The ISI's wake up cal w

Retirement savings are to come under the spotlight tomorrow when the Investment Savings and Insurance Association (ISI) releases a report on superannuation which it labels a "wake up call".

Wednesday, June 17th 1998, 12:00AM

Retirement savings are to come under the spotlight tomorrow when the Investment Savings and Insurance Association (ISI) releases a report on superannuation which it labels a "wake up call".
The report is designed to be a follow up to the 1992 Todd Task Force report and last year's Periodic Review Group report previously done for the government.
Details of the ISI report are unknown, however it is likely the report will examine some of the underlying assumptions used in the Todd report. It is also likely to question the amount of money New Zealanders have tied up in residential property.

The likely catch cry to New Zealanders without savings will be the message "in many cases you will have to eat your house."
ISI chief executive Roger Gill says the association is concerned that some people have interpreted the Todd report as saying there is time before the issue needs to be addressed.
"That is a risky and ultimately wrong assumption," he says.
"What we have is a window of opportunity which gives us time to act. If we don't use that time constructively it is more than likely some future government will have to take drastic action to resolve the issue."
The ISI won't be proffering specific solutions to the retirement savings conundrum, rather it is endeavouring to encourage debate and put retirement income policy back on the political agenda.
The report is also likely to tackle the issue in a much more holistic way and move the issue away from just the affordability and sustainability of NZS to how it fits in with all the other government expenditure.
Gill says the report contains new economic research, based on but enhancing the Treasury model used to plot the future fiscal cost of NZS.
He says it will provide an economic framework within which workable savings policy can be established.
The ISI commissioned actuary Jonathan Eriksen, economist Gareth Morgan and former Labour MP and minister of Finance David Caygill to write the report.

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