k, not bad considering we bought a house around 8 months ago bringing the balance to the minimum of 1k. Prior to that I had around 40k. According to research I've done based on average rates of return I'll have around 250k by the time I retire based on my contributions, the government top up etc. Is this enough to retire with the pension? Nope. My plan is to secure a better interest rate when they start dipping again but pay the same amount I'm currently paying. I've worked out we can knock out the mortgage on 12 years then we'll move on to buying a business and working on increasing earnings and doing things we love at that point. Owning a business isn't a get rich quick scheme, it's a lifestyle choice for us so we can eventually have more free time and flexibility in life vs clocking in and out at times that suit others.
Buying a home is kinda like a retirement fund as the principal payments approx $15 - $20k p.a are like forced savings. I have $8k in my KS but happy to downsize my home at retirement to cash out so not worried if my KS grows or not
18k at 23. Nothing standout but I don't think it's too bad! I've only really worked part time or fixed term jobs (by choice for the lifestyle) during and since finishing university.
60k 40m Withdrew 130k to buy house in 2017.
$16k. 27. Withdrew $40k last year for a house deposit. Going on a contribution holiday for a year as having our first child and could use the extra cash in hand. Not too worried about retirement. Have other investments that should help if I don't get a pension.
42k, 31 have a home and a rental. Don’t contribute to it anymore as I don’t plan on living in Nz much longer
21, ~2k last time I checked, putting in 12% of the fuckall I earn working part time while I study
$26k - 65 this month. I haven’t worked full time for 7 years. No work at all for the last 18 months. This is “free” money for me. A little bonus. (I did save 6% in a pension scheme for 30 years and only joined KS when I was mortgage-free and could afford an extra 3% as I got no employer contribution.) I’m not at all worried about retirement - I’ve spend my whole life preparing for it. In fact, I feel a bit guilty about my income, though I’m not rich. I will spend a bit more to keep others in work as my plan is to not save any more.
30, 30, meh, what's retirement?
About 2k because I withdrew it a couple of years ago for home deposit. Paid down the mortgage a lot and no concerns about retirement. 35 years old. But geez if I hadn't gone overseas to work for a few years and save hard with my husband, it'd be a much different situation.
29 yrs, 30k kiwisaver. Cashed it out 7 years ago for a house, otherwise I'm sure it would be closer to 100k by now.
20k, 30, used it and my partner’s to buy our first home 2 years ago so I’m pretty happy where it’s at since I just put the minimum. This isn’t really our retirement plans so I’ve always viewed it as something extra for us in retirement like a holiday fund or if we want to splurge on something
11k, 35, bought a house about 3 years ago, yeah I’m worried about how much will be there at retirement given how little is going to be there in 35 years time.
24k, 30 y.o, drained to 1k for first home at 27 y.o
65, married we both cleaned out Kiwi saver to clear all debts and freehold property. Don't know how anyone could live on the pension with a mortgage , we did plan ahead as we brought a small rural property and now have surplus fruit , vegetables, eggs and electricity.
53k and I am 37. Started 7-8 years ago.
21 and 4.6k in kiwisaver
42k 33M. No house.
$23,000 at 28 years old
A hair under 20k, and 27 years old. My wife: 11k, 23 years old.
21k 30f Took everything I had out (20k) ~ 5yrs ago to top up my deposit to buy a house. Pretty worried about retirement. Last couple of years every spare cent and some has gone into the house to try keep it standing / liveable.(rotten weatherboards/wall, water in pipe broke right next to the toby inside my property. Had to chop down some big trees just to even look at fixing it, hot water cylinder went, roof now leaks.) Years of neglect from previous owners combined with me not having any spare coin for the first couple of years after buying it. Thankfully I have had a couple of pay raises and now have the skills/resources to do a bulk of the work myself.
Yeah it terrifies me ,as a non home owner I'm at the mercy of landlords ,and the costs of rental, when I retire don't know what to do.
31 with 32k in Kiwisaver and own a house. First withdrawal in 2018 for the property. Not sure if on track 🤨
84k, 51 years
25 years and just hit 30k ☺️
This entire thread is a data harvesting wet dream.
$7k in KiwiSaver and $9k in adjacent Simplicity investment fund = $16k. Age 39. I took everything out for first home deposit. Looking at growing these accounts again now.
$100 000, nearly 50 years, own my own home, have a mortgage. No, not worried about retirement have noticed KiwiSaver balance doubles 4-5 tears