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How To Choose The Right KiwiSaver Fund For Your Life Stage · That Home Loan Hub

• 0:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you were wondering about financial services, in particular about KiwiSaver, this is the episode for you.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've got Dave Cobson.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: He asked me to call him Dave, not David, because he feels like I'm his mother.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Dave Cobson here with me today, and he's from Booster Financial Services, and we're just gonna dive into anything KiwiSaver.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, Dave.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: Good morning.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: How are you?
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: Wonderful.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for coming along today.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's all right.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: Lovely to have you here.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: We met a few months ago.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: You've done a presentation with me recently.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_01: You were one of the guests.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_01: For those that are subscribed to my mailing list, you would know about that one.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: We did it in person.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_01: Soon we're gonna try to do a webinar.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_01: But this is sort of a warm-up um in terms of who is actually Booster Financial Services and what is KiwiSaver and why should people care?
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Let's dive in.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm the head of distribution pretty much at Booster.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: We we're a KiwiSaver provider that's a default provider with the government as well.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: So the default provider status is that so when somebody starts a job, they will automatically be enrolled into a KiwiSaver, and there's six of us now, and that just goes through each provider, and then we get those clients, then we take them on and help them with their KiwiSaver.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: This is so awesome.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just gonna pause you here for a second.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because I remember when KiwiServer first came out, that was um 2000, I want to say nine, ten?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um nine, nine.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Nine?
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: I remember I was just out of university, I've graduated, I was working, and then the Kiwi Saver came out, it was a big hoo-ha about it.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: It was really, really cool.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so the default provider means as people enter New Zealand or enter the certain age and they start.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, or just basically start work.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Start work, they automatically get plonked into a Kiwi Saver if the parents haven't enrolled them into Kiwi Saver prior to it.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, correct.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: They just get plonked into somewhere.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: And Booster is one of the default providers.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is cool.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's very good.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, it's a bit of a a boost for us.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're using the analogy, boost, but it is a boost for us because obviously we go through a lot of jump through a lot of hoops to be a provider.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to be very good with our customer service, which is a huge part of being a default provider, and we have to make sure that everything is spic and span.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it is it is a really nice thing to have, and it's very hard to get.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, awesome, cool.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: So they come in, they get the into default provider, you guys look after them afterwards.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: So do you have offices?
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Where are you located?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we're located in the offices of Wellington, so there's not too many hot offices of buildings of businesses anymore in uh in Wellington.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we we're very much a staunch Wellington company, and we have an office in the which most people will know as the old BNZ building at the bottom of Lambton Key, which I think now is Aon building.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a couple of floors in there.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: We started well, I started with a company just over ten years ago, and we had 45 staff, and this will show the rise of Kiwi Saver and where it's going in our country is that we now have just under 200 staff.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_01: Whoa.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so 10 years, and that's why we've had to move move our offices a little bit and expand to different floors.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: And who are the majority of the staff that you have?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: Are there advisors?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we'd know we have a big, a big so we have obviously have compliance, so we've got lots of different areas.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: We've got our investment team.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we're a we're an active provider, which has a little bit of passive, so that means that we make a lot of investment decisions.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a good size investment team that do all that research and they make the investment decisions for mum and dad so that that that they can grow into their retirement.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's quite a good sized team.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: And my team, we look after financial advisors.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Our company's all about advice, and we want to make sure Kiwis have advice and get good advice.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I've got a team that are out and about talking to advisors and helping them with their clients.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have a really large admin team and what we call our customer service team, which are on the phones.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: We are very, very big on making sure the clients got somebody to talk to and they're a human being and they talk to them straight away.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a it's a big thing for us.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: This is awesome because um, you know, a lot of the times like it's cool, you sign up to something, but then when you actually show up is at the times when someone needs you.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's at the time when you want to ring the place, whether it's an electricity company or whether it's um Kiwi server provider.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: You want to talk to a human and you don't want to wait on the line for hours at a time.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I was just talking to somebody before actually about that, and I was trying to get hold of, I won't say which company it was, but an electrical company.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and they just you could can't find where to call them.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: And they just want you to go into their chat or into their questions that they've got there, and they go, Well, what is this about?
