He said contributing early to KiwiSaver was important.
“Just get started on it, make small contributions regularly over time and get the benefit of compounding returns.”
Members also needed to get their risk profile right, Berry said.
“If you own a home and you’re a long way from retirement, more than likely you should be in a growth fund and not a conservative fund.
“You’ll have a bumpier ride but you’ll get higher returns in the long run.”
Pathfinder co-founder and CEO John Berry.
If you’re a homeowner, Berry said the maths on clearing your mortgage was interesting.
“Paying down your mortgage is really quite powerful,” he said.
“If your mortgage is 6% and you’re a 30% taxpayer, you would need to get an investment of 9% and pay tax at 30% to end up with 6%, so you’re actually better off paying your mortgage unless you think you’ve got an investment that’ll earn more than 9% before tax.”
Berry said people a long way from retirement should think about different scenarios and how their retirement may play out.
“For example, what could the NZ Super setting be, could there be no NZ Super, could it be a higher age, could it be means-tested?
“The challenge I think for younger people is they probably need to assume the settings [of NZ Super] will have changed and the settings could be the age going up, means testing.”
READ MORE: The biggest financial mistakes you’re making at each stage of life
Lastly, Berry said those planning for retirement also should be thinking about key costs.
“Essentials like food, energy, rates and insurance are going up by often a lot more than inflation and that puts pressure on retirees,” he said.
Massey University’s latest Retirement Expenditure Guidelines, released in 2025, found most New Zealanders aiming for a comfortable standard of living will need income beyond superannuation.
It found for a two-person “no frills” household in a metropolitan area, the total weekly expenditure is $909.90, while a similar household in a provincial area spends $1031.85.
Households aiming for a “choices” lifestyle in a metropolitan setting spend $1739.85 per week, while those in provincial areas spend $1210.18 per week.
The need for cross-party agreement
Berry said he has long advocated for cross-party agreement when it comes to KiwiSaver and NZ Super settings.
“At the moment we don’t have that certainty, we have a lot of discussion around the settings may need to change but I think we just need to get on,” he said.
“It just can’t be a political issue where one party changes it and next election it flips back the other way.
“It’s above politics. People’s retirement saving is so important for New Zealanders. It shouldn’t be a divisive difficult political issue. It should be something people want to work on collaboratively.”
Last week, the Labour Party unveiled its KiwiSaver policy, saying it would make employer contributions compulsory, even when employees reduce or pause their own contributions.
It would also lift the default contribution rate for employers to 6% by 2032.
Labour also proposed banning new total remuneration contracts that include KiwiSaver contributions in salaries.
Berry is supportive of banning total remuneration contracts.
“It’s actually pretty brutal. I’m sure a lot of people wouldn’t even understand they’re on a total remuneration contract. I would describe that as controversial and I think that just needs to go,” he said.
Meanwhile, National’s policy is to make KiwiSaver compulsory for workers and automatically enrol babies in KiwiSaver with a $1500 kickstart.
They also want to push up employee and employer default rates to 6% by 2032, taking overall contributions to 12%.
“At a tactical level, we need to increase our contribution rates. We need to get [contributions] closer to 10%,” Berry said.
Stay ahead with the latest market moves, corporate updates, and economic insights by subscribing to our Business newsletter – your essential weekly round-up of all the business news you need.