Category: Business

Source: Radio New Zealand

Local chip-maker Rakon has received a takeover notice from US electronic manufacturer Bourns Inc.

Bourns intends to make an offer of $1.55 cents a share to buy 100 percent of Rakon.

That’s a nearly 70 percent premium to Rakons closing price of 90 cents a share on Friday.

Rakon was founded in 1967 by Warren Robinson. It specialises in precision timing systems used in mobile networks, satellites, aerospace and defence systems, as well as AI and cloud computing.

Under NZX rules, Bourn must launch a formal takeover between 10 and 20 business days from today, or its takeover notice will lapse.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The Hotel Council Aoetaroa says events are a big part of turning Auckland’s central business district into a central entertainment district.

A Jehovah’s Witness Convention in the city over the weekend has been forecast to boost the city’s economy by more than $20 million.

The three-day event was expected to generate more than 60,000 visitor nights with hotel occupancy at 85 percent.

Hotel Council Aotearoa strategic director James Doolan told Morning Report he was hoping the opening of Auckland’s international convention centre next month would bring in more events.

“You hear people talking about tourism in New Zealand and trying to get back to pre-Covid levels, but really we need to be about 130 percent of pre-Covid levels, because 2019 is seven years ago now…”

“We need more international and domestic visitors, we’ve also got a very, very expensive railway link in Auckland and fewer people actually go into the CBD to work, so we have to turn our CBD, our central business district, into a central entertainment district, and events are a big part of that,” Doolan said.

Doolan said large events were needed to fill out hotels.

“Events attract people to Auckland and it creates what’s called compression, because we have about 14,000 hotel rooms in Auckland, we’re a big city, so 14,000 hotel rooms that need to be sold out 365 days of the year,” he said.

“The only way you do that is if you also have events, you can’t just have [Free Independent Travel].”

Doolan said large events like the Jehovah’s Witness Convention took years to plan.

“You also need to pay what’s called subvention payments for some of these events, and that’s essentially a cash incentive to encourage an event to come to New Zealand or Auckland instead of many of the competitor destinations around the world.”

It made sense for central government to invest in sensible incentives and subvention funding, Doolan said.

“Every dollar that a tourist spends in New Zealand, they also pay GST on top of those dollars, and international tourism is one of the only export sectors where Central Government collects GST.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

The words “cost of living” have become synonymous with a struggle faced by an increasing number of Kiwi families. The news is full of stories about the price of butter, pain at the pump and pay parity. With the phrase first popping up in newspapers more than a century ago, reporter Kate Green takes a dive into the history of tough times.

The year is 1912, and the government, faced with rising inflation, has ordered a royal commission of inquiry into the cost of living.

An article by the Press Association in May 1912 explains: “The Commission is ordered to enquire into such questions as: Has the cost of living increased in New Zealand during the past twenty years; if so, has that increase been more marked during the last ten than during the previous ten years? To what extent is the increased cost of living, if any, the result of the higher standard of living?”

The resulting document was a huge catalogue of prices, wages and anecdotal evidence.

It gave insights into things like housing: “Mr Leyland, timber-merchant, Auckland, stated, ‘We are apt to forget that only a small proportion of the workers pay rent to a landlord. It would surprise you if you knew the number of houses, say in Ponsonby, in which the dwellers are the owners or own a considerable equity. In the street in which I live every house is owned by the occupier, and I know of another street where only one occupier pays rent to a landlord.'”

And school supplies: “Dr Mcllraith, Inspector of Schools in the Auckland district – ‘I find that the cost of maintaining children at school nowadays is considerably less than it used to be. Ten years ago the school-books for Standard I cost about 4s. a year. Now they do not cost the children more than 2s. 3d. a year.'”

And drinking habits: “[One] table seems to show that the volume of liquor consumed per head fell during the time of low prices of products, and rose during the period of high prices.”

The average weekly income per family was three pounds, four shillings and three pence – less than Australia’s four pounds, 13 shillings and one pence – and they spent about 39 percent of their income on food.

These days, that was closer to 16 percent, according to Stats NZ data.

