Retirement Calculator

This is an educational tool to help you picture your retirement income. It is not financial advice and doesn't take account of your full personal circumstances. It uses Hive's own assumptions (set out below) and produces estimates, not guarantees. Under FMA guidance, retirement calculators that add NZ Super and other income may use different assumptions from your annual KiwiSaver statement, provided those assumptions are clearly disclosed — which they are below.

This calculator gives a snapshot at the point of retirement (or when both of you have retired). It turns your KiwiSaver and savings into a weekly drawdown, adds NZ Super and any other income after estimated tax, then compares the total to your weekly lifestyle goal — so the result is in-the-hand spending money. Everything works in today's dollars, the same convention as KiwiSaver annual statements and other NZ tools such as Sorted: enter your balances as today's-dollar amounts (statement and calculator projections already are), and we draw them down at the assumed return net of 2% inflation, so the weekly income holds its buying power right through retirement. NZ Super, any income you enter and your goal are also today's-dollar amounts, so the comparison is like-for-like.

Your assumed net return is based on your Prescribed Investor Rate (PIR), which we estimate from your retirement income: 3.8% pa at the 17.5% PIR and 3.5% pa at the 28% PIR. Because balances are entered in today's dollars, the drawdown uses these returns net of 2% inflation (a real return of roughly 1.8% or 1.5% pa). To estimate your PIR we assume your KiwiSaver produces taxable investment income of about 3.2% of its balance a year — this is a tax assumption used only to work out your PIR, not an investment return. Returns are long-term assumptions, not guarantees.

Suggested weekly budgets use the New Zealand Retirement Expenditure Guidelines (Massey University Fin-Ed Centre, as at 30 June 2025) for single and two-person households, split by main centres vs regional areas and a “no frills” vs “choices” lifestyle. You can also set your own custom weekly target.

NZ Super is added at the Work and Income rate that matches your other income (tax codes M through SA), effective 1 April 2026, and other income is shown after estimated tax using IRD's personal income-tax rates. That includes any investment income you enter: because it may be dividends, interest or similar income taxed under the personal income-tax rules, we don't apply PIE tax (a Prescribed Investor Rate) to it — if your investment income actually comes from a PIE, such as a managed fund, the tax on it could be lower than we estimate. Enter the gross weekly income you expect at retirement as a today's-dollar amount.

NZ Super rates reflect Work and Income rates from 1 April 2026. Income-tax rates and PIR thresholds reflect the rules in force from 1 April 2025. Suggested lifestyle budgets use the New Zealand Retirement Expenditure Guidelines as at 30 June 2025 (Massey University Fin-Ed Centre). Return and inflation figures are Hive’s long-term assumptions. For how Government-set KiwiSaver statement projections work, see the FMA KiwiSaver projections page. We review these at least once a year, after each 1 April rate change. Last reviewed: 21 July 2026.