KiwiSaver calculator.

Each fund type uses the government’s standard return for KiwiSaver projections, the ones on every annual statement, already after fees and after tax at the 28% PIR: Defensive 1.5%, Conservative 2.5%, Balanced 3.5%, Growth 4.5% and Aggressive 5.5% a year. Inflation is taken at 2% a year and everything is shown in today’s dollars, so the figure means what that money would buy now.

Your pay is assumed to keep pace with prices, which is what keeps your contributions the same size in today’s money. A year’s contributions are credited at the end of that year. The same assumptions run the round-up calculator on our Feijoa page, so the two agree.

You and your employer each put in a percentage of your pay before tax. The minimum employer contribution is 3.5%, and this calculator uses it. Some employers pay more, so check your agreement. Your employer’s contribution is taxed before it lands (ESCT), at a rate from 10.5% to 39% set by what you earn, and this calculator takes that off, so the employer band is what actually reaches your account.

The government adds 25c for every $1 you contribute yourself, up to $260.72 a year, which takes $1,042.86 of your own money to reach in full. Employer contributions do not count towards it, and it does not apply if you earn more than $180,000 a year. Those are the rules from 1 July 2025. The cap is a fixed dollar figure that Parliament has changed before, so this calculator holds it level in today’s dollars rather than assuming it shrinks away.

It leaves out a first-home withdrawal, any savings suspension or break from work, voluntary top-ups, pay rises beyond inflation, and anything that happens after 65.

Returns are not guaranteed and real ones go up and down, sometimes for years at a time. This is an illustration built from standard assumptions. It is not a recommendation of any fund type, any provider or any contribution rate.