Ken and Barbie talk retirement

The Commission for Financial Capability is hoping a light-hearted animation series based around Ken and Barbie will get the public interested in its review of retirement policy. Image/Supplied.

Ken is worried that his abs aren't just what they used to be and Barbie says it's time to have a serious talk about money - after all they aren't as young as they used to be.

The 80s toys are the stars of the show in a series of online animated videos released by the Commission for Financial Capability today as part of its three yearly review of retirement policy.

Rather than produce a 100 page report full of policy analysis the commission, which runs the money help website sorted, has produced a series of seven videos which form part of an Interactive website designed to tackle the tough issues around New Zealand's aging population and how people are saving for their retirement.

The information presented is based on a year's work by the commission in which it has undertaken surveys and toured the country talking to the public about key issues such as KiwiSaver and who pays for superannuation now and into the future.

Retirement commissioner Diane Maxwell said it wanted to change the way it did the review because it was aware that a printed report would not grab the attention of the public and public involvement was needed.

"So we're letting Ken and Barbie and a team of superheroes do the talking, with all the work supporting our recommendations tucked into the interactive videos that everyone can access online."

Maxwell said it was also about changing the public's opinion.

"Part of it is about changing public opinion, changing the narrative and re-shaping what people think 65 is."

"When we go to the government now we are not saying this is what we think. This is what the public and voters think."

She said it was easy for the government to ignore "policy geeks" but not hundreds of thousands of voters.

As well as producing the light-hearted videos the commission has made seven recommendations around KiwiSaver including allowing people over the age of 65 to join the scheme, increasing the minimum contribution rate from 3 per cent to 4 per cent and dropping the contribution holiday from five years to one year.

Next Thursday it will also make more recommendations on how it thinks New Zealand Superannuation should be changed and release the final four of the seven video series.