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Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan says just as local and national authorities are making plans to cope with the needs of an ageing population, families need to make plans too.

"We've done research² that confirms what most of us suspected – many Kiwi families are reluctant to talk about retirement and their money. But with a growing ageing population we need to change our thinking and be less reserved about having these family conversations.

"And there's no better time than right now to start talking about tomorrow," Ms Crossan says.

To help the conversations along, the Retirement Commission has produced a set of talking points on topics such as appointing someone to have enduring power of attorney, drafting a will and adjusting insurances.

"Talking about money is hard, but it's important as there are many complex decisions older family members need to make."

The talking points cover topics such as appointing someone to have enduring power of attorney to manage your affairs if you become incapable of doing so yourself. There is information about the issue of financial abuse among older people, drafting a will, setting up a trust, insurance as people age, and equity release options for people with property assets.

The talking points can be downloaded from the Retirement Commission's Sorted website, www.sorted.org.nz/life-stages/60plus. You can also order Sorted's free booklet, Your money in retirement, by calling 0800 SORT MONEY (767 866) or online at www.sorted.org.nz/ordering/.

For more information contact: Meredith Keys (027) 203 3172

¹ Statistics New Zealand
² See appendix

Appendix

Summary of Nielsen Research – 2009 – 'Discussing the hard stuff'

• Nielsen was commissioned by the Retirement Commission last year to survey New Zealand over 55-years-old to understand more about how to assist the next generation of older New Zealanders to talk about and make sound financial decisions for their retirement.
• The survey was conducted in July-August 2009 in Auckland, Wellington and Tauranga. It included focus groups and in depth interviews.
• It was qualitative research, giving a flavour of older New Zealanders' thoughts and concerns, rather than a quantitative, statistically significant survey.
• A number of key themes came out of the survey:
  • The need to discuss retirement issues with family members.
  • A number of sensitive and difficult to broach topics have become almost taboo, like when to move to a retirement village or when to downsize the family home, and who will be there in the future to look after and support me?
  • Changing attitudes to inheritance (see below for more detail).
• Other practical concerns related to:
  • Ensuring their nest egg lasts the distance
  • Planning for poor health and death
  • Support from family (see below)
  • 'Eking out' the pension

Attitudes to leaving an inheritance

The survey showed there is a difference in attitude emerging towards inheritance between the younger generation (55 years) compared to the over-65s.

It's much more important for the older generation who see it as a tradition to leave something for their children. It's the 'right' thing to do. However, for 55+ New Zealanders there's an attitude that it would be nice to do but might not happen.

There is also a trend towards supporting children in their younger years with the expectation that there may be less to inherit as a result. For some, it's more important to help children avoid big student loan debts so that the money is of more use now than at some point in the future. It's also common for 50-55 year olds to still be paying to help teenagers and young adults.

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