You’re probably too young to remember back in the 1980’s when NZ Super was means tested by the IRD. If someone on the pension had too much income from another source like still working, bank deposits or other investments, that was subject to a surcharge tax in addition to their normal tax rate.
It’s becoming more and more obvious we can’t keep borrowing to pay the growing number of pensioners a universal pension…. even with the NZ Superfund, there will be a shortfall of 60% by 2040. I may be a cynical old bugger but I don’t trust political parties to not start looking with envy at the amount of money people have in their KiwiSaver funds. A quick calculation shows that for every dollar my wife and I have in our KiwiSaver accounts, employers contributions, government contributions and fund returns have added four extra dollars.
Add to that, our other employer funded superannuation fund, managed funds, cash accounts, share portfolio and equity in property and, although we wouldn’t make the Greens wealth tax threshold, I can see a party thinking “why should they be getting the Super”. TBH, that’s one of the reason we brought a rental property…. to fund our retirement if the government no longer did…. or reduced it.
I watched as firstly the 1980’s share market crash, then the 2000’s e-com drops, business failures and finally, finance companies, continued to take away my parents wealth. I watched, how not having diverse investments and a stable base to fall back on, hurt them. To make sure we could look after ourselves if a party decides we have too much and either looks at taking it via a wealth tax or means testing super or adjusts the starting age, we decided we need to look after ourselves.
