If you are contributing a higher percentage rate of your income than the minimum 3%, you can reduce this to a lower contribution rate. You can make this change by filling out the ‘KiwiSaver deduction form KS2’ and giving to your employer.

Under the Significant Financial Hardship provision, where you have not been able to get support from other organisations (e.g. WINZ), you can apply for a Significant Financial Hardship withdrawal. Christian KiwiSaver Scheme can approve an amount at our discretion once the application has been assessed.

This should be your last resort option as it will impact the amount of money you will have available when you are eligible to access your money from age 65.

We can’t provide specific advice on your personal circumstances but, as a general rule, your investment timeframe is the most important consideration with fund selection i.e. when you think you’re likely to need the money (either for retirement or to buy your first home).

For example, people with a 20-year retirement horizon and who aren’t planning on making a first home withdrawal may want to be in a  growth-oriented fund if they’re not in one already. Over the long term, a growth-oriented investor will benefit significantly as markets recover.   

Switching funds temporarily, say from Growth to Conservative, will lock in any loss.  When the market recovers, buying back into growth assets (like shares) will be more expensive, meaning you will likely have fewer growth assets in your portfolio than prior to the crisis.   

Changing funds can have a big impact on your future retirement income. You can read further information about what sort of fund is best for your risk appetite on sorted.co.nz.

Depending on your day-to-day financial circumstances and the uncertainty around how long a recession may be, it may be prudent to wind back your contributions.

Our suggestion is that this should only be done if you really need the extra money now to help with day to day expenses.  The good thing about contributing when share prices are down is that you get more shares for your money!

Do bear in mind, that contributing less now may mean your employer also contributes less to your account and you may miss out on some of the government contribution to your account. Fewer contributions now will mean less retirement income in the future.   

To decrease your contributions, you will need to get in touch with your employer. If you’ve been in KiwiSaver for 12 months you can suspend contributions to your KiwiSaver account for between 3 months and 1 year.  

Information on how to pause your contributions can be found on the Inland Revenue Website. 

The law governing KiwiSaver doesn’t generally allow withdrawals until you turn 65. In some specific circumstances, because of significant financial hardship or for a first home purchase, early withdrawals can be made.

You should think carefully about your investment goals and timeframes as withdrawing all your KiwiSaver funds now locks in any losses. Historically, investors who have been able to avoid selling during drops have been rewarded by the market over the long haul. 

While it may be hard to see the value of your KiwiSaver account decline, periods of negative returns and volatility are what we expect from shares and it is the price we pay for expected higher long-term returns.

We are long term investors, not short term traders. When share markets are volatile, we believe that buying and holding stocks rather than trying to time the market ups and downs is the best way of protecting and growing your assets.

To make an early withdrawal from your KiwiSaver account you need to meet certain eligibility, and there is a process we need to go through.

If you need cash quickly, we encourage you to speak with your bank or employer. The Government has also released a package to help meet Kiwis’ financial costs due to the impacts of Covid-19. If you are needing to talk to someone about applying for an early withdrawal, call our team on 0508 738 473.