Whether you’ve just left trade school or you’ve been in the game for a while now, making sure your KiwiSaver is giving you the best bang for your buck at each stage of your life is pretty important. Depending on what your goals are, saving for your first home (or trying to!) or preparing to down tools for good, we’ve got the best tips for you.

For the twenty-somethings

You might be thinking about buying your first home, but it also might seem damn near impossible at this stage. This is a good time for you to be accumulating as much cash as possible, and you can probably afford to take some risks. You might want to be in a more aggressive fund – you’ll likely see more ups and downs in your balance, but as you’ve got time on your side, it’ll be worthwhile to ride it out to get more in the long run.

For the dirty thirties

You’re likely out of apprentice territory and well into your tradie career. You might also be starting to take the idea of your first home more seriously. Again, growing that cash is key here, but if you’re going to use your KiwiSaver for your first home pretty soon, maybe you want to slow it down and take a more conservative approach. Not looking to own your own home just yet? Just keep it growing! 

For the big 4-0

You’re probably not thinking about retirement just yet, especially since you might have your own business already and are getting a kick out of finally telling other people what to do.

At this stage, you’re probably not going to be touching your KiwiSaver until retirement, which is a good while away yet. This means re-focusing on that growth is super important to make sure you end up kicking back in style when you do decide to retire.

For the 50s club

Downing tools and heading to retirement is probably becoming more of a focus for you. What sort of fund you’re in really depends on how much risk you’re willing to take. If you’ve cleared all your debt, keeping your KiwiSaver in growth mode could really make a difference at retirement. If you’re thinking you might want to retire soon, maybe slow down a little and get an idea of how much cash you’d like to have for retirement and how you’re tracking to get there. 

For the old b*ggers

You’ve probably had about enough of the tradie life and you want to sit you and your arthritic knees down on the beach for a while. Now is when you’ll be starting to think about retiring and accessing your KiwiSaver cash, so if you’re looking to take it out very soon, a more conservative approach might be better for you. But just because you turn 65, doesn’t mean you need to grab all of your KiwiSaver savings out at once – to avoid blowing it all, you can sort a weekly withdrawal or only take out a small amount, leaving the rest to keep working for you. Or you can take it all out in cash and make it rain – you’ve earned it!

Got q’s about KiwiSaver? Hit us up and we can make sure you’ve got the most moolah when you down tools for good.