Picture: Mercer NZ CEO Anna Scott (Supplied)
Mercer chief investment officer Kylie Willment, New Zealand chief executive Anna Scott and Dentons partner David Ireland spoke on the panel, discussing the results of Mercer’s latest global pension index.
It ranks pension systems around the world. The most recent update gave New Zealand a B and placed it 17th out of 52 countries. Netherlands was top and Australia received a B-plus.
New Zealand scored well for integrity, ahead of the average for sustainability but below average for income adequacy.
Scott said New Zealand’s system offered a good foundation but could be improved.
Ireland said without universal NZ Super, the scheme would score a much lower mark.
But he said a key gap in the system was any help for people when they reached 65 and were able to access their money. The more successful the scheme and the greater the investment balances, the larger the risk that someone could end up blowing it all on a “pipe dream” at 65, he said.
“When you get to 65 you’ve still got a third of your life ahead of you.”
Willment agreed both New Zealand and Australia could do more on decumulation.
“It’s great to have these systems that build people up and build the balances to retire but how we do we set up structures, retirement income solutions, access to quality advice to help people not only with their KiwiSaver balance but start to bring their whole personal assets into the picture and really optimise their retirements?”
She said key differences between New Zealand and Australian schemes were the easier access to early withdrawals in New Zealand, and Australia’s preferential tax treatment. She said in Australia, managers did not have to be so concerned about the liquidity of investments because withdrawal was less common. That meant investors more often had a much higher allocation to growth assets, which helped boost balances.
Panellists said there was merit in decoupling the age at which people could access NZ Super from KiwiSaver. That could give the Government more flexibility to increase the age of entitlement to the pension, while still giving people access to money to retire if necessary.
Ireland said a key benefit of the scheme was that it was managed through Inland Revenue and there were not the problems of people having multiple accounts, as seen in Australia.
Ireland said it was positive that KiwiSaver was being talked about in the lead-up to the election. “Maybe politicians can have a mature conversation to lock in some agreement as to the fundamentals.”
Panellists said there was a risk that confidence in the scheme was shaken if there were a lot of small changes made.
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