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you go that, oh, well, you can go and have a look at these questions and do this.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, I just want to talk to somebody.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we we we believe it's a big thing, especially with investments, because people do get nervous when markets aren't going so good.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: And that was gonna be my next point to you.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_01: How are you feeling at the moment about what's happening out there?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, there's there's two ways to look at it as well.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Don't stress out, it's okay.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: We we've got a a quite a good system where we've got a really nice wall chart that we give to our advisors, and I think you've got one in your office.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Which shows all the things that have happened in the world for the last hundred years, and and it shows the market rebounding from each, and it just keeps going up.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the question is really is don't stress out if you're in the right fund for yourself and your advisors helped you into the right fund, then stick with it.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: And don't don't jump out because the markets aren't going great, because you might miss the bounce on the other side.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: And we've got some research that shows that if you miss the you know, these won't be fully accurate because I can off the top of my head, but if you miss the 20 best days in the market over over the last, I think it was 30 years, you will lose about 2 or 3%.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: If you miss the 30 best days in the market, you will lose about 5%.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got to be in it to get it.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: The other view is that you know when the markets drop, you are buying investments at a bit of a discount.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a lot of people start to put money in at that point and going into more aggressive funds.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: But the key for us is get in the right fund that fits your goals without thinking about the market too much.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: Get your advisor to help you, or get we can help you with that, and we'll get you in the right fund so that you get the most out of your Kiwi Saver when you either retire or use it for your first home.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because that's a lot of things we see, right, on our side is when people have Kiwi Savers, they're looking to buy their first home, and then something happens in the market and things crash, and then they have a knee-jerk reaction.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then they'll lose even more money.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: So the keys here really fit for the stage of your life.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure that you do review where you are.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're a first-home buyer, probably don't go out there and this is not a financial advice, but don't go out there and put it like all on high aggressive funds thinking you're gonna make a quick buck for your first home deposit.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because the market can change quite rapidly.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then also the same, I guess, if you are retired and if you're thinking you're gonna leave New Zealand, take all your funds and move to Italy.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, again, don't go all aggressive.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: But then if you're retired and you still want to stay in New Zealand, some of those higher growth ones could still fit you, right?
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: It all depends on situation.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: The the biggest thing is think about timeline and when you're gonna use the money and how much of that money do are you going to use at that time.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: So there's two ways to look at this as well.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Is the first one is if you're worried about the markets and you might be 35 and you've got your first home, your KiwiSaver hasn't worth anything until you use it.
• 7:50
  unknown: Right?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a bit like your home, right?
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: Where people get their valuations for their home and they go, Oh, my home's dropped in value.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it hasn't.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: It hasn't got a value until you sell it, really.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, only for the rates, really, is the main value.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And Kiwi Saver is a bit the same, let it do its job.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a young person and you've got your first home, then you you know, have a think about having a more growth-oriented fund because then you've got that time to let it grow.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you mentioned before about first home buyers, if you're buying a first home, make sure you've got a plan.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Don't just say we get a lot of times we will all get a young people go, Yeah, I'm I'm using KiwiSaver for my first home.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll say to them, okay, yeah, that's cool.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: So are you are you gonna use anything else other than your Kiwi Saver?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: And they go, No, no, not really.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And we go, right, where do you want to buy your house?
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we we have a bit of a laugh with them and go, What if you're buying a house in Auckland, you need a lot of deposit.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're buying a house in a Vicago, you don't need as big a deposit, right?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: But but we want to make sure that you you've got the right goal.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you haven't got enough money and you tell us, oh, I want to buy a house in two years, and it's just not realistic, you need to think about how much you're putting into your Kiwi Saver.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: So am I putting enough to get me to that goal?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: Or do I need to push my goal out?
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if you push your goal out, then you obviously your investment is different to the two-year time frame to a five-year time frame, and then you can think about how you do your investment.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: And the good changes recently, I guess, is the government has pushed the compulsory Kiwi Saver contributions.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_01: It's three and a half percent now.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be four percent in 2028.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: So that they've done that from that's from your employer.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: So they've the reason they put that up is A, it was too low, really.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're miles behind Australia when it comes to putting money into they're like what, 10%?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, they're 10 between 10 and 12%, depending on which state.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: But we in New Zealand, we've got it, it's here, they're gonna start putting it up, but they've done it slowly so that companies can get used to paying that because they have to pay it, of course, so they have to pay a bit more money.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: But it's great, so that we'll be going up 4%.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: But think about actually can I afford another percent or another 2% to get me to where I want to be.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: I was just telling you earlier, wasn't I, that when I turned 55, I know I only sound about 28, but I'm 55.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: But when I turned 55, I thought, oh my god, I've got to think about my retirement now.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: It's not really been in the top of my mind, and then I've gone, all right, I need to do something here, and I changed my contributions to 10% of my salary instead of the four that I did.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: No, luckily I've been in the industry for a long time, so I kind of knew, but I it took me a while to to help myself instead of trying to help everybody else.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: I usually call the builder's house.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know how the builders never have the time to finish off their own house.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a bit like that.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you're contra you're contributing now about 10% plus from your employer.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: So they give me four.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, our employer is pretty good, but it gives us four and a half at the moment, I think.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then that so I'm putting about 14% into my kiwi server.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's awesome.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's great, isn't it?
