Apparently you'll need $100k saved by 30 for a 'comfortable' retirement

Who else feels like they can't even afford eat these days? We wanna travel, buy a house, and just enjoy life! BUT we also need to think about our older years when we're not working.

According to new research, people who want to have choices in retirement will need to have around $100k in their KiwiSaver account by age 30 to be on track, figures from Massey University show.

The researchers revealed how much an individual would need to have in KiwiSaver by age 30, 40, 50 and 60 to afford either a "basic" retirement or a "comfortable" retirement with more choices.

To have a 'basic' or 'no frills' retirement, people would need to save $36.42 a week from the age of 18 until they retire at 65.

But those wanting more choices in retirement - to buy a bottle of wine, go on holiday or just see a movie - would need to save just over $145 a week from age 18 until age 65.

If you're struggling to understand all these words and numbers, the NZ Herald have put together this graphic to make it a bit clearer:

Photo / NZ Herald

Claire Matthews, a KiwiSaver expert at Massey University who produces the retirement expenditure data and crunched the age-data, said the figures assumed people's lives went in a straight line and they started saving at age 18 and kept saving the same amount throughout their lives.

"The reality is they should be able to pick up their savings."

"What you earn at 18 is going to rise."

Obviously these figures are generalised and tbh, we're still very concerned that most of our savings RN are going on trips and houses... 

This article originally appeared in the NZ Herald and was republished here with permission. Read the full story here.