Too early to rate savings success of KiwiSaver

Photo / The Aucklander

It's too soon to tell if KiwiSaver has helped to boost retirement savings, industry experts say.

The evaluation comes just days after the Government announced the appointment of a working group to look at ways to boost national savings.

The working group, which will consider if KiwiSaver should be made compulsory and also look at the incentives it offers, must report back to the Government by January.

Katherine Meerman, a senior evaluator for Inland Revenue which recently undertook a survey to better understand why people join KiwiSaver and how it had changed their saving and spending habits, said the question of whether KiwiSaver had helped to boost savings was important but remained unanswered.

"There is some indication of the potential for growth in savings but there are also indications of substitution behaviour."

About 1.5 million people have signed up to the savings scheme since it began in July 2007 and around $6.6 billion has passed from the IRD to the providers.

But 40 per cent of the money has come from the Government in incentives, such as the $1000 kick-start and $1042 tax credit which people can receive if they match the contribution each year.

A large number of those who had signed up are also under 18 and don't make regular contributions.

Meerman said only 38 per cent of those eligible had signed up to the scheme.

"You could argue that it could be growing faster. But it is still early days."

Of those who have been automatically enrolled through starting new jobs, 45 per cent say they would not have signed up to KiwiSaver unless it had been automatic.

The two-week stand-down period had also stopped around 15 per cent of those people from pulling out straight away.

"The lock-in function has been a driver for some to join KiwiSaver but it has also driven others away from it," Meerman said.

Of those who have joined, only 38 per cent would not have been saving without it.

If they were not putting the money into KiwiSaver the biggest priority would be spending more on daily outgoings at 36 per cent or more on debt - 24 per cent.

Another 13 per cent would spend the money on savings and 27 per cent would be putting it towards retirement savings anyway.

Half of those who had other superannuation schemes had continued to also put money into those, but 21 per cent had stopped or decreased their contributions.

According to the Reserve Bank the amount of money in superannuation schemes, excluding KiwiSaver, fell from $22 billion to $18.6 billion between December 2007 and this March.

During the same period, KiwiSaver grew from zero to $5.5 billion.

BT Funds Management's Sharon McKay said KiwiSaver had been a phenomenal success.

The way KiwiSaver was set up with an automatic enrolment function made it easy for people to get in and over-rode a natural Kiwi attitude of wanting to do it some day but never getting around to it.

"We did lots of surveying pre-KiwiSaver. We all knew we needed to save for retirement but none of us were doing it."

But she also said it was too early to tell whether it was growing savings. Those contributing only 2 per cent were likely not doing enough.

"But how do we get them to think about putting in another $50 a month."

The question of what happened to people's money once they got it out of KiwiSaver also had not been addressed.

People who signed up at launch and turn 65 will be able to get it out by July 2012. But there is nothing to say they will spend the money on retirement - they could just buy a new car or go on holiday.

ASB head of distribution Greg McAlister said KiwiSaver accounts were more than just putting money into a bank savings account.

"What we have embarked on now with 1.5 million Kiwis is accumulating for retirement."

Many of the people in KiwiSaver had never had money invested into a managed fund before.

"Having 1.5 million people embarking on saving for their retirement has got to be a good thing."

Signing up

* About 1.5 million people have signed for KiwiSaver.

* $6.6 billion has been invested.

* About 40 per cent of that is from Government incentives.

* Only 38 per cent of those eligible have signed up.