As the New Zealand Government again discusses superannuation and possibilities of means-testing and raising the retirement age (perhaps with a consideration of the type of industry a person has worked in or the person’s sociocultural background being factored into the decision of when a person’s superannuation will start) it has prompted more discussion of retirement in coaching sessions. If you are familiar with coaching, it does not focus on the past but looks mainly at the present and what you can do now to achieve current and future goals. Future retirement planning in New Zealand is complex as it is clear change is coming, but when that change happens and what exactly that change will be is difficult to know for certain. Where do you start?

What do we know?

The New Zealand Herald produced a recent podcast about whether the age of retirement should be raised in New Zealand and what the future of superannuation may look like. The ageing population in New Zealand means that there may not be enough working age people to pay for retirees to receiver their superannuation from the government in the future. A means-tested superannuation, a raise in the age before a person becomes eligible for superannuation, or making considerations such as the type of work a person has done in their life (manual labour vs. desk jobs) before considering when they can receive superannuation may all act as potential ways to ensure superannuation can continue to be funded. Various political parties hold different views about which measures are required and when they would need to be implemented, but most agree something needs to change. To entertain a very different view, Elon Musk declared in early 2026 that there would be no need to save for retirement in 10 or 20 years due to advances in AI and what that will mean for humanity – depending on this could be very risky. Considering the more mainstream views, we can expect something to change, more likely in the next few years. This uncertainty does not mean you can not start taking action now though.

What can you do?

Outside of voting for political parties that have ideas that align with what you feel should happen to retirement and superannuation changes, you will want to ask yourself a number of questions:

What do I want my retirement to look like?

Where do I want to live in retirement?

When do I want to retire?

Exploring these types of questions is where journaling, vision boards, and conversations with friends, family and perhaps a life coach would be a great strategy. Once you have an idea of what you want out of retirement, then you can consider how you will get there. Thinking about how you will adapt to potential changes in retirement and superannuation ages may be a good idea in the current environment, asking yourself ‘How flexible is my plan?’ may be a great starting question to address the need to adapt the plan later. Apart from that, it would be a good time to explore the resources available at present for retirement planning to get to your goal.

Resources

There are some useful resources for retirement planning in New Zealand for the current retirement and superannuation policy. At present this includes:

Retirement Advice – The Retirement Commission website is the official government source of retirement advice from the New Zealand government. It is a great source of information around superannuation, Kiwisaver, government policy, and retirement villages.

Sorted – Linked to the Retirement Commission website is a financial calculator that helps you work out the amount of money you would need for retirement (given the current retirement qualifications) taking into account if you are single/with a partner, plan to live in an urban or rural area, and want to have a ‘no frills’ retirement or one with choices.

The New Zealand Retirement Guide – This is a PDF produced by NZ Seniors with useful advice and information around retirement in New Zealand. As well as retirement calculators/budgeting advice it discusses different places in New Zealand that are popular for people to retire to.

7 ways to practice self kindness in retirement – A completely different consideration is how you will cope with ageing and changes, this guide discusses how you can be kind to yourself in retirement.