{"id":14721,"date":"2025-08-21T21:14:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/14721\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T21:14:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T21:14:08","slug":"kiwisaver-data-reveals-regional-disparities-in-retirement-savings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/14721\/","title":{"rendered":"KiwiSaver data reveals regional disparities in retirement savings"},"content":{"rendered":"

ANZ Funds Management<\/a> managing director Fiona Mackenzie said KiwiSaver could hard code any income inequality. People who earned less over their lifetimes would end up with less in their KiwiSaver accounts<\/a> as a result.<\/p>\n

Northland had an average household income last year of $123,900 according to government data, while in Gisborne it was $133,200.<\/p>\n

Wellington\u2019s average was $162,400.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hypothesis is that income variation is the biggest driver,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI genuinely have a concern that KiwiSaver is amplifying existing inequality … whether it\u2019s gender pay gaps<\/a> or ethnic pay gaps<\/a> … all of that gets amplified because KiwiSaver is anchored effectively to PAYE incomes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it really is time we started having that larger conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said, now the scheme had been around for 18 years, it was appropriate to ask whether it was on track.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe answer is not really. It\u2019s a great system, it\u2019s had awesome uptake … but if you step right back, are people on track to be able to self-fund a comfortable retirement? No is the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said, if left unaddressed, the disparities could compound over time and lead to uneven retirement outcomes across the country.<\/p>\n

South Islanders led the way when it came to making contributions.<\/p>\n

In Marlborough, Otago, Southland Canterbury, 70% of members were actively saving, compared to 60% in Auckland and Northland.<\/p>\n

Mackenzie said Southland and Canterbury had very high proportions of members receiving full or partial government contributions. The full contribution is available to people who contribute at least $1042 a year.<\/p>\n

The proportion in Gisborne and Northland was very low, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch typically shows those two areas have the highest level of deprivation so again I think we think there is a lot of linkage between income levels and it\u2019s part of the reason why as a KiwiSaver provider we spend a lot of time and energy trying to help people around that government contribution point because that is one of the remaining incentives.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the government contribution could make a material difference to people with lower balances.<\/p>\n

Mackenzie said the regional disparity<\/a> could also highlight differences in economic conditions, as well as financial awareness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reflects New Zealand\u2019s two-speed economy, where some regions are doing better and activity contributing to KiwiSaver, while others lag behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding these variations is crucial, it allows policy-makers and providers to tailor strategies that boost participation in lower contributing areas, helping ensure all New Zealanders have the opportunity to build long-term financial security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nationwide, 40% were not regularly contributing.<\/p>\n

About 27% of people aged 16 and 17 were, even though the data was collected before there were matching employer or government contributions available for them.<\/p>\n

Mackenzie said contribution rates had not been materially affected by the economic downturn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s incredibly positive … the percentage of our customers who are contributing has stayed fairly stable and I think that\u2019s a really good thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

– RNZ<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ANZ Funds Management managing director Fiona Mackenzie said KiwiSaver could hard code any income inequality. People who earned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14722,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[79,2594,13479,13481,18,19,2761,17,13478,234,235,5600,3887,2031,3888,13480],"class_list":{"0":"post-14721","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-data","10":"tag-disparities","11":"tag-edmunds","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-in","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-kiwisaver","17":"tag-personal-finance","18":"tag-personalfinance","19":"tag-regional","20":"tag-retirement","21":"tag-reveals","22":"tag-savings","23":"tag-susan"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14721"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14721\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}