english is my second language so I only knew a bit about the kiwi saver.All my friends are signed up with it so I joined it as well.I even sign up for my son who is 3 years old so I imagine that when he is 18 years old he may end up to a dept with the kiwisaver.
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timtim: english is my second language so I only knew a bit about the kiwi saver.All my friends are signed up with it so I joined it as well.I even sign up for my son who is 3 years old so I imagine that when he is 18 years old he may end up to a dept with the kiwisaver.
You could tell them that, and see if they will let you out of it. Not sure if they provide their terms in other languages, but they probably should these days. I don't think signing up a child is the worst idea, as it is likely that kiwisaver will be compulsory by then. I don't htink they should charge fees for people under 18, as they don't get the tax benefits. $1000 in 15 years time will probably be worth very little with inflation.
timtim: english is my second language so I only knew a bit about the kiwi saver.All my friends are signed up with it so I joined it as well.I even sign up for my son who is 3 years old so I imagine that when he is 18 years old he may end up to a dept with the kiwisaver.
I don't think it is possible to go into debt.
And even if it was, the chances of it happening are vanishingly unlikely.
timtim: english is my second language so I only knew a bit about the kiwi saver.All my friends are signed up with it so I joined it as well.I even sign up for my son who is 3 years old so I imagine that when he is 18 years old he may end up to a dept with the kiwisaver.
Change to a conservative provider that is making higher returns than their fees off the existing balance.
timtim: english is my second language so I only knew a bit about the kiwi saver.All my friends are signed up with it so I joined it as well.I even sign up for my son who is 3 years old so I imagine that when he is 18 years old he may end up to a dept with the kiwisaver.
Change to a conservative provider that is making higher returns than their fees off the existing balance.
You can also switch to a cash fund, which is invested solely in bank deposits, thus you can never lose money, and the fees are slightly less. The only thing is over the long term, the returns will likely to be less.
Actually the problem here is that many of the providers have a minimum annual fee or a monthly membership fee.
If say the annual management fee is $30-50ish and you only have $1000 balance you will actually lose money over time unless your fund makes greater than 4-5% return which at the moment isn't happening.
This will only really effect you at low balances when not contributing. Once you have a high enough balance the return (as long as the provider is going a dood job) should be higher than the fees.
So the advice is pretty much the same consider changing to a cash or conservative or a better performing provider with low fees.
When you are working again I would consider contributing 2% to your kiwisaver and 2% to your kids (remember when you contribute your employer matches your contribution so this is effectively an initial 100% return on your investment), the higher the balance the easier the return from the fund covers the annual management fee.
At the end of the day you got the $1000 kickstart for nothing, so you haven't really lost anything.
The value of the units that you have includes all fees and charges except a $1 per month administration fee, which is good because you know where you are at any given time.
My son also has a Kiwibank kiwisaver account which started with $1000. It was up to about $1100 the other week, which is pretty good (about ~5% return over the two years he has had it in this uncertain investment environment).
My returns are tracking at about 12%pa since I moved it to Kiwibank (excluding additional deposits).
timtim: I mean closing Kiwisaver acount completely
What would be the point of closing it completely unless you are transferring savings to another kind of scheme? If you could just withdraw the savings then it would be gone whenever some debt collector comes calling. As far as I know, even IRD or bankruptcy lawyers cant force you to draw down the savings. Does create a problem if you die, all goes into your estate so takes a while for relatives or partner to get anything from it.
timtim: I mean closing Kiwisaver acount completely
What would be the point of closing it completely unless you are transferring savings to another kind of scheme? If you could just withdraw the savings then it would be gone whenever some debt collector comes calling. As far as I know, even IRD or bankruptcy lawyers cant force you to draw down the savings. Does create a problem if you die, all goes into your estate so takes a while for relatives or partner to get anything from it.
That $1000 is taxpayer money, that the government gives back to you (or in your case, takes off other taxpayers) for joining the scheme.
I haven't joined it, because I like to be more independent and I don't agree with the government calling money it gives back to us "free"! Plus retirement is a looong way off for me, there'll be a small percentage of us who die before we get to use it!
But you've learnt a valuable lesson - before you sign up to something <b>read the details</b>.
tristanb: That $1000 is taxpayer money, that the government gives back to you (or in your case, takes off other taxpayers) for joining the scheme.
I haven't joined it, because I like to be more independent and I don't agree with the government calling money it gives back to us "free"! Plus retirement is a looong way off for me, there'll be a small percentage of us who die before we get to use it!
But you've learnt a valuable lesson - before you sign up to something read the details.
I suggest you might want to consider:
- The current pension scheme isn't going to survive the baby boomers retiring en masse. - The retirement age will have to be increased from 65 as people are living longer most countries have changed the age upwards.
Given the above you might want to rethink saving for your retirement from the time you start working or asap given when gen x and y get to retiring the pension scheme isn't going to be anything like it is currently.
PenultimateHop: The easiest way to withdraw Kiwisaver money is to buy a house, or move overseas.
I'm not sure I'd agree that moving overseas for a year before getting the money is the "easiest" way. Plus, you can't get the MTC. The best and easiest way is to contract a serious (but not terminal) illness. That way you get all the money!
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