As some of you may know I have been pre-occupied for the last two months with an illness which turns … More Kaspanz Website reinvigoration →

Focusing on the future. Report to Government now available Read Report Here

A TRIBUTE TO A NEW ZEALAND TREASURE: NEW ZEALAND SUPERANNUATION

Two of New Zealand’s eminent commentators Martin Hawes and Michael Littlewood have recently strongly supported the New Zealand Superannuation Model. Littlewood in a 2013 paper said “New Zealand Superannuation (NZS) is one of the simplest, most effective, and most cost effective Tier 1 schemes in the developed world. We mess with it at our peril” and Hawes said “NZ Super is a system so simple and cheap that we need to give people certainty and stop playing football with it”

The cost of NZ universal public pension is currently 4% GDP, and over the next 20 years will gradually increase to about 5.5%. Not only is this very affordable, but projections out to 2060 or longer are not helpful due to the many variables involved, and what any historian knows, the poor outcomes of such assumptions. Two rules of forecasting. Rule 1. For each forecast, there is an equal and opposite forecast. Rule 2. Both of them are probably wrong. Continue reading A TRIBUTE TO A NEW ZEALAND TREASURE: NEW ZEALAND SUPERANNUATION →

WHAT HAS KASPANZ LEARNT SINCE LAUNCH DATE February 2013 1. New Zealand’s population is ageing and longevity is a huge … More WHAT HAS KASPANZ LEARNT SINCE LAUNCH DATE February 2013 →

The Kaspanz Website has a had a temporary hiccough due to illness but is now becoming active again

FOCUSING ON THE FUTURE” A DISCUSSION DOCUMENT”

Submission by KASPANZ-Kiwi Saver, Annuities and Superannuation Protection Association New Zealand Incorporated

* Note page 41, Table 9. To the uninformed reader, this table is comparing like with like. It’s not!

The New Zealand calculation in Table 9, should show the after tax projection (the after tax costing is the only one that matters)

Kaspanz submission supports the overall context of this wide ranging document, making a number of succinct comments re the recommendations

KEEPING NEW ZEALAND SUPERANNUATION FAIR AND AFFORDABLE Continue reading Kaspanz Comment on “Focussing on the Future from CFLRI →

About us Financial literacy Retirement income Retirement villages Research & reports News & media Have your say: 2013 Review of … More Latest news from the Commission →

Sunday Star Times 19 October 2013

THE GREAT GIFT OF NZ SUPER

OPINION: For the great majority of people, NZ Super is an important part of the financial plan.

Most of us do not want to be completely dependent on it, but NZ Super does, nevertheless, provide an excellent base retirement income. Continue reading NZ Super – The $500,000 Gift →

On Colin Espiner’s Blog (see below Alec’s Letter)

Published 20th October

Colin Espiner “Our pension penchant” continues a regular theme of headline articles on retirement income, with superficial comment, and doom and gloom ingredients.  Espiner needs to come to grips with the fact the universality of NZ Super and the model utilized is recognized by informed commentators as a world leader, and its simplicity to be treasured and nurtured. The Kiss principle applies, otherwise NZ gets into the maze of difficulties that Australia and the United Kingdom and others have and continue to experience.  Espiner’s article is a simple litany of exaggerations, containing  one liners and left hooks, targeting baby boomers and using emotive words including  financial freight train, gold plated, unfair, not affordable etc.  What’s needed in the context of reviewing this superficial article, is not a defence of the status quo, with both sides slinging mud at each other, but a calm and reflective look at policy levers that could be applied to a range of formula and models applying to retirement income, evidence based research on the various assumptions, trends both financial and social over reasonable time frames, cross party consensus on issues like this, so impulsive  decision making and Government tampering does not occur, and long lead in time frames so the New Zealand population as a whole can adjust to new directions and  also build that knowledge into their own financial planning. The Financial Literacy and Retirement Commission planning document is no timid report, instead it’s a thoughtful and succinct overview of the many issues and policy levers that could be applied to retirement income, containing recommendations to assist future discussion and decision making. Unfortunately the Espiner article contributes little to this conversation!

Alec Waugh

The founding father of the United States saw plenty of both in his time, and while he lived to the ripe old age of 84 most of his countrymen weren’t so lucky. Continue reading Our Chair’s Letter Sunday Star Times →

Government keeps conservative mandate for default KiwiSaver funds, to re-tender for providers The government has settled on keeping the existing … More Government keeps conservative default KiwiSaver funds, to re-tender for providers →