KiwiSaver

New research from Inland Revenue shows many KiwiSaver members don’t understand how the tax credit works, or what it is.

The Commission for Financial Capability is calling for action from providers to ensure that more people in KiwiSaver receive one of its main benefits: the $521 member tax credit (MTC) paid to members by the government.

The research found that almost half of KiwiSaver members had not heard of the term “member tax credit”. When it was explained to them, 25% were still none the wiser.

People were even unclear about their own funds: Of those who knew about MTCs, some thought they hadn’t received any money when they had. Some thought they had been paid the full amount of $521 when they hadn’t.

The Commission’s education manager David Boyle said: “There’s clearly a lot of confusion, which is frustrating given that KiwiSaver has been with us for ten years. There’s been plenty of time to address this growing issue. 

“Some KiwiSaver providers have told us that the barrier is affordability. Inland Revenue has surveyed a broad range of members to improve understanding about what was stopping them getting some or all of their MTC and to test the affordability theory.

“The research shows that while it was part of the issue, there were other reasons why people missed out. Many said they would have saved in KiwiSaver if they had known about the MTC and they expected their providers to communicate more clearly.”

Last year 1.1 million members missed out on the full MTC. Of that number 580,000 received nothing at all which means they didn’t save anything.

Almost 40% of people who didn’t get the full MTC said they weren’t on a salary or wage and simply forgot to set up a payment.

Boyle said: “It’s disappointing that Kiwis are missing out on money which could help them in the future when they decide to stop work finally.

“It’s the best-known return anyone is going to get on their savings. Simply put, those who are eligible are getting a 50% return on every dollar up to $1043 a year. 

“But once that year goes by, you can’t go back and claim it later. That’s why it is so important to act now and make sure you don’t miss out next year. 

“We had always suspected that awareness was an issue. This research confirms that’s the case and we would encourage providers to do more to get the message out about MTCs.

“It’s worth acknowledging that some are making it a greater priority than others. More action in this area is a win/win for both providers and members.

“At the Commission we will be looking at our own messaging on this topic, and continue to explore what we can do to help reduce this lost opportunity.”

The research came from a survey of 1800 people by Inland Revenue.

New product disclosure statements that were meant to be easier to understand still contain a large number of specialist financial terms, researchers say.

Research by associate professor Aaron Gilbert and Ayesha Scott at AUT Business School Department of Finance has shown, on average, KiwiSaver PDS documents delivered under the new Financial Markets Conduct Act framework are significantly shorter and contain simpler language when compared with the prospectuses and investment statements they replaced.

But even the simplified product disclosure statements require a high level of literacy. People would need to know and understand about 100 finance-related terms.

“On average, simplified disclosure has made these documents easier to understand for our average New Zealander who is thinking about or invested in KiwiSaver,” Scott said.

Gilbert said, given the uncertainty around the future of national superannuation, KiwiSaver would become a major component of people’s financial future.

“Because it is so important and because small decisions made today can have a huge impact 30 or 40 years from now in terms of how much money people have to retire on, it’s really important people are making good decisions when it comes to their KiwiSaver.

“The first step in making those good decisions is to get people actively seeking information.”

Gilbert and Scott compared the last prospectus produced by 21 KiwiSaver providers with their new simplified disclosure documents to provide a before and after snapshot of the effect of the regulation.

A number of measures were used to evaluate the readability of the documents including the complexity of the language used compared to common, everyday plain English words and the number of specialist financial terms included.

The researchers will now ask people to read the documents to work out whether they could get the information they needed from them.

Strategi has launched an NZQA-accredited course for people who want to offer advice on KiwiSaver.

“KiwiSaver is the backbone to many peoples’ retirement and it is essential they have access to quality advice and can make informed decisions about their future finances”, said David Greenslade, managing director of the Strategi Institute.

“Advising on KiwiSaver is a good way for financial advisers to generate additional revenue plus build closer client relationships.”

Greenslade said financial advisers relied on offering class advice, or an information-only service, as a way to provide advice on a KiwiSaver scheme.

But the Financial Advisers Act still requires financial advisers to exercise the care, diligence and skill that a reasonable financial adviser would exercise in the same circumstances.

He said completing the new level 5 course would help all advisers to demonstrate a level of professionalism, care, diligence and skill relating to the provision of KiwiSaver advice.

The course focuses on the key features of KiwiSaver schemes, understanding the KiwiSaver Act 2006, and the basic investment principles advisers need to know in order to provide KiwiSaver advice and/or guidance for their clients.

Fewer than one in four New Zealanders are confident in their knowledge of KiwiSaver, a sign that the industry could do better, one bank economist says.

ASB has released its latest KiwiSaver survey, which showed it was the second most common investment for New Zealanders, behind bank accounts.

But only 24% of respondents felt they were competent in terms of their knowledge of KiwiSaver.

ASB wealth economist Christ Tennent-Brown said that was concerning for the industry.

He said after 10 years of the scheme, there should be some sign that investors’ knowledge was improving.  “It shows there is so much work to do in the advice space and how providers communicate with clients.”

The proportion of people who believed they needed to save more for their retirement fell from 64% in the same time last year to 60%.

“Investors in growth-oriented funds should have seen their balances rise strongly over the last year as growth assets have performed well, and this may be helping those investors feel they are on track for retirement,” Tennent-Brown said.

Better returns were cited most often as the reason people switched KiwiSaver providers, with 29% of switchers changing provider for this reason. Fund performance was the key reason for satisfaction with KiwiSaver overall.

“Performances varied greatly over the last year. The funds with exposure to growth assets tend to have done a lot better than those that are mainly income assets.  Over the past year, growth funds have returned around 10%, whereas the very conservative funds or cash funds have recorded returns in the 1.5% to 4% region,” Tennent-Brown said.

The survey found 30% of respondents strongly disagreed with the proposal to increase the pension age to 67 by 2040.

That compares to only 11% who strongly agreed.

Those who were older were less likely to approve of the move. ASB found 27% of people aged 50-59 strongly disagreed with the proposed change, and only 9% agreed.

In contrast, 16% of respondents aged under 39 strongly disagreed, and 7% strongly agreed.