Retirement too far away?

Tess is 25 and earning $40,000 a year. She thinks retirement is too far off to seriously plan for it, but friends of hers had said that KiwiSaver could help her buy a first home.

Tess checked out the Sorted KiwiSaver Decision Guide and worked out that after 5 years of contributing to KiwiSaver she could save about $15,000 more than just using her own savings account.

After three years or more, if she wants to buy a first home, she can put some of her KiwiSaver money towards the deposit - her own contributions, employer contributions and returns on all the money, but not her $1,000 kick-start and annual tax credits. She may also get a government subsidy of $3,000 after 3 years, ranging up to $5,000 after 5 years.

Plus, if she and her boyfriend Reno are still an item by then and they decide to buy a house together, they could feasibly have a combined government subsidy of $6,000 to $10,000 for the deposit.