KEY POINTS:
Wealthy New Zealanders expect to be working longer than any of their counterparts in the Asia-Pacific region, a survey has found.
Research by ING on investors' preparation for retirement found more than 70 per cent of New Zealanders don't expect to retire until after the age of 61.
That compares with only 46 per cent of Australian investors, 37 per cent of Japanese investors and 16 per cent of Chinese investors.
New Zealanders also expect to live off less money when they do retire.
Less than 30 per cent of those surveyed believed they would need more than $4500 a month to live off, while 64 per cent of Australians believed they would need more than A$4500 a month to survive.
ING head of KiwiSaver Distribution David Boyle said the results showed there was still a long way to go before New Zealanders became fully aware of the level of savings needed to generate the income they would need to maintain a good lifestyle in retirement.
"As New Zealanders start to educate themselves about how much income they will need for later years, so they are becoming more realistic about when they will be able to comfortably retire from full-time employment. There is still some way to go to catch up with the savings habits of our Australian neighbours, who have had a compulsory superannuation regime for the last 15 years."
The research also found New Zealanders are more reliant on getting retirement income from the Government than Australians.
Wealthy Kiwis expected 33 per cent of their retirement income to come from the Government with a further 37 per cent to come from savings. Australians expected 29 per cent would come from the Government with 40 per cent coming from savings. Boyle said most New Zealanders no longer expected the Government to support them fully in retirement which meant they were thinking about taking ownership for their retirement savings.
Of those surveyed, 47 per cent had joined KiwiSaver - up 7 per cent on when the survey was last conducted in July and a further 15 per cent said they planned to join the scheme.
The survey in 13 Asia Pacific countries included 105 people in New Zealand who had disposable assets or investments of US$100,000 and above.