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because this the problem is that we're facing is New Zealand has an ageing problem where we're going to end up with a lot of retired people getting government super and it's just not enough to survive on.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, correct.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: It yeah, it's it you can't survive on what they pay you.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: But what I'd what I'd also suggest, and what we tell advisors to talk to their clients about, and people I know have talked about this as well, is do not rely on government super to to retire on because you don't know what's going to happen.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: It might be the means tested in the future, and depending on what government comes in, they might change it.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: It might be that it drops in the future.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: We just don't know.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: So my advice is make sure that the money you save for your retirement is enough for you to retire on, and then the government super is a nice little bit of an add-on for you if it's still there.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because they're talking about income testing, yeah, correct.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_01: Retirement.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: So potentially, like if you've got all this different investments or properties and money's still coming in, or if you're still working, you like working.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_01: I think I always think of myself that I'll be probably bored when I'm 65 and I'll still continue to work through.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_01: We may not be able to re rely on that little excess.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: And and and yeah, that's the talk at the moment, is that it will be some testing in there.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess so, as I say, my advice is just put that aside.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Think about your retirement, how to get there.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: And there's lots of different ways to retire, of course.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to travel a lot, then you might need a bit more.
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of good advice out there, and a lot of good calculators to go actually, if you want a no-frills retirement, then you probably don't need as much as somebody that wants all the bells and whistles.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: And my advice as well, but don't tell my mum and dad I said this, is spend your money, but think about what you're spending and the time that you're able to do your travel and get out and about.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then, and this is where an advisor can help.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then when you're when you're ready to just can't settle down at home and play a bit of bowls and and spend time with the grandkids, then you don't need as much because your body's not going to let you do the big travel anyway.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: The oyster and champagne lifestyle.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, so, and again, that's always a good way to think about it.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I've said I have said to my mum and dad, putting jokes aside, that you know, spend your money.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're not relying on your money for me and my sister.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: So we want you to spend it.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_00: Don't leave and keep stressing out about it, and then at the end you've still got some money there, and you could have gone and done the things you wanted to do because you were stressing out.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't matter, you know.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: We we're adults, we've got to look after ourselves.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: I really like that because I think the older generation, they're still of the mindset that they have to, you know, save, put it under the pillow, yeah, um, absolutely make sure that you know you don't spend it all because what if something happens?
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I guess this crisis that we're seeing right now would be a bit unsettling for our older generation.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Is that what you're seeing?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's a bit unsettling for everybody actually because people, well, you've got people, you know, saving for a first home as well.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, the older generation, because they're looking at it going, oh my god, I'm retiring at 65, and they might be 62, 63.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're seeing the markets drop and they go, Oh my god, my Kiwi saver's dropped.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: But the biggest misconception out there is a you don't have to take your Kiwi Saver out at 65.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's actually built as a retirement vehicle and it should be used as such.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: Don't take your money out and just put it straight in a bank because you will miss out on growth.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: But if you put in a term deposit, history has shown that over 10 years you're going to miss out.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to go into a conservative fund just because you're turning 65.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: You put the money into the conservative fund that you want in that next little while, and maybe you need in the first five years of your retirement.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: There still should be some growth assets in your thinking.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people have that misconception that I need to go conservative just because I'm retiring.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: But it's not the case.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: I I truly hope my mother is listening to this as well because she's just sitting in a conservative fund with the bank, and nothing against banks, but I just feel like she's not getting the best return for her buck.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And is she going to use the money?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the key, right?
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: And if and if you are going to use some money, then put that in a conservative fund because then you've protected that bit of capital, then you know it's going to be there, and then have a growth fund.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: So we talk a lot about the buckets approach.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: You have three buckets, one for your five years, one for the next ten years after that, and then you're after the 10 years.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And in each bucket, you've got a conservative, the middle bucket's more balanced related, and the end bucket's still got growth assets or a high growth fund in there.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can decide how aggressive you want to be in that bucket.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: But and then in theory, each bucket fills each other as you need the money more, and then what you're doing, you're still making the most of the markets for your 10-15 year horizon, rather than just going, Oh my god, it's just sitting in the bank now, and I'm getting what are the bank rates at the moment?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: Three percent.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, two or three percent.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Three percent.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's a bit sad.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: And they've got their place in the market, right, as a portion of your funds, but not all of it.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just I'm still thinking about my mother thinking, I'm probably her retirement fund.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she probably thinks that you know I I got all her buckets.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, that's the other opposite way of thinking about your retirement, isn't it?
