KiwiSaver's 20,000 January member gain
Although unemployment's up and there's been talk of a double-dip recession – KiwiSaver added another 20,000 members last month.
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Although unemployment’s up and there’s been talk of a double-dip recession – KiwiSaver added another 20,000 members last month.
Analysis of Inland Revenue’s KiwiSaver member count for January, by default provider Tower Investments, reveals total KiwiSaver membership now exceeds 1.63 million.
Tower Investments chief executive Sam Stubbs said the growth was encouraging against the backdrop of ‘new frugality’ as unemployment edged up 0.4% to 6.8% for the December quarter and suspicions emerged that New Zealand had a double-dip recession.
“Consumer spending over the holiday period suggested many Kiwis are more concerned about cutting debts than buying new discretionary items," said Mr Stubbs.
The growth suggested tougher economic conditions were not putting people off providing for their future retirement needs, he said.
The IRD reported that by the end of January, more than 440 thousand people were members of default KiwiSaver schemes.
Mr Stubbs said that figure raised questions about the Savings Working Group’s recommendation to set up a government-run monopoly default scheme.
“It is clearly a mark of success for Kiwisaver that so many people, who have the right to opt out, have instead stayed with the present default funds run by the private sector under close supervision (including regulating fees) by the Ministry of Economic Development,” he said.
“The current default fund system clearly isn’t broken, which raises the question as to why it supposedly needs fixing.
“Indeed, with more than 440 thousand Kiwis in government-assigned default funds who might otherwise not have joined a workplace-based savings scheme, surely the present system is one of the most successful public private partnerships in New Zealand’s history,” he said.
Membership of the Tower Kiwisaver scheme grew to almost 93,400 over January, with an average member account balance of about $5,800.
Georgina Bond
Wed, 16 Feb 2011
Wed, 16 Feb 2011
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KiwiSaver's 20,000 January member gain
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