KEY POINTS:
New Zealanders need to stop thinking of their homes as a retirement savings plan and start engaging more with their superannuation savings, the head of Australia's superannuation industry body says.
Pauline Vamos, chief executive of ASFA, believes there are a number of lessons New Zealand could learn from Australia's $1 trillion industry.
"People think their house is their retirement. That is not the case. You have got to accumulate an asset outside of your home. That is the big lesson for New Zealanders to learn.
"Also the need to diversify - you can't have all your money in one asset. People need to have something that produces an income in retirement."
Vamos is hosting the association's annual conference in Auckland. It is the first time the conference, the largest superannuation event in the Asia Pacific region, has been held outside Australia. More than 1500 people have come to New Zealand to attend it.
Vamos said the conference, which has been running for more than 20 years, was about motivating people to do that little bit more.
It moved around regularly and coming to New Zealand was a chance to go somewhere different, she said.
Vamos said the key issues up for discussion this year included the accountability surrounding managing other people's money in the current environment, dealing with the changing political and regulatory environment and looking at ways the industry could become more efficient.
Unsurprisingly the financial crisis is also a hot topic. Vamos said for the first time this year superannuation fund managers have had to talk to their investors about negative returns.