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I've told my son that I said, I'm just gonna spend my money, mate, and then it then I'm moving in with you and your partner.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, that's what she did.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there you go.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I need to educate my son a bit more.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: I like that.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_01: I think Dave, what I'm seeing from where I'm sitting across multiple different hats that I'm wearing, women are missing out the most at the moment.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: And there's been research done on that.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: There's, you know, the whole pay gap that we're facing because women are the ones that will be taking time off to look after the families.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're usually the ones that are caregiving for their parents.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're the sandwich caregivers, as we call them.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they look after the parents and the children.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_01: And then when they do return to work, usually they're not earning as much as their counterparts.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, could be part-time, right?
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I've had a few staff that are like that.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: So how can we battle that issue?
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: That's a big question.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm challenging you here.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Big question, isn't it?
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Look, I think it's it's definitely needs to be government led a little bit.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: But I think a lot of it is around education as well.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: So when somebody goes off to have a child, and you know, I'm not saying which care give it because obviously I would have loved to have spent time at home looking after my son at the time.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: So but the education is actually if you're earning this as a family, not just as an individual, and you you know that this much is going to your Kiwi Saver, then why don't you put 2% into the other person's Kiwi Saver at the same time as a family so that that's still growing and it's still doing its job?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think we need to educate.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think we need to, and I and you're right, and we need to make sure that we are taking that into account if something happens to a relationship.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because that was going to be my next thing.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Because Kiwi Saver can't be owned jointly, of course.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's an individual ownership.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: But we are seeing that when that does happen, that it's taken into account in the in the tidy up of everything.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_01: But usually the women would go, oh well, he worked, that's his Kiwi Saver, I'm not eligible for it.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_01: They don't even know that they And that's the education bit, right?
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, is to just to make people realise how important, and not just Kiwi Saber, but savings to lead to your retirement or whatever you want to do is is a is a whole thing, not just an individual thing, it's a family thing, and that family thing is you're a you're a team, aren't you?
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and you're a team that's bringing up your children and working.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's yeah, I think there's a there's a lot of education we need to do.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: One thing I did for my kids when they were born is I got them all set up with kiwi savers.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_01: Number one child got very lucky because the government was still giving out$1,000 kickstart, yeah, and then the others missed out.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: So I think I don't even know what the kiwi saver balances are.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_01: I need to.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Brilliant.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the best way to think about it.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let it do its job.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know the beauty of putting money into a kid's kiwi saver, and I did exactly the same, obviously.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: My son got the$1,000 kickstart.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: We got him looking at it quite early so he could see the growth in it as well.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's maybe a little bit of advice to help your kids start to understand money from an early ish age.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I would say we started my son looking at it maybe from about 12 or 13.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: But putting some money in for them on a regular basis, think about this way, they can then start to use that Kiwi Saver for their purchase of their first home, right?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of starting from scratch.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the beauty of Kiwi Saver as well.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_01: You cannot withdraw it just for the fun of it.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: You have to uh well sorry, not have to.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: The first time you can withdraw is usually for your first home.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: And then it just sits down until retirement, unless there is some hardships that happen or you move.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's obviously, and you can take it out for illness, but it has to be fairly serious illness, unfortunately.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, hardships is is a big thing, especially after COVID.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people were applying to use a Kiwi Saver to help them get through, which was fine.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: But you do have to prove that you are in hardship.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: So you do need bank letters and you need to it's it's a bit intrusive, if I'm honest, but it's there for people that need it.
