Up to half a million New Zealanders are missing out on getting the full potential from their Kiwisaver funds
Eleanor Barker wishes she had acted sooner to move out of a conservative KiwiSaver fund but says fear of losing money has kept her from making a decision.
The 27 year old social media producer was automatically enrolled into KiwiSaver nearly 10 years ago when she was still a studentat university and took on a part-time job at a law firm working as a librarian.
"My mum was very encouraging about it. She sat all of us down and said the first opportunity we got we should sign up with it."
"At that point I was studying and not earning very much at all."
Barker can't remember the name of her original provider but has since switched to Westpac because the bank asked her if she would like to have all her accounts in one place.
She doesn't remember getting any advice around which fund she should be in at the time.
Barker says she likes the idea of KiwiSaver and locking her money in was particularly appealing as she had struggled to accumulate savings in the past.
