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Jane Wrightson: Retirement Commissioner on the need for care when changing the retirement age · The SME Stream

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Part of yesterday stated the nation g up for the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: next was a revisit once again to the thorny old
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: issue of the retirement age now. Chrysto Blacksen called for
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: greater ambition around savings, including high key we say a
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: contributions of course that would be offset well. What he
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: suggested was the inevitable, the inevitable. This is the ketah Waller.
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  Speaker 1: This is the inevitable lift in the retirement age now.
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Jane Wrtson is the Retirement Commissioner, of course, and is
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: with us.
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: Jane, good morning, good morning mart.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: You're pro up in the age, aren't you.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: I am pro having a really careful look at the system. Yes,
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: but it's not just it's not just a single issue
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  Speaker 2: like putting up the age. It's quite complicated. What it
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  Speaker 2: needs is a long term set of thinking around it.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: It's not just a fiscal issue. It's an issue for
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  Speaker 2: the people of New Zealand. What's good about this is
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: that it seems to be on the political agenda this year,
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  Speaker 2: so I'm hoping that all parties will set out a
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: kind of view about what they think might be a
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  Speaker 2: good way to forward, and then what we really need
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: is a good cross party conversation somehow to say, what
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  Speaker 2: is the next ten years? Got quite? What are these
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  Speaker 2: competing tensions? Got quite? If we do the age, who benefits?
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  Speaker 2: Who's hurt? If we don't do the age, what are
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  Speaker 2: the physical implication? Who benefit who hurts? You know, it's
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: not impossible this, but it's not just a single problem,
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  Speaker 2: and it's a system that involves both ends and super
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  Speaker 2: and can we favor together?
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  Speaker 1: And no, it is not impossible, But can I suggest
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  Speaker 1: that it's unlikely that any strong Yeah, see, we're going
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  Speaker 1: nowhere with us?
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: Are we?
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  Speaker 1: Jane?
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: Well? Going nowhere with it simply means we talk about
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: it or that and change may or may not be inevitable.
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: But I think we need a kind of clear ten
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: year direction. Right, So if we say we're not going
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: to change the system for ten years, but in ten
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: years we're going to do this, or we're going to
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: change the system in five years and meantime, these are
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: the other setting changes we need to look at or
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: or but otherwise this football will just continue to be
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  Speaker 2: kicked around. Yes, I don't necessarily think major changes is
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: desperately needed, but you know, if it is, then net's
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  Speaker 2: do it in a really considered way, and it's do
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: it in a way that focuses on what the future
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: retirees of New Zealanders need, of New Zealand needs.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I was saying to someone earlier on I started working
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  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two, and I.
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  Speaker 2: Distinctly im sure so young.
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  Speaker 1: I distinctly remember in nineteen eighty two thinking to myself,
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  Speaker 1: superannuation won't be a thing by the time I retire,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: and so it still is. So I took care of myself.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: Is that the answer?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's a mixture of both, isn't it. It's a
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  Speaker 2: mixture of what the underlying government support looks like and
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: what the self provision looks like. The pension will always
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  Speaker 2: be with us in one form or another. It has
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  Speaker 2: to be, because not all people that look after themselves,
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  Speaker 2: and not all people can, you know, survive forty years
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: of working and not working life without life shocks. So
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: it's really important. So you need you need financial education,
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: absolutely true. You need the right incentives to put money
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: aside at the right time. You need careful nudging to
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  Speaker 2: make sure you stay on track, because God, you know
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: we're not perfect, are we We go off track all
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: the time, and all sorts of things, and we need
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: consistent government policy that allows us to trust the system
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: that says, by the time I get to the stage
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  Speaker 2: where I can't work, then this is the system that
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: will be facing me. All right. I mean, by the way,
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: it's not that hard the practice it is.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: Are you leaving?
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  Speaker 2: I am, Yes, I am. My twom finishers in a
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  Speaker 2: month or so, what are you going to do. I'm
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: going to semi retire, but I'll still be working in
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  Speaker 2: various ways. But yes, you know, I'm doing what I
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: say people should always do is step down, slowly, step
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: off the cliff immediately. Very didn't it nice to talk to you?
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Appreciate it very much, Jane Writesam, who is the Retirement Commissioner,
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  Speaker 1: for another month or so. For more from the Mic
• 3:56
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• 3:59
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