David Boyle, group manager investor education at the Commission for Financial Capability, said it was hard for people to picture what groceries were going to cost over such a long time frame.
"People know what they are buying on a day to day basis but to look at it over 30 years - it's just a lot harder to visualise."
But he said Kiwis were living longer and many could expect to spend 20 to 30 years in retirement.
A man who was 65 years old now could expect to live to an average age of 86 while for women it was 88 but average life expectancies were increasing at a rate of around one year for every five years a person had until age 65.
That could mean a 20 year old female today would live to an average age of 97 leaving them to pay for 32 years in retirement if they stopped working at 65.
Retirement spending - how much you'll need for:
Baked beans: $11,000
Toast: $10,000
Eggs: $4000
Toilet paper: $4000
Toothpaste: $3000
Chocolate: $17,000
Tea: $3000
Weetbix: $8000
Source: Commission for Financial Capability
But the good news was that people also underestimated how much they could have in KiwiSaver if they started saving at a young age.
An individual who joins KiwiSaver at the age of 18 and contributes 3 per cent from an average salary of $65,000 through their working lifetime could have between $300,000 to $400,000 by 65.