Surprise surprise but the age group which is most likely to be highly in debt on their first home, likely to be a family on a single income, and also likely to still be paying off a student loan is also the age group with worryingly low kiwisaver uptake rates.
Deloitte tax partner Thomas Pippos gets the prize of the day for the most astute comment when he said;
“They’ll be thinking they’re better off paying off their student loans or mortgages.”
You don’t say…
For the record – I;
- fall into this age group
- am not living in my first home (I believe it’s number 5)
- am not on a single income (although it’s a double one that probably equates to a decent single one – oh the joys of self employment)
- don’t have a student loan
- am signed up for kiwisaver
I get the prize from Michael Cullen it seems….
Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. 
I guess we just live in hope that Dr Cullen will address the tax brackets next year for us mid-career, middle income, “battlers” who are currently funding most of the tax take.
Oh and by the way…can I float the concept of a “personal CPI”? I get really annoyed at agencies that try to tell me that inflation is 3% or less. Important stuff like mortgage interest rates, petrol, burgers and beer have all gone up way more than that.
No wonder I can’t afford bloody Kiwisaver!
Great concept Paul – ne to talk to stats about maybe>?