Retirement Commission wants to put the sex into savings

Ken and Barbie have been brought into play to make saving sexy (Newshub)
Ken and Barbie have been brought into play to make saving sexy (Newshub)
Ken and Barbie talking sexy about Kiwisaver and decumulation is the Retirement Commissioner's new tactic to get people to address our ageing population. Fed up with her recommendations being ignored, Diane Maxwell is trying to get the public and politicians' attention by using online videos. "The only way we are going to do that is make it compelling, take the jargon out, stick it online and keep it short," said Commissioner Maxwell. Ken, Barbie, Batman and Superman all feature in a series of stop animation videos as part of the Commission for Financial Capability's three yearly review. Ken is worried about his abs, while Barbie wants to talk about money, and Batman has branched out into financial advice. Behind the light-hearted approach is also what's called the heavy stuff  - the research and recommendations. The Commission's first 8 recommendations relate to Kiwisaver. Among them, raising the minimum employee and employer contribution from 3% to 4%,  adding 6% and 10% to increase the range of employee contribution options and  allowing people over 65 years of age to join KiwiSaver. Business NZ CEO Kirk Hope welcomes the idea of raising the minimum contribution to 4%. "As it will take place over a number of years through to 2021, so I think that's  sensible, its manegeable for both employers and employees."  As for raising the retirement age from 65 to 67, the Retirement Commissioner says the debate should be focussed on those aged 50 to 70.  She also says one major barrier to discussing the retirement age has gone, with the resignation of John Key who promised it would never happen while he was Prime Minister. Here is the link to the Commission for Financial Capability videos http://v.wirewax.com/cffcreview2016

Newshub.