The provision of a secure, adequate and fair retirement income system is not a straightforward task and an ageing population is adding significant pressure and urgency to this challenge for many governments around the world.

Mercer believes a secure retirement income system should be built on three pillars:

• Government-funded age pension
• Savings via the workplace
• Voluntary additional personal savings

New Zealand has a strong first pillar in the form of NZ Super and a developing second pillar in the form of KiwiSaver. However, we believe NZ Super is unlikely to continue to fund an acceptable quality of living for most people and KiwiSaver still has a long way to go to improve the adequacy of New Zealanders’ retirement savings.

We believe a holistic and multi-layered solution is needed to improve our retirement income system if we are to increase the likelihood that all New Zealanders will be able to retire with dignity, and a sense of security, and be better prepared for retirement risks in the years ahead.

Our report – Securing Retirement Incomes: Time to act – explores New Zealand’s existing retirement income system and implications of our ageing population, including associated risks, challenges, and opportunities for individuals, the government, and the private sector.

We provide recommendations to improve our system and help people maximise retirement savings during both their accumulation (working) and decumulation (retirement stages).

The report is available and can be downloaded now.