The deadline to meet the KiwiSaver contribution threshold to receive $500 from the Government is fast approaching. Milford Senior KiwiSaver Financial Adviser, Liam Robertson, tells Ryan Bridge about the $500 million that eligible Kiwis missed out on last year – and how to ensure you don’t miss out this year.

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Bridge talks Business: 29 April 2025
Episode Transcript

Ryan Bridge
Kia ora and welcome to Episode 30 of Bridge talks Business with Milford. What if I told you that up to a third of Kiwis miss out on $500 a year? Money you could be getting, but aren’t. What if I told you that combined, we’re missing out on $500 million a year, collectively. We’re leaving half a billion dollars a year on the table that we could be pocketing. It’s all to do with KiwiSaver. This week we’ll chat to Liam Robertson from Milford. He knows KiwiSaver like the back of his hand. First, here’s your top five business bits.

1. A sharp recovery in US shares over the past week. Trump looks like he is keen to do some deals. We’ve had positive talk and signs from the White House on trade tariffs.
2. New business surveys show manufacturing and service industries worried about prices and growth. Manufacturing in particular, reporting higher prices in the US.
3. Things might look better before they look worse. Fear of tariffs may have led consumers and businesses to pull forward consumption, which means the impact of these tariffs on economic activity may only be seen in the data that we get over the next one to three months.
4. Reporting season for the first quarter in the US is underway and at this stage, early results, they’ve been solid, but companies not committing to any forward guidance, crystal ball gazing in any major way because of uncertainty about those tariffs.
5. We’ve got data coming out our ears this week, including US GDP data, jobs data, industry surveys, company reporting, we’ve got Aussie inflation, and of course we await more news out of the White House on the trade tariffs.

This week, it is that time of year again. It’s KiwiSaver end of year time. June 30 is the day. Have you contributed enough through the year in order to get the government’s KiwiSaver contribution? Make sure you’re not leaving any money on the table. This week, Liam Robertson, a Senior KiwiSaver Financial Adviser is with us from Milford. Just a note that this segment is informational only and should not be considered financial advice. Liam, welcome to the podcast.

Liam Robertson
G’day mate.

Ryan Bridge
Good to have you here. Now you’re the guy, I’ve been wanting to get you on for a while because you’re the guy that basically knows everything there is to know about KiwiSaver, right?

Liam Robertson
Some say that.

Ryan Bridge
Now, how much is the Government contribution? Because I’m wanting to make sure that I’m going to get that. How much is it that I get, $500 something dollars?

Liam Robertson
It’s $521.43. Very, very precise amount that the Government’s worked out.

Ryan Bridge
You’re across the numbers.

Liam Robertson
I am.

Ryan Bridge
It’s basically $521.43 a year. How many of us aren’t getting that?

Liam Robertson
Well, over the last four years, we got some great data from the IRD. We found that, on average, 686,000 KiwiSaver members received no government contribution, and a further 536,000 members only received a partial contribution. So, it’s quite a staggering number. In fact, if you calculate what that amounts to, it’s about half a billion dollars every year that the government would have paid out but didn’t have to.

Ryan Bridge
Shoot. So that is a huge sum of money. So, $500-odd per person, but half a billion, the government’s basically saving itself from having to pay out. How many KiwiSaver members are there in total? Is this a big proportion of that?

Liam Robertson
It’s a big proportion, yeah. There are about 3.3 million KiwiSaver members, and of those, some are below 18 or over 65, so they’re not eligible for the government contributions. But the eligible population is about 2.9 million. So, it’s a fair whack of us that aren’t getting the most out of it, that we probably could.

Ryan Bridge
Who, you mentioned those obviously who aren’t eligible for it, but of those that are?

Liam Robertson
The worst offenders are actually my age bracket, those aged 31 to 35. Around about a third of those members are receiving no contribution at all. And just for context, if we look at the best categories, so to speak, the 18 to 25-year-olds and the 61 to 65-year-olds, about one-fifth of them don’t get it, so four-fifths of them do. So, it’s almost like we start off quite engaged with KiwiSaver at the beginning of our working lives, then there’s a slump in that middle section, and then things improve as retirement gets closer and closer.

