Is your KiwiSaver account working as hard for you as it should?

If it’s time to make sure everything is in order, here are five things you can do to ensure it is operating at full strength.

Check what type of fund you’re in

The first and probably most important consideration is the type of fund you are in.

Very broadly, the longer you have until you need the money, the more risk you should probably take with your KiwiSaver investments.

If you’re going to buy a house next year and you need all your money for a deposit, you should probably be in a conservative fund.

But if you have 40 years until you retire, you’ll probably get the best results in a growth or aggressive fund.

That’s because funds that invest predominantly in riskier assets generally deliver better returns over time, but they can move around a lot.

You might find that your balance is down when you come to withdraw it.

In the 10 years to June, according to Morningstar, on average conservative KiwiSaver funds had delivered 4.2 per cent a year, balanced funds 6.6 per cent, growth 8.3 per cent and aggressive 8.7 per cent.

A 25-year-old starting out in KiwiSaver, earning about the median annual income of $62,000 a year and contributing 3 per cent of their income, matched by an employer.

In a balanced fund, they could save about $240,000 by 65, if they did not withdraw anything for a first home.

Being in an aggressive fund could add $120,000 to their final total, without changing the amount they had to contribute themselves.

Check what you’re contributing

Do you know how much you’re contributing?

If you haven’t made an active selection, you’re probably putting in 3 per cent.

If you’re employed it’s also worth checking whether your employer is paying their 3 per cent in addition to your normal salary, or as part of it.

It has become common for employers to offer “total packages”, where the employer contribution comes out of the total salary offered.

That means they offer, for example, a salary package of $100,000 and if you are a KiwiSaver member, $3000 of that goes to your account.

There may not be anything you can do to change this, but you could bring it up at your next remuneration review.

If you’re not working, try to put in at least $1042 a year by June, to get the maximum government contribution of $521 a year.

Check what you’re on track to achieve

Next you’ll need to work out whether that contribution is likely to give you enough.

Massey University research estimated that a single person living a “choices” lifestyle in a metropolitan centre would need to have saved $824,000 to make up the difference between what the pension would provide and what they would need.

A two-person household in the same area would need to have saved $969,000, or just under $485,000 each.

A two-person “no-frills” retirement in a metropolitan area would need $235,000.

You can use a KiwiSaver provider’s calculator to check whether the amount you’re putting in is likely to get you to the sort of sum you might need in retirement.

Everyone has different ideas of what they want retirement to be like, and how much that might cost.

You’ll also know what other investments you might have, or whether you might be willing to work longer to cover any shortfall.

Investigate what your money is going into

Responsible investment has gone mainstream in recent years, and a lot of people might be quite surprised at the idea that people haven’t always thought a lot about whether their investments were funding activities they might not personally agree with.

If you have things you really would not want your investment to be funding – maybe fossil fuel extraction, gambling, human rights abuses, tobacco… the list goes on - you can check what your KiwiSaver manager invests in to make sure your fund aligns.

You can ask your provider for a list of the companies that your fund is invested in, or use a tool like Mindful Money.

Schedule an annual reminder

Set a calendar reminder in a year to prompt you to check in again and make sure that everything is still appropriate for your needs, and that you’re still on track.

There’s no point moving providers for the sake of it, and you usually won’t be well served by changing funds because of a market downturn, but it’s a good idea to take an active interest in what is likely to be a significant part of your retirement picture.