GOLDEN RULES
■ Make the most of KiwiSaver today ■ Understand its features
■ Remember KiwiSaver is a creation of politics ability to save something meaningful for retirement.
But take away the $521, and people would continue to contribute 3 per cent from their salaries to get matching contributions from their employers. So why continue paying it?
The debate here is essentially whether the $521 (or whatever the government contribution should be) should be an entitlement or an incentive.
If it’s an incentive to get people to contribute to KiwiSaver, it may well not be working, and perhaps should be re-targetted in a bid to getting
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For these reasons, I can’t see it happening, but betting against changes to KiwiSaver wouldn’t be wise.
In 2015, the National government removed the $1000 kickstarter incentive to join KiwiSaver.
In 2011, it had cut the government contribution in half from just over $1040 to $521.
Each of us has to take personal responsibility for learning about KiwiSaver, and getting themost out of it.
Many people are not getting their full government contributions each year. Many are on contribution holidays, or opted out of KiwiSaver.
They will all have their reasons, and there are lobby groups trying to get greater KiwiSaver fairness for women, the self-employed, lower-income people and the self-employed.
But it would be hard for people who have not yet started to get the best out of KiwiSaver to wake up one day to its attractions, only to find it’s been made less generous.