Who’s not contributing?

AMP has been finding very different human stories behind people’s decisions to make no regular savings into KiwiSaver.

The jobless 62-year old: He lost his job 12 months ago and went on a KiwiSaver contribution holiday. His family have been relying on his wife’s single income of $48,000 per year. He continued to save $20 a month into Bonus Bonds, however, which he now sees as a mistake, particularly as he’s missing out on the member tax credit. If he can’t find work soon, he thinks he may be forced to submit a KiwiSaver hardship application. 42-year-old male, solo parent: He’s making a career change, and become a teacher. It’s been a struggle to keep food on the table while he’s studying and not working and he’s getting further into debt. He has one year of study to go and, while he’s seriously considered quitting, he doesn’t want to give up. He took the maximum KiwiSaver contribution holiday as soon as he quit his job. When he returns to work his focus will be on repaying debt, but he will consider restarting KiwiSaver contributions if he can afford to. KiwiSaver won’t give him enough to fund his retirement, he says, but he has no other current means of saving for it.

38-year-old woman: She plans to move overseas when she finishes her studies and doesn’t plan to return. She is financially savvy, has a strong work ethic, and says she’s a good saver. She owns a mortgage-free property, and has savings. She’s critical of KiwiSaver, and didn’t want to join. She stopped contributing when she quit her job to study. She dislikes the fact that KiwiSaver funds are locked in until age 65, and would like to use her KiwiSaver balance to repay her student loan, or move it into a savings account.

45-year-old woman: The mother of three owns her own home, and recently took 20 months of maternity leave, but returned to work six months ago. She and her husband have a combined household income of $50,000-$70,000 based on commission payments. While she was on maternity leave her family struggled financially, and are still operating on a very tight budget. When she stopped working, her KiwiSaver contributions stopped to. It wasn’t a conscious decision, she just didn’t really think about it. She regrets not starting using KiwiSaver earlier, but she didn’t hear much about the scheme until recently.