KiwiSaver Annual Evaluation Report 2009/10
RevenueRevenue Minister Peter Dunne said KiwiSaver continues to encourage more people into saving for their retirement as he commented on the latest KiwiSaver evaluation report out today.
"More than 1.5 million people are now KiwiSaver members and there's still strong growth in membership, at around 30,000 a month, showing New Zealanders are continuing to embrace what they see as a good investment in their future," said Mr Dunne.
"The evaluation report shows securing an income in retirement is a key motivator for people joining KiwiSaver."
Mr Dunne said in the first three years of KiwiSaver $5.8 billion was passed to KiwiSaver providers for investment. KiwiSaver is still a relatively small part of the managed funds market but its significance is growing.
"We've learned from the evaluation that a third of households surveyed consider they'd be unlikely to save for retirement if they weren't in KiwiSaver, and that about a third of contributions made would have been spent on daily outgoings if people weren't part of KiwiSaver. We can also see though that some KiwiSaver saving is likely to be substitution for saving people would have made anyway."
Mr Dunne said the evaluation will continue to investigate the impact KiwiSaver is having on savings and households' retirement incomes as these are critical questions.
"Retirement saving is a long-term game and determining KiwiSaver's impact over the longer-term is an important part of the evaluation."
The evaluation process runs until 2013 and is a joint project between Inland Revenue, the Ministry of Economic Development and Housing New Zealand.
Its five main objectives are to:
- Determine the effectiveness of the implementation and delivery of KiwiSaver;
- Determine whether the features of KiwiSaver are working as intended;
- Monitor the scale and pattern of take-up;
- Determine the impact on savings habits and asset accumulation of individuals; and
- Determine the impact on financial markets and the superannuation industry.
The 2009/10 KiwiSaver Evaluation Report is available at http://www.ird.govt.nz/aboutir/reports/research/report-ks/research-ks-annual-report-2010.html