June 2019

New Zealand. ‘Evil’ spousal deduction policy affecting pensions to be abolished

The Government is overturning a controversial policy from the 1960s that allows people's pensions to be reduced if their partner also receives a pension from overseas. Under the Social Security Act 1964, if someone receives a higher pension from overseas, their own New Zealand pension will first be deducted, and then the balance is also taken from their partner in a process called spousal deduction. This sometimes leaves people with no pension money at all, while their partner holds...

February 2019

Pension Funds with Automatic Enrollment Schemes: Lessons for Emerging Economies

By Heinz P. Rudolph (The World Bank) Since the introduction of the KiwiSaver scheme in New Zealand in 2006, several countries have implemented, or are in the process of implementing, voluntary funded pension systems with automatic enrollment features. Since most of the literature has focused on countries with the common law tradition, including the United Kingdom and the United States, this note analyzes cases of countries with the civil code tradition, including Turkey, Poland, the Russian Federation, Chile, Brazil, and...

New Zealand. Time to address our rapidly ageing population

It's time for the Government to muster the courage to introduce policies appropriate for a rapidly ageing population, argues the University of Auckland's Dr M. Claire DaleThe Retirement Commissioner has a statutory obligation to produce a report on retirement income policies every three years. This year’s review has had little fanfare so far and the terms of reference have only just been released. The report is expected by December 2019, which allows little time to properly examine the pressing issue of...

February 2018

New Zealand. Analysis: Is an increase to the retirement age really inevitable?

At what age do you hope to start getting the pension? Former ANZ chief economist Cameron Bagrie reignited the debate this week when he said it would not be able to remain at 65. National committed to increasing the age by two years in 20 years' time, but that was scuttled when they were pushed out of government in the most recent election. Bagrie said, with an ageing population, there would be fewer workers supporting more retirees. "It doesn't look...

January 2018

New Zealand. Pensions paid to thousands after death

The Ministry of Social Development has released figures which show it overpaid almost 7000 deceased people for a month or more over the past five years. In a statement, a spokeperson said the Ministry was formally notified of a person's death by the Department of Internal Affairs. "In some circumstances, this can be some time after the actual date of death." The Ministry also double-checked the information was correct before stopping any payments which also contributed to a slight lag. Read more...

December 2017

New Zealand is robbing us of our Swiss pensions

Swiss expats living in New Zealand want to use Automatic Exchange of Information (AIE) to get a fair distribution of pensions in their adopted country, and they’ve persuaded one chamber of Swiss parliament to take up their cause. For many people who have spent their lives grinding away at a job in Switzerland, the idea of retiring at 65 and heading for an island where the cost of living is low and a Swiss pension goes far is highly appealing. But in...

October 2017

New Zealand. Thousands overpaid pensions, nine prosecutions

In the 12 months to June 2017, 52,525 people receiving either New Zealand superannuation or a veteran's pension were found to have been overpaid, Ministry of Social Development (MSD) figures released to RNZ show. That compares to 35,101 cases of overpayment discovered in 2013. The ministry did not say how much in total was overpaid each year but said the average in 2017 was $625, while the single largest overpaid amount was $207,139. In August New Zealand First leader Winston Peters...