Mike's Minute: Compulsory KiwiSaver could be our answer to saving

The Mike Hosking Breakfast

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1d ago 2:09

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Having argued the other week for compulsory KiwiSaver, it was sort of ironic, but probably lucky, that several reports came out post the comments that wanted the same thing.

Then enter Winston who wants it as well, and will pay for it, apparently with tax cuts.

Of course the tax cuts are completely unaffordable, but it doesn’t make the compulsion a bad idea.

I personally am not for compulsion, but it seems the only way to solve our never-ending inability to save.

Here is what possibly is the defining argument: a bloke called John O'Malley, who works for Deloitte, has written a paper on creditor and debtor nations.

That is when you take all of a country's financial dealings with the world and work out who owes what.

Places like Germany and Japan and Switzerland are what they call "creditor nations". They are owed money.

The debtor nations owe the money. It will not surprise you that New Zealand is a debtor nation.

Australia, which is where the paper originated, is what they call a "switcher nation". In other words, Australia has been a debtor, but the numbers have reversed dramatically. Net foreign liabilities have gone from 63% of GDP in 2016 to 32%, to now 24%.

If it keeps going, you're a creditor nation.

How have they done this? Well, it's through a number of things because economies are complex, but no small contributor has been superannuation.

Former Labor Treasurer Paul Keating introduced compulsion in 1992 from employee and employer, and they have never looked back.

Yes, they had the usual arguments – it cuts into pay rises, it's unaffordable, etc. But 30-something years later the proof is in the numbers. We have an average KiwiSaver of $30,000-ish. They have an average of $130,000-ish.

Recently, for the first time, they could say a person starting work and working for 40 years on an average salary could look forward to retiring in comfort.

So, a problem solved. They don’t debate retirement and its cost, and the wealth created makes them on the verge of being a creditor nation, joining the heavyweights like Japan and Germany and Switzerland.

So New Zealand or Australia? Who would you rather be?

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Mike's Minute: Compulsory KiwiSaver could be our answer to saving

The Mike Hosking Breakfast

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published 1d ago