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Jonathan Eriksen: Superannuation expert on the retirement age and superannuation funding · The SME Stream

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yesterday's State of the Nation address didn't really tell us
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: anything that we didn't already know, but there was one
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  Speaker 1: comment that made everyone go, oh, he's going there and
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  Speaker 1: made everybody prick up their ears. First, to support New
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Zealander's financial security against the backdrop of an aging society
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  Speaker 1: and an inevitable list in the retirement age, an inevitable
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  Speaker 1: lift in the retirement age. So if super needs to change,
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  Speaker 1: how should we do it? Jonathan Erickson, as a retirement
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  Speaker 1: expert with fifty years of experienced superannuation policy, he joins her.
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  Speaker 2: Now are the Jonathan yeah moo and Andrew as.
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  Speaker 1: The Prime Minister? Right, the raising of the retirement age
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  Speaker 1: is inevitable.
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  Speaker 2: No, no, with respect to the Prime Minister, there's a
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  Speaker 2: better way of doing it, which is to change the
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  Speaker 2: tax ranging from TT to ee T, which means making
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: contributions exempt for the employer and having a very low
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  Speaker 2: rate of tax on the investment income and then tax
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  Speaker 2: and benefit. And by doing that we grow our superannuation pot,
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  Speaker 2: get a lot more like Australia in fact, and mean
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  Speaker 2: that we can keep the retirement age of sixty five,
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  Speaker 2: which is clearly better for Pacific Islanders. Iri and a
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  Speaker 2: lot of hard working people whose backs give out before
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  Speaker 2: age sixty five, so we don't even have to raise
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  Speaker 2: the age. And the beauty of the system although it
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  Speaker 2: all defer tax for a while, means you don't have
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  Speaker 2: to change too many things and you can implement it quickly.
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  Speaker 1: So it seems simple to you. How come the government
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  Speaker 1: doesn't know about this idea? And have you told them
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  Speaker 1: about it?
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  Speaker 2: I've tried to for years, but they don't want to listen.
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  Speaker 2: They're said in their ways, they're very short term focused.
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  Speaker 2: They're trying to win the next election, and I could
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  Speaker 2: assure Christopher Luxen this is not the way to do it.
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  Speaker 1: I would suggest that actually even suggesting that they're going
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  Speaker 1: to raise the retirement age would make them lose the election.
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  Speaker 1: I thought it was quite a bit. I thought he
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  Speaker 1: was taking quite a risk to say this.
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  Speaker 2: Now, well, President Macronz had to change the prime ministers
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  Speaker 2: in France three times in a few months because they
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  Speaker 2: were trying to put the retirement age up to sixty
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  Speaker 2: four in France.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so if it is so, look if it is
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  Speaker 1: so inevitable, And honestly, I've been saying this since Bulger
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  Speaker 1: actually raised the age from sixty to sixty five. I thought, eventually,
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  Speaker 1: we're not going to be able to afford this if
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  Speaker 1: it has been so inevitable, when is the right time
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  Speaker 1: to take the chance to actually introduce this while also
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  Speaker 1: winning an election.
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  Speaker 2: Well, the time is now. The whole world is in
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  Speaker 2: a state of flux. You've got countries not knowing whether
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  Speaker 2: they're an authoritarian regime or a democracy. And you know,
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  Speaker 2: all's all over the place except town here, and we
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  Speaker 2: need to get on and get New Zealand better to
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  Speaker 2: the retirement savings in Australia. I just happened to be
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  Speaker 2: in Parliament buildings in Canberra yesterday and looked at the
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  Speaker 2: portraits of Bob Hawk and Paul Keating. And in nineteen
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  Speaker 2: ninety one they introduced their compulsory super with a three
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  Speaker 2: percent employer contribution levy. And now they've got trillions in
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  Speaker 2: super in Australia and that's funding all their infrastructure and
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  Speaker 2: a lot of their development in tourism and other things
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  Speaker 2: which we desperately need to grow our country.
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  Speaker 1: Jonathan, I got to go, but can you just tell
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  Speaker 1: me what EET stands for?
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  Speaker 2: Exempt? Exempt text? So you exempt the contribution income, you
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  Speaker 2: exempt the investment income and you tax the end benefit
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  Speaker 2: and by taxing it you actually offset the costs of
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  Speaker 2: New Zealand superannuation to some extent without changing the retirement age.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, Jonathan, I thank you so very very much. It's
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: News Talks MP For more from early edition with Ryan Bride.
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