Cooking the Books podcast: Should you protect your KiwiSaver by going conservative?

When your KiwiSaver goes down, it's perfectly natural to be nervous. Photo / File

Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to look after your KiwiSaver now that everyone's talking about possible recession. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Those who like to keep a close eye on their KiwiSaver have probably been having heart palpitations lately, with balances going here, there and everywhere.

What's behind it is the sharemarket, as almost all KiwiSaver funds have some amount in shares.

This is great for growing your retirement nest egg in the long term, but it does mean it can go sharply up or down in the short term.

So just last month when the US-China trade war escalated, you might have seen your KiwiSaver take a tumble.

Then this month, the New Zealand sharemarket was giving with one hand and taking with the other. Dividend stocks did well, while the traditional growth stocks didn't.

So it really depended where you were invested, and most KiwiSavers don't have that level of control.

It can all sound complicated, and frankly, a bit risky.

But happily there are some simple rules of thumb to help you figure out how you want to deal with this situation, to look after your KiwiSaver in the long term.

For the latest Cooking the Books podcast, I talked to Paul Gregory, head of investments for Pie Funds and JUNO KiwiSaver Scheme.

We discussed when you should go conservative, the difference between conservative and growth accounts, and what's happening with the KiwiSaver default fund review.

For the interview, watch the video podcast.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.

You can subscribe to this podcast on iHeartRadio, Apple podcasts app, or Spotify, to make sure you never miss an episode.