Kerre Woodham: Fund saves us from ourselves

Photo / NZ Herald

When I was younger, my sensible Dad urged me to start a retirement plan as soon as I started working.

I wasn't having a bar of it. There was champagne to buy, clothes to put on layby and good times to be had. Besides, I had no intention of getting old. I simply couldn't imagine I'd make it past 30. And then, blow me down, I did. And my Dad was quite right. I would have been sitting pretty had I listened to his advice.

But even after the Labour government introduced KiwiSaver, it took me a year or so to sign up. It was purely laziness on my part. When I looked at all the different providers and tried to work out which would be best for me, I had brain freeze and shut down the site.

Then, after the umpteenth story of how silly it would be to not take advantage of the Government's $1000 kick-start and tax credits, I bit the bullet, closed my eyes and stuck my finger on the screen and chose the provider my finger landed on.

In the four years since, I've saved money that would have disappeared had it been left in my account. Instead, it's safely locked away.

I'm in favour of the debate on whether KiwiSaver should be compulsory. I still believe in an opt-out clause - I understand that there are many reasons why people might not want to stay in KiwiSaver.

But for me, it's money for my retirement that I would never have saved myself and I'm very grateful it's there.