Thursday, 02 November 2023 09:50

Kiwisaver to buy farms

Written by  Milking It

OPINION: A change in government has given hope to a farming community wish: that young farmers be allowed to use their savings to buy their first farm.

KiwiSaver providers are hoping that National will change its mind about making small changes to the scheme and instead conduct a full-scale review, including requiring members to contribute larger amounts.

During the election campaign, National proposed allowing young people to tap into their KiwiSaver savings to pay for a rental bond, and allowing members to have accounts with more than one provider.

But KiwiSaver providers said it was not clear that these were problems that New Zealanders wanted solved – and people who wanted to could already spread their savings by using platforms such as InvestNow.

But farming groups point out that young farmers dream of retiring with their savings in a farm and it makes sense for them to be able to use KiwiSaver to buy their first farm.

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