Economists RNZ spoke to pointed to a number of gruelling periods of financial hardship, many with catchy names: the Black Budget, Rogernomics, and Ruthanasia.

The Muldoon era had an inflation rate of 18 percent – much higher than on Saturday, which was 3 percent in September.

Robert Kirkby, a senior lecturer at Victoria University, said the country’s woes on Saturday were caused by wages failing to keep up with inflation.

“So we’ve had a bunch of inflation over the past couple of years. It’s mostly gone away now, but as a result of that inflation, the prices are higher now than they were, say, three or four years ago. Substantially higher – like 20, 30 percent higher.”

And wages had gone up, but not as much.

“And so that slight difference that the prices have gone up, a little bit more than the wages, is the cost of living crisis, if you will.”

Despite what people might credit to their own success, wage increases happened as a matter of course, Kirkby said.

“When we get wage increases, we tend to think it’s ’cause we earned it, and when the prices increase, we tend to think that’s our bad luck, or was outside our control, right? And so people don’t view their wage increase over the past five years as simply reflecting the inflation – they view it as a reward for their effort.”

Nicola Growdon from Stats NZ explained they had been tracking prices since the 1900s. The items tracked changed over time. Records had been replaced by cassette tapes, and then by CDs, and more recently by music streaming subscriptions. Landlines had been replaced with cellphones.

“It does show how society changes over time,” Growdon said.

And there had always been times where things were tight.

“You know, the global financial crisis,” Growdon gave as an example. “We also saw in the immediate period after the Canterbury earthquakes, so just in terms of the impact that had, and supply shortages, things just weren’t as available during that period.”

In November, the Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate to its lowest in three years, to 2.25 percent.

The finance minister promised the country was on the up, with better times ahead. Meanwhile, experts told RNZ while there were green shoots across the playing field – for now, they’re patchy at best.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Unfinished housing developments are dotted across the Auckland region, with many seemingly in a state of limbo.

The derelict properties often led to concerns from local communities about vandalism and squatters.

A year ago, RNZ looked at several stalled developments in Auckland and explored the reasons behind why they had been left in various unfinished states.

As 2026 begins, have any of the developments been finished or demolished? Or do they continue to sit in a dilapidated state?

‘Blight on the Epsom landscape’ remains

The Epsom Central Apartments Project halted six years ago after Auckland Council found it had not complied with building consent.

The original partnership, Epsom Central Apartments LP, was put into receivership in 2022, and purchased by Xiao Liu the director of a company named Reeheng Ltd in 2023.

A year ago, locals complained the building was a “blight on the Epsom landscape” and had at one point been filled with rats and squatters.

In 2025, no noticeable progress had been made to the building, the owner of former neighbouring business Just Laptops, Forrest Tan, said.

Since then, Tan had demolished his building, partly to prepare for a rebuild he said, and partly because a previous scaffolding collapse at the derelict site next door had damaged his old building.

“This would be an ideal time to demolish [the building]. My site is now a clear, open space. Once my new building goes up demolition would be extremely difficult since it’s a boundary-to-boundary structure on a busy stretch of road.”

When RNZ visited the site, there was no obvious work ongoing, but the old precarious looking scaffolding did appear to have been tidied up or replaced and pedestrians no longer had to walk underneath it.

Has NZ’s highest residential tower restarted?

New Zealand’s would-be tallest apartment building, Seascape tower in Auckland’s CBD had construction halted for about a year.

In September 2024, it was reported the work had stalled due to a dispute between the developer and the builder.

But a year later, work resumed on the tower with contractors beginning to appear at the site.

Bayleys was also running a marketing campaign for unsold units with the words “a new chapter begins”.

Pukekohe’s ‘lock and leave’ houses

Several duplexes on Pukekohe’s Valley Rd had remained just the wooden frames of houses for at least a year, locals said, but it appeared as though some construction had been underway in 2025.

A year on, the duplexes were still covered in scaffolding and behind a fence, with no workers on site when RNZ visited, but it was obvious construction had been taking place.

The lots were listed for sale by Barfoot and Thompson in mid-2025, with the listing stating construction was due to be completed in “late 2025”.

