According to a list I compiled earlier, 11 KiwiSaver providers volunteered for default duty but only nine were approved by the government last week.

Q: We are a couple in our early 30s who own a rental house and live in a rental too. We have been paying as much as possible off our mortgage and now find ourselves in a position where we are making a profit (taxable) on the rental property.

I pay into a standard KiwiSaver scheme (3 per cent me, 2 per cent employer), the ASB KiwiSaver provider.

We're increasingly becoming a nation of renters with less than half of us now owning our own place, Census data shows.

The latest Reserve Bank managed fund statistics reinforce two important features of our investment markets.

The National government is once more coming under pressure to lift the retirement age, this time from coalition partner, the Act Party, writes David Chaplin.

When weighing the pros and cons of owning your own home, the sense of security is important for parents, writes Mary Holm.

Kiwis face the prospect of a retirement income that meets only basic needs unless more changes are made to KiwiSaver, Mercer warns.

Asked about the KiwiSaver myths he has heard most often, Mercer's NZ managing director Martin Lewington comes up with five off the top of his head.

New Zealanders who get into financial difficulty may have their KiwiSaver nest eggs plundered by bureaucrats to settle their debts.

When ANZ surveyed KiwiSavers midway through last year it found a third of those questioned didn't know how much they had stashed away.

KiwiSavers should give some thought in the holiday season to their accounts and goals for the year to come, writes Helen Twose.

If you have a spare $50 in your pay cheque at the end of the week and think it's not enough to bother saving, think again.

With the removal of the tax exemption in 2012 on the employer component of KiwiSaver contributions, the govt sneakily increased its tax-take without many people noticing, writes David Chaplin.

I'm considering signing my kids up for KiwiSaver, in part to get the $1000 kickstart but will also make regular contributions.

A third of people don't know what type of fund their KiwiSaver money is in, according to a survey by the country's largest provider.

Key things to consider when choosing where to save include risks, time to retirement, disclosure and fees.

Simply withdrawing savings in regular amounts carries the risk that the money might run out before you do.

KiwiSaver is described on the www.kiwisaver.govt.nz website as a "voluntary, work-based savings initiative".