Why your KiwiSaver Employer Contribution are Less than Yours while Both Paying 3%

By New Zealand law, the employer required to contribute to their employee’s KiwiSaver account or complying fund at 3% of their gross salary or wage if the employee joined Kiwisaver. However, when you look into your KiwiSaver contribution transaction record as an employee, you may notice the employer contribution amount are less than your employee contribution.

Screen Shot 2017-06-02 at 3.18.52 PM.png

Here is an example, assume your weekly income before tax is $1200, $62400/year.

Without KiwiSaver, your take home pay will be $1200 – 225.77 (PAYE) – 16.68 (ACC) = $957.55.

If you join KiwiSaver and contribute 3%, your take home pay will be $1200 – 225.77 (PAYE) – 16.68 (ACC) – 36 (KiwiSaver) = 921.55 On your KiwiSaver statement, your contribution will be $36. However, your employer contribution will be $25.2, not $36. Why?

The reason is the employer contribution are taxed under Employer superannuation contribution tax (ESCT). Your employer payout extra 3% of your income to KiwiSaver but part of that went to IRD as tax.

Screen Shot 2017-06-02 at 9.50.20 PM.png

You may think why both employer and employee are paying 3%, how come the cash hit my KiwiSaver fund is different? (That was me two days ago)

Let’s break it down in detail. The 3% contribution is calculated based on your income before tax. In our example, the weekly 3% KiwiSaver contribution will be $1200 x 3% = $36. So both employee and employer will pay $36 each into the KiwiSaver Fund.

Here is the tricky part, on employee contribution, it was calculate based on pre-tax income and take out on after-tax income. So the $36 will take out after they deduct PAYE and ACC and that $36 will reach your KiwiSaver fund without IRD take out any more tax.

On the other hand, employer contribution will be taxed under ESCT. So 30% of $36 = $10.80 will go to IRD, and the cash hit your KiwiSaver fund will be 36 – 10.8 = $25.2

RE KiwiSaver 1 - Page 1-3

Therefore, I was wrong by saying you will have 100% return on your employer contribution. It’s more like 67%-89.5% return. It’s still an unbeatable risk-free guaranteed return and one of the best investment in New Zealand.

Check out IRD website on ESCT for more information.

P.S. Thanks to gligorkot for pointing that out on a previous blog post.

Do you need KiwiSaver if you plan to retire early?

(This post contains the concept of  Financial Independence & Retire Early (FIRE), and terms like 4% withdrawal rate that may sound confusing. If you like to know more, jump to the end of this blog post for more information.)

When we approaching June in New Zealand, you can see lots of personal finance articles tell everyone to put in some money into their KiwiSaver and get the free money. I want to focus on a group of people who is working toward financial independence and wants to retire early. They may think since they are planning to retire way ahead of 65, KiwiSaver is irrelevant to them. They could be in KiwiSaver, but not sure if they should include KiwiSaver as part of their financial independence plan.

KiwiSaverlogo_6.jpg

Return on your KiwiSaver contribution

If you wish to live off your saving and investment, you ought to find the best return on investment out there. For KiwiSaver, your employer has to match your 3% contribution, and some employer may go higher. That’s 100% return on investment! (Correction: Actually is not 100% return because the employer needs to pay tax on their contribution. So the ROI is 100% – Tax, from 10.5%-33% less. Still a great return)

The government also provide KiwiSaver member tax credit for the first $1042.86 contribution from you each year (not counting your employer contribution). The Government will pay 50 cents for every dollar of member contribution annually up to a maximum payment of $521.43.  That’s 50% return on your first $1042.

If your wife/husband/partner is not working and you are working full time, you should consider contributing $1042 into their account as well. Those credits are risk-free and guaranteed.  It is hard to find such return on the market with basically no-risk.

Locked until 65

Some people think the big problem of KiwiSaver is you cannot access the fund until you turn 65 or to buy your first home. For the people who are planning an early retirement, they like to put every dollar into their investment so the investment can generate enough income to support their living expenses.  They don’t count on KiwiSaver and NZ superannuation to retire. However, you should still put money into your KiwiSaver.

One simple question: Do you plan to live beyond 65? If yes, then you should contribute to your KiwiSaver because it’s your money! You will spend on your investment before 65, and you will still spend on your investment after 65. The KiwiSaver fund is just one of your investment funds, and you don’t draw on that fund before 65, it will still help you to achieve your financial independence.

KS Before and After

Include KiwiSaver fund into your early retirement number

Look at the graph below. We assume you need 1 million portfolios to retire early, $300k in KiwiSaver and $700k in a normal investment fund. Your annual withdrawal rate 4%.Blank Diagram - Page 1(1).jpeg

You just need to stack up your investment and put KiwiSaver at the bottom and only draw the fund at the top. You keep drawing your non-KiwiSaver investment fund before you turn 65 and let your KiwiSaver Fund untouched. Yes, your non-Kiwisaver fund may get smaller and smaller (depends on your withdrawal rate) because you are drawing $40K (4% of 1 million) on a 700k investment fund. However, your KiwiSaver fund will keep growing. When you reach 65, you can draw from both funds.

Therefore, you should keep contributing to your KiwiSaver and include KiwiSaver as part of your early retirement plan.

Don’t over contribute into KiwiSaver

The key is you should not put too much into your KiwiSaver. You don’t want your non-KiwiSaver fund run out of money before you reach 65. Although it’s unlikely but possible.

