video tutorial: Why you should start a KiwiSaver account for your children

PUSH PLAY - Cam can walk you through some numbers on how starting young makes a huge impact

If you’re a parent, one question you might have asked yourself is, “Should I start a KiwiSaver account for my children?”

A lot of parents come to me and say, “I’d love to help my children buy their first home when they’re adults.”

That’s a really solid goal.

So, can KiwiSaver help?

In short — YES, IT CAN.

I’m going to walk you through some software I use with clients to project future KiwiSaver balances. It allows me to factor in many different variables, including the impact of starting at different ages.

I’ll show you an example on the video - push play in the link at the top of the page.

BTW, I need to be clear — this is not personalised financial advice.

If you want personalised advice, book a session with me. For now, I’ll use simple numbers to show how powerful compounding can be for a young person.

(Here's the video transcript if you can't play the video:)

Let’s assume you open a KiwiSaver account for your child at age five.

You put in an initial $100 to get started and choose an aggressive fund, because they’ve got plenty of time before the money is needed.

At age five, your child obviously isn’t earning anything yet, but you contribute $80 per month — about $20 a week.

We’ll then assume that when your child turns 20, they start working in a minimum-wage job. Today, minimum wage is just under $50,000. If we inflation-adjust that out by 15 years, that’s roughly $80,000.

Now let’s see what happens.

There’s no income coming in until age 20, but regular contributions from you are building momentum. With an aggressive fund and time on their side, by age 19 — before they even start working — their KiwiSaver balance is around $36,500.

If we inflation-adjust that back to today’s dollars, that’s just over $27,500.

Imagine being 19 years old and knowing you already have $27,500 going towards your first home... That’s incredibly motivating.

It also opens the door for real conversations between parents and children about money, compounding, and how wealth actually builds over time — not just in theory, but in practice.

And realistically, this dramatically improves the chances of that young person buying a home. As we know, house prices have been rising faster than incomes for a long time.

Is it worth starting a KiwiSaver account for your child?

Absolutely! The earlier the better.

This example hasn't even factored in the extra they would have at 20 from part time work done as teenagers, or starting full time work at an earlier age.

If your child then works for five years on a modest income, by the age of 25 they could have a balance of almost $100,000 — or around $67,000 in today's money — towards a first home deposit!

Get grandparents involved. Make contributions birthday and Christmas gifts. Get kids engaged and teach them why this matters, because one day, it really will.

If you’d like personalised financial advice, head to my website and book a session — the “Book Now” buttons make it very straightforward.

I’m Cameron Steele from Solid Steele Advice.

Hope to meet you soon.

Book in a free KiwiSaver advice meeting with me here

Simple Steps. Solid Results

Written by Cameron Steele, KiwiSaver Specialist & Financial Adviser based in Christchurch, New Zealand.