‘Eyesore’ no more

In the coastal suburb of Mairangi Bay on the North Shore, a new build construction site which long worried locals as work appeared to have stalled was moving forward at some pace.

Nick Rogers who lived near the site on Beach Rd said work on the site seemed to stall in 2024 with just the exterior shell created.

But by the end of 2025, Rogers said work was underway again.

“It restarted about two or three months ago and is at quite some pace! Locals are relieved,” he said.

According to property records, the site was last sold in 2015 – it was not yet clear when the construction was due to finish.

Kingsland’s ‘The George’

Marketing for The George on New North Rd in Kingsland began emerging in early 2022, and was listed at the time by Harcourts, as nine luxury townhouses starting at a price of $1,785,000.

A website for the development had long since been defunct, but when RNZ visited the site in December, it was an active construction site.

Despite being little more than some planks of wood and a fence scrawled with graffiti a year ago, the building had now taken shape.

The developer of the site, CSS Luxury Homes Ltd said the site was due to be finished in mid to late 2026.

Vinod Kumar Chawla, the director of the company, said the project had stalled due to issues with finances.

“Many ups and downs but good times will come again,” he said.

“It’s a good location, top class finishing… one of the best in the city.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

An information technology expert warns the Manage My Health data breach may make victims vulnerable to bank account theft.

About 125,000 Manage My Health users have been affected by a massive data breach, with hackers stealing hundreds of thousands of medical files.

Those whose health records have been stolen in the ransomware attack are struggling to get any information, with the website repeatedly crashing and the 0800 number overloaded.

Cybersecurity and operational technology expert Dr Abhinav Chopra told RNZ the information contained in the breach, like health and personally identifiable data, could be used to access bank accounts.

“Using this information, with phone banking and others, you can easily get access to a number of bank accounts and transfer money, even in this period,” he said.

“Many banks and other institutions will just ask you, ‘Hey, what’s your name, what’s your date of birth, what’s your email address, what’s your phone number’, and some of that information or all of that information is basically in that app, Manage My Health.”

Chopra said the company’s layers of security, like password protection and encryption, weren’t appropriate for the level of sensitive data the company held.

He said the company did not apply about 17 different controls, culminating in a security breach.

“These kind of 101 basics and this stuff, it does need some investment, but when you’re holding critical information like health information and personally identifiable information, these should be your basics,” Chopra said.

On Friday, Manage My Health said it encrypted health data in its database and user passwords.

“[Manage My Health] is an ISO 9001 and ISO 27001-certified organisation,” it said. “We have quality assurance processes with regular testing of our systems.”

Chopra said hackers often targeted people on holiday or out of business hours, so victims couldn’t verify the information given with an official channel.

“Either you are busy doing something and you will just fall for that thing that they have said, or if they have created kind of an emergency kind of situation, then you fall for it,” he said.

“If you even call your own bank or your agency, or someone else, you will be outside of office hours and you will not be able to get that answer back.”

Chopra urged people not to rush into answering what could be a scam email or message.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Patients whose health records have been stolen in the Manage My Health ransomware attack are struggling to get any information, with the website repeatedly crashing and the 0800 number overloaded.

Andrea*, who lives in Wellington, said she received an email on Friday, telling her that she had been “impacted” and to log on to Manage My Health for more details.

“Except I can’t log in, as it’s ‘temporarily unavailable’,” she said. “I called the helpline included and was apparently No. 2 in the queue.

“I waited and waited, and had several more ‘Sorry to keep you waiting’ messages, but then at 11 minutes, the call was cut off.

“I called back and there was an automated message saying, ‘Due to the high volume of queries, we are unable to take your call’.”

Andrea tried a couple of times more over the morning, before giving up.

She said she had been prepared to give Manage My Health “the benefit of the doubt” until now.

“First of all, I thought, ‘Well, no news is good news’, but that was not the case, because it turns out I am impacted. Then I was, like, ‘OK, I’ll trust the process’, but I no longer trust the process.

“I naively gave them the benefit of the doubt, but now I’m just angry.”

