retirement.org.nz

Financial attitudes start early in life, as do opportunities to build the basic skills of literacy and numeracy needed to make sound financial decisions.

In schools we are working closely with the Ministry of Education and other agencies to develop a framework for personal financial education which will help teach students money skills for life.

In the tertiary sector we are working with providers and industry training organisations to include financial education as a core part of many tertiary qualifications and pre-employment training. With funding from the Tertiary Education Commission, we are currently developing resources for teaching seven key unit standards.

The Commission is best known to New Zealanders through our free, independent Sorted website and related resources. We continuously enhance Sorted with more information and calculators and extend our range of printed resources to reach more people in the workplace and community.

In 2005, in association with ANZ, we carried out the first national survey of financial knowledge levels of adult New Zealanders. In 2009 we are repeating the survey to find out how those levels have changed over the past four years.

With involvement from many individuals and organisations across the public, private and voluntary sectors, we recently launched New Zealand's National Strategy for Financial Literacy. The strategy sets a direction for improving financial literacy and indicates a range of tactics needed to do this.

The Commission is also working with financial service industry organisations to help them raise the bar on quality of product, service, information and advice.

Under the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act 2001, the Commission is required to review the retirement income policies implemented by Government. In 2007 we completed our first three-yearly review which helps widen our shared understanding of current retirement income policy and where it is heading.

The Commission also has a role in protecting the interests of residents and intending residents of retirement villages by monitoring the Retirement Villages Act 2003.