Massey University releases latest statistics on retirement spending

Plan to top up your New Zealand Superannuation by around $980 a week if you and your partner want to enjoy a reasonably comfortable retirement in one of New Zealand’s larger cities. You’ll need a lump sum a little over $1 million to fund that gap over 25 years of retirement. That’s according to research from Massey University. The figures shown in the table below are based on actual spending by current retirees and include two levels of expenditure: a ‘no frills’ retirement with few, if any, luxuries and a ‘choices’ retirement affording a more comfortable standard of living. Separate figures are given for metropolitan and provincial centres, recognising that the cost of living is generally higher in our larger cities.