She messaged the company and planned to lay a formal complaint with the Privacy Commissioner.

Mixed messages

Another patient, Nel*, said she received two emails from Manage My Health on Friday, advising that her health documents had been impacted in the data breach “and offering their sincere apologies”.

“I was directed to the website to log on for more information about the health data that was impacted,” she said. “When I logged on, I was advised I was my personal health data was not affected by the breach.

“It is very hard to have any faith in Manage My Health to ‘manage’ this situation and protect my health information.”

Where were checks and balances, patients ask

Lou* is angry with the criminals behind the ransomware attack – but even more furious with Manage My Health’s “arguably criminal negligence” and poor communication.

“I know for a fact, based on the limited information provided by Manage My Health, that some of my most sensitive information is now in the hands of someone unknown, and there is now a crescendoed risk of me being targeted for scams and potential ID theft.

“The potential documents now hanging in the balance contain a lifetime’s details of health records… hugely vulnerable details of my worst moments, healthwise.

“Beyond that, we have not yet been informed of further data now made available as ammunition.”

It was hard to understand how a private company had been allowed to store highly sensitive information without basic safeguards, Lou said.

Overseas users locked out

A New Zealander currently based overseas said Manage My Health had blocked her ability to secure her account, ironically, for “security reasons”.

The email from Manage My Health informing her that her account had been affected listed three recommended security steps – changing her password, enabling multi-factor authentication and “stay[ing] alert for any unusual account activity”.

“However, because I am overseas, MMH has blocked my ability to access my account.

“The email I received from MMH suggests that this is because of recent steps MMH has taken to tighten security – ‘We’ve added extra checks when people log in and limited how many times someone can try to access the system in a short time’.

“However, as a legitimate user of the MMH system who just happens to be overseas right now, I find myself unable to implement any of the recommended security steps or access any of the information in my MMH account.”

She said she was frustrated with the time Manage My Health had taken to make contact and the additional barriers.

“This is a frustrating over-correction. Not only does it prevent me from taking the steps necessary to secure my information, it also appears to be another privacy breach.

“I can no longer access my own personal health information, without sharing my login details with somebody who is located in NZ, which I imagine is also a breach of MMH’s terms.”

Blank emails

Grant* said he received an email on Friday morning headed “Important: Information About Your Manage My Health Account”, but the email was completely blank.

“I don’t know if my data has been compromised or not.

“My wife opened it with the mobile phone and had the information that my details had been accessed, but trying on the desktop, there’s nothing showing on the email.

Gemma* said she was also told that her account had been impacted, with a “summary” of the incident, but could not get through on the 0800 number provided.

“I called this morning and was 13th in the queue, before it cut me off, and it’s now overloaded and tells you to try again in a hour.

“Needless to say, I still haven’t been able to get through. It does go onto tell you the steps that have been taken.

“The email also says you have the right to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, but fails to tell you that the OPC won’t accept a complaint, until you have complained to the provider first.”

Manage My Health has apologised for the cybersecurity breach and said it hoped to have contacted all affected patients by early next week.

*names changed for privacy reasons

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Patients whose health records have been stolen in the Manage My Health ransomware attack are struggling to get any information, with the website repeatedly crashing and the 0800 number overloaded.

Andrea*, who lives in Wellington, said she received an email on Friday, telling her that she had been “impacted” and to log on to Manage My Health for more details.

“Except I can’t log in, as it’s ‘temporarily unavailable’,” she said. “I called the helpline included and was apparently No. 2 in the queue.

“I waited and waited, and had several more ‘Sorry to keep you waiting’ messages, but then at 11 minutes, the call was cut off.

“I called back and there was an automated message saying, ‘Due to the high volume of queries, we are unable to take your call’.”

Andrea tried a couple of times more over the morning, before giving up.

She said she had been prepared to give Manage My Health “the benefit of the doubt” until now.

“First of all, I thought, ‘Well, no news is good news’, but that was not the case, because it turns out I am impacted. Then I was, like, ‘OK, I’ll trust the process’, but I no longer trust the process.