Let’s assume you are 40 years old and have 1 million investment portfolio. You plan to draw 4% on your investment every year for living expenses. The expected return on investment is 6%. However, for some unknown reason, 70% of your investment are in KiwiSaver, and only 30% of your investment are in non-KiwiSaver Fund. You can only draw from your non-KiwiSaver fund before you turn 65.

Blank Diagram - Page 1(1).jpeg

By age 48, your total portfolio growth to 1.24 million but your non-KiwiSaver fund ran out. Most of your money are locked in KiwiSaver, and you are 17 years away to access them. You need to go back to work.

To avoid that, you just simply contribute up to wherever your employer will match and enough to get the member tax credit every year. Put all extra cash into your non-KiwiSaver investment, including paying off mortgage, shares, bond, property, etc.

Now, if we reverse that situation and put 30% investment in KiwiSaver, 70% in non-KiwiSaver. That non-KiwiSaver fund will least 30 years. Here is the how the fund works.

RE KiwiSaver 1.jpeg

How long will you non-KiwiSaver fund least?

I actually worked out the formula on how many years your non-KiwiSaver fund will least base on percentage of your portfolio in KiwiSaver. The graph was based on 4% withdraw rate. KS empty at 4.png

X is the percentage of your KiwiSaver and Y is the number of years will your non-KiwiSaver fund last.

If your Kiwisaver is about 18% of your total investment and you are 28, do you need to worry? Using that formula y = -24.61(0.18) + 0.3429, y =42.5. Your Non-Kiwisaver fund will least 42.5 years, by the time your non-KiwiSaver fund runs out, you are already 70 years old.

If you plan to retire at age 38, you will have to draw on your non-KiwiSaver fund for 27 years. Using that formula 27 = -24.61 In(x) + 0.3429, x = 33.85%. So your KiwiSaver needs to be less than 33.85% of your total investment portfolio.

That formula only works with 4% withdraw rate. You can work out how long will your non-KiwiSaver fund least with your own figure. Check out this google sheets. Make a copy and play around.

Conclusion

  • KiwiSaver is a great investment with a high return on investment due to employer match and government tax credit. It is one of the best investment in New Zealand.
  • You should contribute toward your KiwiSaver to achieve Finacial independence and include your KiwiSaver amount into your equation.
  • Do not over contribute into your KiwiSaver.
  • If you are employed, you should contribute up to your employer match and no more.
  • If you are self- employed, just put in $1042.86 to get your $521.43 tax credit every year.
  • All extra cash goes into non-KiwiSaver investment.
  • If you are not retiring extremely early (in your 20s) and your KiwiSaver is below 20% of your total investment portfolio, you will be alright.

She-ll-be-right-mate.jpeg


About FIRE

If you want to know more about Financial Independence & Retire Early, I will cover that in the future. Meanwhile, Check out the link below.

What is Financial Independence & Retire Early (FIRE)

The Shockingly Simple Math Behind Early Retirement

The 4% Rule: The Easy Answer to “How Much Do I Need for Retirement?”

Kiwi Mustachians – New Zealand FIRE community (Facebook Group)

Email thesmartandlazy@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @thesmartandlazy if you have any questions.

Will you switch KiwiSaver plan during a market correction?

as [I wrote this back in 5th Oct 2016]

I’ve got into a discussion with a colleague about changing KiwiSaver plan. He is in his 30s and he decided to switch his growth plan to a defensive scheme. His reasoning was that he thinks there is a market correction coming in late 2016 or the first half of 2017, so by switching to the defensive scheme, he can avoid a drop in his investment. He will switch back to growth once we are out of the correction.

I do agree there is a market correction coming and a defensive scheme will do better in a down market compared to a growth plan.

Let’s use Superlife income (defensive scheme) and Superlife60 (growth) as an example.

superlifeincome2015.PNGsuperlife60.PNG

During the 2008 GFC, most markets were down by A LOT. SuperLife income returned about 6% to 8% during 2008-2009 and SuperLife60 was returning -8% to -14% at the same time. So if you start your Kiwisaver in 07 in SuperLife 60 (returning 4.8%), then switch to SuperLife Income at 08, 09 (6% and 8%), and finally switch back to SuperLife 60 at 2010 (15%). You would have returned on average 8.45% p.a. while SuperLife 60 was returning -0.55% in those four years.

By looking at the math, it’s all great, but the main question is HOW DO YOU KNOW WHEN TO SWITCH? We are trying to time the market. The return looks great when we do it retrospectively, but in reality, it takes lots of time, resource and knowledge to time the market and people who are experts in that area still don’t get it right. If we switch too early, we may miss out on the last bit of gain. On the other hand, if we change too late, we will take the hit of the initial crash.

I am personally not sure about this. I was trying to time the market back in 2014, and I was wrong. The conventional wisdom was to ignore the ups and downs of the market and keep your investment in a growth fund. You will ride it out eventually. However, somewhere in my mind I still think I can get a better return by switching. Not to a defensive scheme but a balanced scheme to smooth it out.

[Now, back to March 2017]

I ended up keeping the growth fund and it turned out great. The return on those months is far better than the defensive fund. The main reason was due to the poor performance of income asset in the last quarter of 2016.

However, this post is not about growth fund doing better than the defensive fund during that time period. In fact, I’d still be happy if the defensive fund did better because the performance for my KiwiSaver in a single quarter only has a tiny impact on the lifetime of my fund. The lesson I learned was to stick to right fund for me, just sit back and let it grow.

Email thesmartandlazy@gmail.com or follow me on Twitter @thesmartandlazy if you have any questions.