Front door not the right place to become a KiwiSaver

It is not that there is necessarily anything wrong with door-to-door selling - no one seemed to mind the Rawleighs man. In fact in the past year several big corporates - including Telecom and Contact Energy - have started going door-to-door. They cite the customer demand for a face to face, personalised service.

It is certainly not that there is anything wrong with KiwiSaver. New Zealanders need to save more and for most of us the scheme is the easiest and most efficient way to do it.

But put KiwiSaver and door-to-door sales together and you have a practice which is illegal and fraught with ethical difficulties.

KiwiSaver is a financial product offering a range of risk levels for savers in different phases of their lives. There is also a wide range of providers who also offer varying degrees of risk and return.

People who are considering signing up need to be presented with options and sound advice. Apart from the financial risks to the individual, bad selling practices risk undermining the integrity and reputation of the whole scheme.

But until law changes later next year require financial products to be sold by qualified advisers it seems there is a window for cowboys in the industry to aggressively target people who may have little or no understanding of what they are signing up for.

KiwiSaver is something that can create value for all New Zealanders. There is no reason why it shouldn't be sold at the Otara Market or any number of venues that allow it to reach a wider group of people. There are large segments of the community who are unlikely to actively approach a financial adviser.

But it is also important that it is sold to people who are fully informed about what they are signing up to. People deserve the chance to walk away from the point of sale and think about their decision.

That's a chance they are unlikely to get when there is a salesperson with a foot stuck in their door.