“I naively gave them the benefit of the doubt, but now I’m just angry.”

She messaged the company and planned to lay a formal complaint with the Privacy Commissioner.

Mixed messages

Another patient, Nel*, said she received two emails from Manage My Health on Friday, advising that her health documents had been impacted in the data breach “and offering their sincere apologies”.

“I was directed to the website to log on for more information about the health data that was impacted,” she said. “When I logged on, I was advised I was my personal health data was not affected by the breach.

“It is very hard to have any faith in Manage My Health to ‘manage’ this situation and protect my health information.”

Where were checks and balances, patients ask

Lou* is angry with the criminals behind the ransomware attack – but even more furious with Manage My Health’s “arguably criminal negligence” and poor communication.

“I know for a fact, based on the limited information provided by Manage My Health, that some of my most sensitive information is now in the hands of someone unknown, and there is now a crescendoed risk of me being targeted for scams and potential ID theft.

“The potential documents now hanging in the balance contain a lifetime’s details of health records… hugely vulnerable details of my worst moments, healthwise.

“Beyond that, we have not yet been informed of further data now made available as ammunition.”

It was hard to understand how a private company had been allowed to store highly sensitive information without basic safeguards, Lou said.

Overseas users locked out

A New Zealander currently based overseas said Manage My Health had blocked her ability to secure her account, ironically, for “security reasons”.

The email from Manage My Health informing her that her account had been affected listed three recommended security steps – changing her password, enabling multi-factor authentication and “stay[ing] alert for any unusual account activity”.

“However, because I am overseas, MMH has blocked my ability to access my account.

“The email I received from MMH suggests that this is because of recent steps MMH has taken to tighten security – ‘We’ve added extra checks when people log in and limited how many times someone can try to access the system in a short time’.

“However, as a legitimate user of the MMH system who just happens to be overseas right now, I find myself unable to implement any of the recommended security steps or access any of the information in my MMH account.”

She said she was frustrated with the time Manage My Health had taken to make contact and the additional barriers.

“This is a frustrating over-correction. Not only does it prevent me from taking the steps necessary to secure my information, it also appears to be another privacy breach.

“I can no longer access my own personal health information, without sharing my login details with somebody who is located in NZ, which I imagine is also a breach of MMH’s terms.”

Blank emails

Grant* said he received an email on Friday morning headed “Important: Information About Your Manage My Health Account”, but the email was completely blank.

“I don’t know if my data has been compromised or not.

“My wife opened it with the mobile phone and had the information that my details had been accessed, but trying on the desktop, there’s nothing showing on the email.

Gemma* said she was also told that her account had been impacted, with a “summary” of the incident, but could not get through on the 0800 number provided.

“I called this morning and was 13th in the queue, before it cut me off, and it’s now overloaded and tells you to try again in a hour.

“Needless to say, I still haven’t been able to get through. It does go onto tell you the steps that have been taken.

“The email also says you have the right to complain to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, but fails to tell you that the OPC won’t accept a complaint, until you have complained to the provider first.”

Manage My Health has apologised for the cyber-security breach and said it hoped to have contacted all affected patients by early next week.

*names changed for privacy reasons

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

• Silver prices increased 150% in 2025
• Gold rose by “just” 65% last year
• Silver “dual use,” complicates supply

Often dismissed as “the poor man’s gold”, silver outshone its more famous roommate in 2025, staging its biggest rally in modern trading history and smashing through 45‑year highs.

Those previous highs – around US$50 an ounce – were set in the early 1980s when the now‑infamous billionaire Nelson Bunker Hunt attempted to corner the global silver market.

This time, however, the rally has been driven not by manipulation, but by a powerful mix of industrial demand, tightening supply, and resurgent investor interest.

Gold prices may have surged 65 percent to around US$4300 in 2025, but silver more than doubled that performance, finishing the year 148 percent higher at US$71.60 an ounce.

The dual use precious metal

Many of the forces that propelled gold higher last year also supported silver.

For centuries gold has served as a store of wealth – rare, dense, and importantly, gold doesn’t rust.

