The KiwiSaver mistake younger people are making, that hurts first home buying

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's the mistake being made with KiwiSavers, and how to fix it. Hosted by Frances Cook. <br /><br />KiwiSaver is really important, not only for our long term futures in retirement, but also our short term futures of buying first homes. <br /><br />Figures from the IRD show this year, in July alone, $125 million dollars was pulled out of KiwiSavers for first homes. <br /><br />In fact, research from Canstar shows about half of 18- to 29-year-olds are putting money into KiwiSaver purely to get that first home. <br /><br />So that's a pretty major factor. <br /><br />However, that same research also showed something a little worrying. <br /><br />Those same 18- to 29-year-olds are quite confused by the different fund types, and how to use them. <br /><br />That's crucial, because the fund you use could mean you put in the exact same money, but get something totally different at the end. <br /><br />For the latest Cooking the Books I talked to Jose George from Canstar. <br /><br />We discussed what the Canstar research shows, and how to understand your KiwiSaver so that it works better for you. <br /><br />If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/" rel="noopener">https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/</a> Instagram here <a href="https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/" rel="noopener">https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/</a> and Twitter here <a href="https://twitter.com/FrancesCook" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/FrancesCook</a>