Ryan Bridge
Right, things happen in that middle section though, don’t they? And I know you’ve just had a baby.

Liam Robertson
Yes.

Ryan Bridge
It’s life that gets in the way. I’m assuming that’s what it is.

Liam Robertson
I guess that’s what it is. I mean, we don’t have any hard data to say that, but if we look at the second worst groups, they are 26 to 30 and 35 to 40. So, it’s kinda like that middle 15 years where perhaps you get married, you buy a house, you have kids, those traditional life stages, bills increase, income can reduce if you have a parent on leave, something like that. That’s certainly my situation. And I think sometimes KiwiSaver just falls by the wayside a little bit.

Ryan Bridge
Which is understandable, right? I mean, you’ve got to prioritise, and people might be buying a house too, that kind of thing. So, those are important investments for the future as well, right?

Liam Robertson
Yeah, totally. We’re never going to get 100% of members getting the full contribution. It’s just not realistic. It’s not possible. There’s a very well-documented cost of living crisis at the moment. But I think what we’re trying to do is just raise engagement, because I think of those 686,000 people receiving nothing, some of them probably could; it’s just slipped their mind.

Ryan Bridge
Yip. So, this is the reminder for people. If you haven’t got yourself back on it, back on the gravy train, for want of a better term, obviously it’ll have an implication for when you go to retire and you want to have a nice comfortable time. Have you run any numbers on what it might mean for you later in life if you don’t?

Liam Robertson
Yeah, we looked at two 18-year-olds side by side. We assume that one never joins KiwiSaver. That’s absolutely fine. They go and do their own thing. The other does join KiwiSaver, but they’re only going to put in the minimum required to get the full Government contribution every year, so that’s about $21 per week. All right, if they invest that in a growth fund, they will retire with about $150,000. That’s in today’s money. I don’t think anyone would turn their nose up at 150 grand the day they turn 65. And just to put that into a bit of context, that works out to about $49,000 across your working life that you’ve put into the system; you get $150,000 back. So for me, it feels like a no-brainer. Every dollar you invest, the government gives you 50 cents up to that maximum level. So, it’s a 50% return on investment before the money’s even invested.

Ryan Bridge
Wow. When you talk to people about this, do they, I mean, my reaction is, I should really be a little more sensible. Maybe I shouldn’t have even got out of it in the first place. But you are where you are. You make decisions as you go. When you talk to people, are they like, “Oh man, I’ve made a huge mistake”, or is it like, “Just turn this around. It’s not actually that hard to get back on it”.

Liam Robertson
I mean, you can’t live a perfect life and make the correct decision every single time you make a decision. So you can’t get too hung up on missed opportunities in the past, but it’s never too late to turn it around. The best time to invest was yesterday, and the second best time is today. So typically, when we’re having these conversations, people actually end up getting pretty upbeat about it because they’re looking forward and thinking, “Geez, I’m glad I’ve realised now, not next year”.

Ryan Bridge
So, what do you actually have to do? What is the best way to make sure that you’re not missing out?

Liam Robertson
The best way is, if you’re employed, make sure you’re in KiwiSaver contributing 3%. The way it’s been set up, if you’re on minimum wage and you work full-time and you contribute 3%, you will automatically qualify. You don’t have to do anything. If you’re self-employed, then set up a $21 a week voluntary payment – that will automatically qualify you as well. The IRD does all the calculations in the first week of July, and then they pay the money out. So, automate it if you’re self-employed, if you’re employed, make sure you’re contributing 3%.

Ryan Bridge
Easy, brilliant. Thanks for coming in.

Liam Robertson
You’re welcome. Thanks, mate.

Liam Robertson
That was Liam Robertson. He’s a senior KiwiSaver Financial Adviser here at Milford. And if you’re wondering about your status with KiwiSaver, if you want to check what your contributions are, head along to the IRD’s website and have a look there. Don’t forget you can like, follow, subscribe to this podcast wherever you like to listen. We appreciate you doing so. See you next week.

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