In today’s world, it is also used as a hedge against geopolitical risk, inflation, and the steady debasement of fiat currencies.

Local bullion dealer NZGold estimates that central banks collectively purchased 600 metric tonnes of physical gold in 2025 – worth around US$86 billion (NZ$150 billion) – as they continued diversifying away from the US dollar.

Silver, though more abundant, shares several of gold’s investor‑friendly traits, including durability and its function as a monetary metal, and it doesn’t rust.

Unlike gold, silver also has widespread industrial applications.

Most solar panels require silver, and it is a critical component in the electronics, semiconductor, and electric‑vehicle battery supply chains.

Demand from renewable energy, electrification, and AI‑driven data‑centre expansion is forecast to underpin future consumption.

Silver supply melts away

Years of underinvestment in silver mining have contributed to a cumulative supply deficit of 796 million ounces between 2021 and 2025 – worth roughly US$62b (NZ$108b) at 2025 prices, according to the World Silver Survey.

Compounding the issue, 70-75 percent of global silver output is produced as a by‑product of mining copper, lead, zinc, and gold, meaning higher silver prices do not easily translate into higher silver production.

Concerns about future supply shortages led the United States to officially designate silver as a critical mineral.

Combined with returning investor appetite on the back of rising gold prices, the reasons behind silver’s explosive rally become clear.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Biosecurity is confident they will eradicate the obnoxious Queensland fruit fly with officers back out in force in the Auckland suburb of Mt Roskill today.

Biosecurity Commissioner Mike Ingliss said additional traps have been set, and control zones have been set up, restricting the movement of fresh fruit and vegetables out of the area.

“What our success in the past has been is that collaboration with the community. The community absolutely, in New Zealand, know the impact of what that pest can do so that everybody is chipping in to do what they can.”

He said the key has been to go hard early.

“We’ll take it day by day, we’re never complacent. The real thing here is to go hard and early.”

The pest, which damages a wide variety of fruit and vegetable crops overseas, was identified in one of Biosecurity New Zealand’s national surveillance traps, placed in fruit trees in residential backyards.

Inglis said bins will be out so residents can dispose of fruit and vegetable waste.

A controlled area surrounding where the fruit fly was found has been established and the area has been divided into two zones.

In Zone A, including 262 properties, no whole fresh fruit and vegetables, except for leafy vegetables and soil-free root vegetables, could be taken outside the zone.

In Zone B, including 8300 properties, fruit and vegetables grown in the area cannot be taken out of the zone.

Inglis said no other fruit flies have been found since the initial find on Wednesday.

He said the restrictions would likely be in place for at least one month.

“We know it’s a major commitment, and it’s an inconvenience for residents, so we really appreciate everyone getting involved. It’s essential to make sure we eradicate this pest.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Is organising your money life on your New Year’s resolution list in 2026? In this five-part series, money correspondent Susan Edmunds guides you through the basics. Catch up on the first four instalments here: Set a budget; save money; get rid of debt; sort your mortgage. Finally: Getting your KiwiSaver sorted.

KiwiSaver is an increasingly important part of many New Zealanders’ financial lives. We pull millions of dollars out of the scheme each year to buy first homes, as well as helping out in financial emergencies, and it is a big part of lots of people’s retirement planning.

But are you getting the most out of your KiwiSaver scheme?

The nature of long-term investment means that decisions that you make at the outset can have a big impact over time, so it’s important to get things set up well as early as possible.

Here’s a quick KiwiSaver 101.

Check your risk profile

A great first place to start is to think about your risk profile. This refers to your willingness to take risk with your investment.

Someone who needs to withdraw money in three months’ time to buy a house won’t have much appetite for risk at all, because they will need to know exactly how much money they have available.

But someone who is thinking about making a withdrawal in 40 years will have much more appetite for risk because they have many years to ride out any turbulence in the market.

There are online tools that can help you work through what your risk profile might be.

You might think: Why bother to take any risk at all?

In investing, risk can be a positive because it should boost your returns.

“The theory goes that the higher the return you are after, the more risk you are willing and will have to take. The more volatility you can accept in the short term, the greater the expected return in the long term,” said Dean Anderson, founder of Kernel KiwiSaver.