• 19:52
  unknown: Yeah.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't have to take all of your Kiwi Saver out for your hardship.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: You can just you just tell us what you need, and here's the reasons why, and then it goes to our trustee, which is a public trust.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: They'll make the final decision whether that's done or not.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: But there's a lot of them at the moment, unfortunately.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_01: I I've seen some statistics.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: I can't tell you from the top of my head, but it's definitely on the rise.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, cost of living, of course, and then I think there's still a bit of a tail from the COVID issues as well, where people just haven't been able to get going again.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Especially small business owners.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, exactly.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: Because that was going to be my next point as well.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: Is the other one I see missing out is usually self-employed people.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_01: If they're not on PYE, then they go, Oh, yeah, I'll put the money into QVC if I have the time, if I have the money.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: And usually they don't because they're busy chasing their own tail.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's and that's a a good point as well, is that and you get and then obviously you have some small business owners listening in, and they will say, Well, this is my retirement.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: My business is my retirement.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that's all great and well, but don't put all your eggs in that basket.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Just strip feed yourself some money into your Kiwi Saber.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: Then you can't touch it.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: You can't go, oh well, we'll just use this for holiday this year.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: And let it do its job.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if you do, your business does grow and you sell a great business when you get a bit older and you've made a lot of money out of it, you've still got your little nest egg as well.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: That can be for when you get a bit older and you're 80 odd and you spend all your money, it's still there.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where I guess I felt a little bit sad was the whole government contributions dropping because I felt like those government contributions was a really nice bonus incentive for the self-employed people or for stay-at-home mums that would put the money extra and go, oh, I got a little bit extra back.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: But was those things dropping off?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: I think that demotivates people.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think you're right.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then we saw that a lot.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: People just put their thousand and forty-two in and get their$500 from the government.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: $521.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, give or take.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, but yeah, I I agree.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's um it has probably demotivated people a little bit to go, well, what's the point now?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: But think about yourself in the future, I think is my advice.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we can't change that, but what you can do is make sure you're just ticking away.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: And the other thing, just going back to the kids for a moment here, my tip is always to the people that look, we live in such a consumer world right now.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sure.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Every person would have toys coming out of all the cupboards and kids having so much gear and stuff like that.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_01: Just think for the next birthday.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_01: If the grandparents are asking you, what does little Johnny want for his birthday?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe little Johnny doesn't need anything, and you could just take 50 bucks from the grandparents and put it into the Kiwi Saver.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then show them.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: Go into the portal of your provider and have a look at how what it's doing, where it's invested, and why.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: Because education for our youngsters coming through around financial literacy is is a big thing.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I on that as well, you know, it's those of my vintage will remember bonus bonds.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: Oh.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And grandparents used to buy a lot of bonus bonds for kids, you know.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: My my sister's kids had them from their other side of the family.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: They used to buy them them all the time.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so that was a thing.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: So why can't this and Kiwi Saver is a lot more secure than bonus bonds?
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: And but I mean obviously that's finished now, but why not use that as a thing and make a big thing of it and go, look, I've put a couple of hundred bucks into your KiwiSaver for you.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's gonna help you get to your first home.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: Here it is, and here it is what it's done in the last little while.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: Because I always look at it, you know, and it pains my heart, and I think that's just my financial soul that you you give fifty dollars right to two different kids.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: One will put it into Kiwi Saver, let's say, and then one will go and buy something with it.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the moment they buy something with it, it depreciates it.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's gone.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: It's lost its value straight away.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: The one that puts it into the KiwiSaver, it's gonna multiply itself year on year on year.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's and that again that comes back to the education part as well.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: So we have a what we call our booster foundation, which is our charitable trust, which basically is set up to help educate New Zealanders and young New Zealanders, or like you said before, females or different uh genres that are struggle with it, that they go out into those regions or into the different areas and help educate financial literacy and help people understand their financial journey is not just about ignoring it, you know.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's got to happen more.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's my opinion.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: So so important.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: Because see, I always say this I'm from a country that doesn't have a net to catch you.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_01: There is no social, social net, you know, we don't have benefits, we don't really have, I mean, the super you get is so sad.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's probably just enough for a loaf of bread for a lot of people.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: So in my country, I know that people are raised with the belief that you're in control of your own finances, you have to hustle, you have to work hard from a very young age, you have to save and maximize the money because you just don't know what can happen and who's gonna be there for you.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, 100% because we don't even have insurance, probably as much.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: So for me coming to New Zealand thinking, oh yeah, New Zealand's such a developed country, you know, there'll be so much more here, to realise it's a complete opposite.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, because less education.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because we, you know, like you say, we're probably in a better place with regards to benefits and how we're set up.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, there's lots of good things happening in New Zealand, and you know what how good a place to be when there's everything chaos at the rest of the world sometimes, and we're just ticking over here.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I know.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Look, I I agree it's it's just something we need to be better at.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully people can jump on that a little bit and help.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Dave, I would love to have you back here again and we can expand on certain topics.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: So for those that are listening, if you want to know more, get in touch with me and we'll point you in the right directions about Booster and how you can, you know, make the most out of your Kiwi service.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: And if you haven't reviewed your Kiwi Servers in a while, that's probably your prompt and reminder to go and check it out.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_01: So reach out to us.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: But if the if you want us to cover any topics, please reach out.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: We'd love, love, love to help you out.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: Any parting words?
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: So what uh the the biggest thing I'll say, and this is the most important thing with KiwiSaver, is make sure you're in the right fund to fit your needs and you'll get the most out of your Kiwi Saver.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: Apart from that, you know, just let's get using it and and helping young people use it.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much, Dave.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: No problem.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Bye.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.