Turn your KiwiSaver into a pathway to financial freedom
From your first home to retirement, we help you make smarter decisions with one of your biggest financial assets
Is your KiwiSaver actually getting you there?
You’re already putting money away for the future. But your fund choice, provider, contribution rate and investment strategy can have a massive impact on where you end up
Don’t let your KiwiSaver sit idle while your future moves on.
For many Kiwis, KiwiSaver is one of their biggest long-term financial assets, yet it often gets left without any care. The fund you’re in, how much you contribute, the level of risk you take and the time you have ahead can all shape the options available to you later. The difference vs Idle and acceleration; can be a six figure difference in your retiremet…
We help you turn KiwiSaver from something that simply sits in the background into a strategy with purpose. Whether you’re building a first-home deposit or creating more freedom in retirement, we review where you are, project where you’re heading and identify what could help you get there faster.
Our goal is simple: make sure future you has more choices, and fewer reasons to say, “I wish I’d done this earlier."
What are you building towards?
Deposit Acceleration
Turn your KiwiSaver into part of your first-home strategy.
KiwiSaver can be an important part of getting you into your first home. The key is making sure your investment strategy is aligned with when you want to buy, while finding opportunities to grow your deposit along the way.
Retirement Acceleration
Build towards financial freedom.
KiwiSaver could become one of the biggest investments you build over your lifetime. Your fund, investment strategy and contribution rate can all influence what you have available in the future.
Your KiwiSaver shouldn't be set and forget
You might know your balance, but do you know:
- Whether you're in the right fund?
- Whether your risk level matches your timeframe?
- What your KiwiSaver could be worth in the future?
- Whether you're making the most of your contributions?
- Whether you're on track for your actual goal?
The wrong set up costs New Zealanders thousands of dollars each year - don’t let that be you.
That's where advice makes a difference.
What our KiwiSaver advice covers
We don't recommend a fund first. We first establish what you want, show you where you're heading, then determine what needs to change.
Define Your Goal
Whether you're buying your first home or preparing for retirement, we start with what you want to achieve and build your KiwiSaver strategy around it.
Project Your Future
We show you where your KiwiSaver could take you and compare this with your goals, so you can see whether you're on track and where there may be opportunities to improve.
Match Your Strategy
We align your goals, timeframe and risk profile with the right fund manager, fund type and investment strategy.
Protect & Evolve
Your financial position changes over time. We review your KiwiSaver strategy alongside your property, investments and insurance to keep it aligned with your goals.
See where your KiwiSaver could take you
Don't just look at your KiwiSaver balance. Look at what it could become.
We project your KiwiSaver forward to help you understand what you're currently on track to achieve, what your future goal looks like, and where there may be opportunities to improve your outcome.
You're not just saving for your first home, or retirement. You're building future choices.
Why MHQ?
More than KiwiSaver advice.
A bigger picture.
Your KiwiSaver doesn't exist in isolation. We look at how it fits alongside your property, lending, Insurance and wider financial goals, so the decisions you make today support the future you're building.
Getting started is simple
No complicated process. No need to know which fund you should be in. We start by understanding you, your goals and where you're heading.
KiwiSaver FAQs
When should I start reducing risk as retirement gets closer?
There isn’t one birthday when everyone should suddenly become conservative. As retirement approaches, we look at when you expect to access the money, how much you'll need in the early years, what other assets and income you have, and how much investment volatility you can absorb. From there, risk can be reduced strategically rather than switching everything at once. That is the thinking behind your Strategic Risk Reduction stage.
What is the biggest KiwiSaver mistake people make?
For many people, it’s not making a terrible investment decision. It’s not making a decision at all. KiwiSaver can sit quietly in the background for decades. The provider you joined years ago, the fund you defaulted into and the contribution rate you never revisited can eventually become a very large pool of money.
Should I put extra money into KiwiSaver or pay down my mortgage?
