KiwiSaver Guide

How your contributions work

KiwiSaver savings can come from three places: a percentage of your own before-tax pay, a matching contribution from your employer, and a small annual top-up from the government if you're contributing yourself and meet the eligibility rules. You choose your own contribution rate and can change it later, and you can also add voluntary lump sums on top whenever you want.

The exact contribution rates, employer minimums and the government contribution settings are all set by legislation and do change from time to time — an adviser can confirm what currently applies to your situation rather than you relying on a number that may have moved on.

Fund types and risk

Every KiwiSaver provider offers a spread of fund types, from defensive and conservative through to balanced, growth and aggressive. The difference is mostly how much of the fund sits in shares and property (which move around more but tend to grow more over long periods) versus cash and bonds (which move around less but tend to grow more slowly).

The right fund type for you depends on two things: what you're saving for, and how long you've got until you need the money. Money you'll need in the next few years — a first-home deposit, say — usually sits somewhere more conservative than money you won't touch for decades. This is exactly what the KiwiSaver Health Check works through: your goal, your timeline and your comfort with risk, then how your current fund lines up against that.

Fees, and why they matter

Most KiwiSaver providers charge an annual management fee (a percentage of your balance) and sometimes a small fixed dollar fee on top. Fees vary between providers and between fund types, and because KiwiSaver is a long-term product, a difference that looks small year to year can add up meaningfully over decades. It's one of the things worth checking every so often rather than setting and forgetting — the Health Check compares what you're paying today against the KiwiSaver schemes on Smiths' panel (Booster, Milford, Generate, NZ Funds, Pathfinder and Fisher Funds).

Using KiwiSaver for a first home

Most KiwiSaver members can apply to withdraw some or all of their savings to help buy their first home, provided they don't already own a property they live in, have been a member for a minimum period, and leave a small minimum balance in the account. There's a separate KiwiSaver First Home Grant some members may also qualify for, run through Kāinga Ora rather than your KiwiSaver provider.

The exact membership period, minimum balance and grant criteria are set by government policy and do get revised, so it's worth confirming your own eligibility with an adviser before you count on the money being available on a particular timeline — the First Home Deposit Calculator is a reasonable place to start modelling the numbers.

KiwiSaver at retirement

You can normally access your KiwiSaver savings from age 65, provided you've been a member for a minimum period (this can be longer if you first joined later in life). From there it's entirely your choice whether to withdraw it as a lump sum, leave it invested and draw it down gradually, or a mix of both — there's no requirement to take it all out at once. The Retirement Calculator gives a rough read on how your current savings and contribution rate are tracking against the retirement you actually want.

Switching funds or providers

Switching to a different fund type with your existing provider, or moving to a different provider altogether, is normally free and doesn't mean closing your account or losing your contribution history — your balance simply transfers across. People typically switch because their goals or timeline have changed, because they've found lower fees elsewhere, or because a health check has flagged a mismatch between their fund and their actual risk comfort. If a switch makes sense for you, Smiths handles the paperwork at no cost.