Choose your fund

Once you know what sort of risk you should be taking with your investment, you can choose the right KiwiSaver fund for you.

Most KiwiSaver funds can be described as either cash, conservative, balanced, growth or aggressive. You can find variations on this, and some providers offer single-asset funds that you can add to your portfolio, investing in things like property and cryptocurrency. Some providers also allow an element of DIY and stockpicking for individual investors.

If you can take more risk, a growth or aggressive fund is likely to be the best option for you.

“These funds typically offer higher returns over time, but with more volatility. Given your horizon, you can handle those fluctuations in value and expect to benefit as a result,” Anderson said.

“As an example, if you’re in your late 30s and already have your first home, opting for a high growth fund could allow compound returns to maximize your savings by the time you retire.”

But if you might buy a first home within three years, a conservative or cash fund might be better. Many people have had the experience in recent years of going to withdraw their money and finding the market had dropped at just that moment.

Cash and conservative funds focus on preserving your balance but generally deliver lower returns.

When it comes to adding in things like pure portfolio funds or investments in cryptocurrency, it could be a good idea to do this with some personalised advice.

“Cash has the lowest risk, therefore the lowest expected return. Of the four major asset classes (cash, bonds, property, shares), shares have the highest risk and the highest expected return. Share funds are lower risk than individual shares, and crypto assets, commodities and “private investments” are even higher risk,” Anderson said.

Choose your provider

You’ll also need to think about which provider is right for you. You can go with your bank, or another major fund manager, or one of the smaller providers.

In 2025 RNZ reported that more people have been moving from big bank providers to independent and boutique operators.

Fees vary, as do investment management styles. You might think a low-fee manager that tracks a market index is a good option, or you might be looking for a manager who can beat the market, or one who delivers a responsible investment strategy that aligns with your beliefs.

There are lots of options so it’s worth taking the time to find one that’s a good fit. Tools like the Sorted Smart Investor can be handy here. Mindful Money is a great platform for anyone wanting to check what their fund might be invested in.

Set your contributions

You’ll need to choose how much you want to contribute. If you’re an employee, you can choose to automatically contribute 3 percent, 4 percent, 6 percent, 8 percent or 10 percent of your gross salary. Your employer will match your contribution at 3 percent and some offer higher rates. Those default contribution rates are slowly increasing over time and could increase further if National is successful at the next election.

The right contribution for you will probably depend on your goals. A 10 percent contribution rate will boost your balance much faster. But the money is locked in until you buy a first home or turn 65.

If you’re a while away from doing either of those things, you might only contribute what your employer will match and invest the rest of what you have available somewhere else (provided you are sure you will actually so this).

The great thing about KiwiSaver is the money is taken for contributions before you see it, so there’s no temptation to do something else with it. If you’re building up other investments, you might want to apply the same policy to those and have the money taken automatically.

Some providers suggest working out how much of a lump sum you want at retirement, and then working backwards to determine what you need to save now to get there.

It can be really hard to think clearly about something that’s a long time in the future, though, so my advice if you’re still decades away from retirement is just to save and invest as much as you can while meeting other financial goals such as paying off a mortgage and enjoying your life.

Check annually

Don’t set and forget your KiwiSaver. Check on it every year to see whether it’s doing what you’d expect, given the market movements. Even if you’re not working for a while, try to contribute at least $1042 so you get the full Government contribution each year. It’s not as big as it was but it’s still worth having!

At retirement

When you get to 65, you can withdraw all the money in your KiwiSaver account. But you don’t have to. You might still have 30 years of living costs to fund, so you might choose to leave some or all of it invested and earning returns for a while. Personalised advice can help here too, to come up with a plan to draw down your money over time in a way that works for you.

The Society of Actuaries have some rules of thumb and Sorted also offers a tool to help.

[https://rnz.us6.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=211a938dcf3e634ba2427dde9&id=b4c9a30ed6 Sign up for Money with Susan Edmunds], a weekly newsletter covering all the things that affect how we make, spend and invest money

– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand