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Retirement Calculator: New Zealand

Project your retirement savings year by year, in today’s money after inflation, with the income a 4% withdrawal supports and your financial-independence age.

Reviewed by CentExactRates effective 1 sourceCalculated in your browser. Shared links include inputs.

New Zealand: a universal pension, so the portfolio does less

New Zealand Superannuation is universal and provides part of retirement income; it is not modelled here. New Zealand is the outlier in this list. NZ Super is payable from 65 with no means test, and it does not depend on a contribution record, residence, not contributions, is the qualifying test. Almost every other country here pays a pension that reflects what you earned and what you paid in.

Two things follow for the projection. First, the income shown here is genuinely additional: the pension is not clawed back as the portfolio grows, so every dollar this page projects is a dollar on top. Second, because NZ Super is a flat amount rather than a share of your earnings, it replaces a large part of a modest income and a small part of a high one. The higher your salary, the more of the gap the portfolio has to close, and the further the income target on this page should sit above zero.

KiwiSaver is not modelled separately either. If you are contributing to it, that money belongs in the contribution figure on this page, count it once, and do not also treat its eventual balance as reducing your target.

New Zealand assumptions: a 7% nominal return and 2.5% inflation, a real return of 4.39% a year.

For how the calculation works, the formula behind it and what it leaves out, see the full guide. For help interpreting a result or comparing it with a quote or statement, read the questions and answers.

Data sources

New Zealand consumer finance conventionsWork and IncomeWithin its effective period

Every document each dataset was read from, its notes and how the figures were checked are listed in the guide's data sources.

This calculator in other countries

Each country has its own rates, thresholds and rules, and its own page that runs the calculator on them and cites the official sources they came from.

CentExactCalculator publisher

CentExact publishes the calculation method, worked examples and available data sources. Automated checks cover reference calculations; they do not certify a result for your circumstances or imply approval by a lender or tax authority.

How we build and test our calculators

This calculator is for general information only and is not financial advice. Results are estimates based on the figures you enter and the stated formula; lenders and providers may round or calculate differently. Check any decision with the institution involved or a qualified adviser.