It depends, and we think this is where joined-up financial advice becomes valuable. Paying down debt gives you a relatively predictable benefit through interest saved. Investing gives you access to potential long-term growth but with investment risk and less liquidity in KiwiSaver. Your mortgage rate, timeframe, tax position, risk tolerance and financial goals all influence the decision. The important thing is not to treat your mortgage, KiwiSaver and wider wealth strategy as completely separate conversations.
How much should I contribute to KiwiSaver?
The default contribution rate for employees is currently 3.5%, with the default employee and matching employer rate scheduled to rise to 4% from 1 April 2028. But the default rate is a government setting, not a personalised retirement strategy. The right contribution for you depends on income, mortgage commitments, other investments, retirement goals and how much flexibility you want outside KiwiSaver.
Once I've bought my first home, what should happen to my KiwiSaver?
This is one of the most overlooked KiwiSaver moments. Once the deposit goal disappears, your investment timeframe can suddenly extend by decades. That may create an opportunity to revisit your fund, level of risk and contributions and move into what we call Retirement Acceleration. You’ve used KiwiSaver for the first big milestone. Now it can start building the next one.
Growth, Balanced or Conservative. Which fund should I be in?
It depends on when you expect to need the money and how comfortable you are with your balance moving up and down. Someone with 30 years until retirement may have a very different capacity for investment risk than someone planning a first-home withdrawal next year. We match the strategy to the job the money needs to do, rather than your age alone.
I'm buying my first home. Should I move my KiwiSaver into a lower-risk fund?
Potentially. The closer you are to needing the money, the more important it becomes to consider the impact of a major market fall immediately before your withdrawal. This is where KiwiSaver changes from being primarily a growth strategy into a deposit strategy. We help you decide when and how much risk should come off rather than making an arbitrary switch based on headlines.
Should I choose the KiwiSaver provider with the best recent returns?
Usually not based on recent performance alone. The fund at the top of a performance table today can be very different from the one at the top several years from now. We look at investment philosophy, risk, asset allocation, consistency, fees, management style and how the fund fits your timeframe. The goal is not to chase yesterday’s winner. It’s to build a strategy you can stick with.
Is active management worth paying more for?
Sometimes, but the fee alone doesn’t tell you whether it is worthwhile. What matters is whether the manager delivers enough value after costs, over an appropriate period and for the risk taken. A higher fee doesn’t guarantee better performance, and a lower fee doesn’t guarantee a better outcome. That’s why we prefer to compare the whole investment proposition, not one number.
Should I choose the KiwiSaver fund with the lowest fees?
Not necessarily. Low fees are attractive, but the cheapest fund can still be the wrong fund if the investment strategy, level of risk or provider doesn’t suit you. Likewise, a more expensive fund needs to demonstrate that the additional cost is delivering value.
What’s the difference between an active and passive KiwiSaver manager?
A passive manager generally aims to track a market index rather than trying to consistently beat it. An active manager makes investment decisions about what to buy, sell or avoid in an attempt to outperform a benchmark or manage risk differently.
Aren’t KiwiSaver returns already shown after fees, so do fees really matter?
Yes, fees still matter, but they shouldn’t be looked at in isolation. Standard KiwiSaver fund reporting includes return measures net of annual fund charges, which means the published result already reflects those charges. That makes the outcome after fees more useful than simply comparing fee percentages.
My KiwiSaver is already growing. Why would I need an adviser?
Because having KiwiSaver and having a KiwiSaver strategy are different things. Your provider, fund, level of risk and contribution strategy can all influence where you end up. We help work backwards from what you want KiwiSaver to achieve and make sure the settings underneath it make sense.
How much does it cost to get KiwiSaver advice?
At MHQ, we do not charge any service fees to manage your Kiwisaver for you, yet we continue to provide advice through the years. Where others add on a service fee, we believe in access to advice. We believe in filling the advice gap that exists in New Zealand. Because we get paid by fund providers, we do not feel the need to charge you more for this access. Thats how we work.
If I don’t pay for KiwiSaver advice, how do you get paid?
Fund providers pay us directly. The fees you pay don’t change. You use an adviser, you do it yourself - the fee remains the same.
Can't find an answer to your question?
Book your free 10-minute chatNot sure which step to take first?
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