Retirement Planning Calculator
🇳🇿 New Zealand version
New Zealand retirement income usually combines NZ Super, paid from age 65, with KiwiSaver savings. This calculator grows your KiwiSaver balance and deposits to your retirement age, adds the NZ Super payment to your target, and shows the pot you need and any shortfall in dollars.
Use Retirement Planning Calculator online
Retirement Calculator
Plan your retirement savings and calculate your future financial security
Personal Information
The NZ Superannuation age used here is 65. Retirement age starts there until you change it.
Accounts to count here: KiwiSaver.
KiwiSaver
Optional. Enter a yearly salary to add this scheme's contributions to the monthly amount above. The percentages start at the standard rates and you can change them.
Single person living alone: 1,294.74 a fortnight before tax from 1 April 2026 (26 fortnights = 33,663.24). Other living situations pay less.
Retirement Projection
You may need to increase contributions or adjust retirement plans.
Figures used
- NZ Superannuation: Single person living alone: 1,294.74 a fortnight before tax from 1 April 2026 (26 fortnights = 33,663.24). Other living situations pay less. Pension age: 65.
- KiwiSaver, employee 3.5%, employer 3.5%.
- The default rate for both employee and employer rose from 3% to 3.5% on 1 April 2026.
- It is due to rise to 4% on 1 April 2028.
- Employees can ask to drop to 3% for 3 to 12 months. Employer contributions now cover ages 16-17.
- Work and Income: How much you can get for NZ Super (checked 2026-11-08)
- Work and Income: Who can get NZ Super (checked 2026-11-08)
- Inland Revenue: KiwiSaver changes (checked 2026-11-08)
- Inland Revenue: Employer contributions to KiwiSaver (checked 2026-11-08)
New Zealand rules and figures
- NZ Super for a single person living alone is $1,294.74 a fortnight before tax from 1 April 2026, or $33,663.24 over 26 fortnights. Other living situations pay less.
- The NZ Super age is 65.
- The KiwiSaver default rate for both employee and employer rose from 3% to 3.5% on 1 April 2026, and is due to rise to 4% on 1 April 2028.
- Employees can ask to drop to 3% for 3 to 12 months.
- Employer contributions now cover ages 16 and 17.
Sources: Work and Income: How much you can get for NZ Super (checked 2026-11-08); Work and Income: Who can get NZ Super (checked 2026-11-08); Inland Revenue: KiwiSaver changes (checked 2026-11-08); Inland Revenue: Employer contributions to KiwiSaver (checked 2026-11-08)
How the retirement planning calculator works
KiwiSaver savings and monthly deposits compound monthly at the return you enter. The income you want is raised with inflation, the NZ Super payment is raised the same way and subtracted, and the remainder is divided by 0.04 to give the pot required.
pot required = (wanted income − NZ Super) × (1 + inflation)^years ÷ 0.04, set against the projected KiwiSaver balance
- Retirement age starts at 65, the NZ Super age, and the NZ Super box starts at $33,663.24 a year for a single person living alone.
- NZ Super counts only if you retire at 65 or later. Retire earlier and the tool leaves it out.
- Type in a salary and both percentage boxes open at 3.5%, which has been the default for employee and employer since 1 April 2026.
- Other living situations pay less than the single rate, so change the box if it does not match yours.
- Results are in future dollars; compare the monthly income with the inflated target.
How to use the retirement planning calculator
- Enter your ages. Type your current age and your planned retirement age. It starts at 65.
- Add KiwiSaver and deposits. Enter your KiwiSaver balance and any extra you pay in each month.
- Add KiwiSaver contributions from salary. Enter your salary to include your 3.5% and your employer's 3.5%, or change either rate.
- Set return, inflation and the income you want. Set your return and inflation guesses, then the yearly income you would like, priced at current levels.
- Read the result. Set the projected balance beside the pot required, then use Analysis to see the monthly top-up that would close any gap.
Example: Age 28 to 65 with a $70,000 salary, $12,000 in KiwiSaver and $100 a month at 6%
Salary-based KiwiSaver deposits come to $408.33 a month, which with the $100 makes $508.33 paid in each month for 37 years. The balance grows from $12,000 to $109,878 and the deposits to $829,248, giving $939,127 and $3,130 a month at 4%. A $55,000 goal with 2.5% inflation is $137,134 a year, and NZ Super covers $83,934 of it, That makes the pot required $1,330,000 and leaves a shortfall of $390,873, which needs roughly $240 extra every month.
When to use the retirement planning calculator
- Seeing what NZ Super covers. Compare the pot required with and without the NZ Super payment.
- Testing the 4% rate. Change the contribution percentages to see what the planned 2028 rise to 4% would add.
- Retiring early. Set the age below 65 to see the pot needed when NZ Super is not yet paid.
- Setting a top-up amount. Read the Analysis tab for the extra monthly amount that would close any gap.
What the retirement planning calculator does not do
- The NZ Super box assumes the single, living-alone rate. Couples and other living situations pay less per person.
- Tax on NZ Super and on KiwiSaver withdrawals, the government contribution and fund fees are not modelled.
- The return and inflation rates do not change over the years, and a fixed 4% withdrawal is assumed.
- Contribution percentages are applied to the full salary entered.
- Rates after 1 April 2028 are not applied automatically.
When something else is a better fit
- When you want a growth figure with no spending target, use the Investment Return Calculator.
- When you are saving toward a set sum, use the Savings Goal Calculator.
- When you need your own NZ Super entitlement, use the information from Work and Income.
Questions about the retirement planning calculator
How much is NZ Super?
$1,294.74 a fortnight before tax for a single person living alone from 1 April 2026, which is $33,663.24 over 26 fortnights. Other living situations pay less.
What are the default KiwiSaver rates?
3.5% each for employee and employer since 1 April 2026, rising to 4% on 1 April 2028. Employees can ask to drop to 3% for 3 to 12 months.
At what age is NZ Super paid?
65. The tool counts it only when your retirement age is 65 or later.
What extra deposit closes the gap in the example?
Around $240 a month: the $390,873 shortfall spread across 444 monthly deposits growing at 6% a year.
Why is the monthly income smaller than my goal?
The monthly figure comes from the KiwiSaver balance alone at a 4% withdrawal, in future dollars. NZ Super is shown separately and counted in the target.