Making the most of the KiwiSaver Government contribution

Maia is 20 years old. As a self-employed contractor, she isn’t required to contribute to her KiwiSaver account from her pay and she doesn’t receive any employer contributions. However, she’s keen to make the most of the other available KiwiSaver benefits, such as the annual Government contribution.

For every year that Maia contributes at least $1,042.86 to her KiwiSaver account between 1 July and 30 June, the Government will pay $521.43 to her KiwiSaver account. Because Maia is self-employed and doesn’t make employee contributions through her pay, she decides to set up a regular direct debit for $21 each week so she doesn’t have to worry about finding the money at short notice.

If Maia continues to receive the maximum Government contribution from age 20 until she is 65, the total Government contributions in her KiwiSaver account could add up to $23,000 at age 65. That’s $23,000 from the Government that she wouldn’t have otherwise received if her money was invested elsewhere.

And once you add up Maia’s own contributions and the returns she could expect from her investment, she’d have an estimated $185,000 saved by the time she turns 65 – all from contributing $21 per week from age 20.

This case study is an example to help you understand how your choices can affect your KiwiSaver savings. The figures used are for illustration only and may not reflect actual returns. The underlying return, tax and inflation assumptions are set by the Government.

For this case study, we’ve assumed that:

• Maia is invested in the Lifetimes option.
• Maia receives Government contributions appropriate to her contributions and at today’s levels only.
• Our funds achieve the following positive investment performance each year:
  • Conservative Fund: 2.5%
  • Conservative Balanced Fund: 3.5%
  • Balanced Fund: 3.5%
  • Balanced Growth Fund: 4.5%
  • Growth Fund: 4.5%
• The investment performance figures above are:
  
  • after fees, the fees used are an industry average for the fund type that may not reflect our fees, and
  • after tax, using a prescribed investor rate of 28%
• Maia’s birthday is 1 July, with projected savings calculated in July

The figures in this case study show projected savings both:

• Where they haven’t been adjusted for the effect of rising prices over time (that is, inflation), in which case the amount does not reflect the ‘real’ buying power in the future
• Where they have been adjusted for inflation of 2% per year to show the ‘real’ buying power of the savings in the future
• We’ve also rounded savings to the nearest $1,000 and accounted for tax on employer contributions.