Career Break Investment Impact Calculator NZ 2026/27

Quick answer: On the worked example below, pausing $600.00 a month for eighteen months means $10,800.00 of contributions missed and costs $82,983.72 off the final balance, which is 7.68x the money you did not pay in. The same break taken in year twenty-six instead of year one costs only $14,493.91, so when it happens matters more than how long it lasts.

Parental leave, study, travel, time between jobs: most working lives include at least one stretch where regular investing stops. The cost of that gap is routinely underestimated, because the obvious way to think about it is to count the contributions you did not make, and that number is only a fraction of the real figure. A contribution made three decades before you need the money is worth many times its face value by the time you do, so skipping it removes both the dollar and everything it would have earned. This page measures the whole effect. It projects your balance with and without the pause, reports the difference against the contributions actually missed, and expresses the result as a multiple so the compounding is visible rather than implied. It then shows two things that change the answer more than the length of the break does. The first is timing: the same pause taken early in a working life costs several times what it costs taken late, because early dollars have the longest to grow, and if the timing is at all flexible that is where the saving is. The second is the catch-up figure, which is the extra monthly contribution needed afterwards to arrive at the same place. Because those catch-up dollars compound too, it is usually far smaller than the headline cost suggests, and it turns an alarming number into something manageable. None of this argues against taking a break, which is a decision about a life rather than a portfolio.

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Updated  Current 2026/27 rates applied.
This is not an argument against taking a break. Parental leave, study and time out are decisions about a life, and a portfolio figure is one input among many rather than the deciding one. What the calculation is genuinely useful for is knowing the number in advance instead of discovering it later, and seeing that the mitigations are cheaper than the cost: contributing something rather than nothing roughly halves the damage, and moving a flexible break later reduces it further again.
Verification & Methodology
Monthly compounding at the return divided by twelve, with the contribution added at the end of each month.
The balance keeps compounding during the break. Only new contributions stop, which is why the cost is driven by contributions missed rather than by the balance standing still.
Cost = the final balance without the break minus the final balance with it. That captures both the missed dollars and the growth they would have produced.
The multiple = cost / contributions missed. It falls slightly as the break lengthens, because the earliest missed contributions are the ones with the longest left to compound.
Catch-up contribution solves for the extra monthly amount over the remaining months that closes the gap exactly, and those catch-up dollars compound as well, which is why the figure is modest.
The return is a steady annual assumption that no real portfolio delivers, so treat the size of the effect as the output rather than any particular balance.
Excluded: tax, fees and inflation, all of which apply equally to both paths and so do not change the comparison; any employer contribution; and any change in income after the break.
KiwiSaver differs. A savings suspension generally stops employer contributions too, and the annual government contribution depends on what you have paid in during the year, so a KiwiSaver pause costs more than the equivalent pause modelled here.
Not financial advice. Last verified: .
Where you are now
$
$
years
The break
months
years
$
Set above zero if you can keep something going. It reduces the cost proportionally.
The return
% p.a.
$82,983.72
18 months of paused contributions
Contributions missed
$10,800.00
what you did not pay in
Cost multiple
7.68x
the contributions missed
Without the break
$1,218,972.45
after 30 years
Catch-up needed
$76.72
extra a month afterwards

What the break does

Final balance with no break$1,218,972.45
Final balance after the break$1,135,988.73
Cost of the break$82,983.72
Contributions you did not make$10,800.00
Growth those contributions would have earned$72,183.72
Cost as a multiple of contributions missed7.68x

Only about an eighth of the cost is money you did not pay in. The rest is compounding you never received.

How the length of the break changes it

BreakContributions missedFinal balanceCostMultiple
3 months$1,800.00$1,204,531.55$14,440.898.02x
6 months$3,600.00$1,190,340.46$28,631.997.95x
12 months$7,200.00$1,162,690.44$56,282.007.82x
18 months$10,800.00$1,135,988.73$82,983.727.68x
24 months$14,400.00$1,110,202.78$108,769.677.55x
36 months$21,600.00$1,061,253.65$157,718.797.30x

The multiple falls as the break lengthens, because the earliest missed contributions are the ones with the longest left to compound.

When the break happens matters more

Break starts inFinal balanceCostvs taking it nowReading
Year 1$1,135,988.73$82,983.72$0.00The most expensive time
Year 6$1,160,435.31$58,537.13$24,446.59Cheaper by waiting
Year 11$1,177,680.06$41,292.39$41,691.33Cheaper by waiting
Year 16$1,189,844.59$29,127.86$53,855.86Cheaper by waiting
Year 21$1,198,425.51$20,546.94$62,436.78Cheaper by waiting
Year 26$1,204,478.53$14,493.91$68,489.81The cheapest time

The same eighteen months, moved later, costs a fraction as much. Where the timing is genuinely flexible this is worth more than shortening the break.

The Contributions Missed Are The Small Part

Eighteen months of $600.00 is $10,800.00. That is the number people picture, and it is roughly an eighth of the actual cost.

The final balance falls by $82,983.72, because each contribution skipped would have compounded for the remaining decades. The missing $72,183.72 is growth that never happened.

Expressed as a multiple, the break costs 7.68x what you stopped paying in.

Worked Example: An 18 Month Pause

$60,000.00 already invested, contributing $600.00 a month, thirty years to go, at a 7.00% return.

No break: $1,218,972.45.

With an 18 month break starting now: $1,135,988.73.

The difference is $82,983.72, against contributions missed of $10,800.00.

Timing Beats Length

This is the finding worth acting on. The same eighteen month break costs $82,983.72 starting in year one and $14,493.91 starting in year twenty-six.

That is a difference of $68,489.81 for an identical pause, decided purely by when it happens. Early contributions have the longest to compound, so removing them is what does the damage.

Most breaks are not freely schedulable, and parental leave in particular happens when it happens. Where there is genuine flexibility, though, moving a break later is worth considerably more than making it shorter.

A Longer Break Is Slightly Less Bad Per Month

The multiple falls as the break extends: 8.02x at three months, 7.68x at eighteen, 7.30x at thirty-six.

That is not a reason to extend a break. It reflects the same mechanism from the other direction: the first months of a pause remove the contributions with the longest to grow, so each additional month is marginally less costly than the one before it.

The total still rises steeply. Thirty-six months costs $157,718.79.

Contributing Something Beats Contributing Nothing

The cost scales with the contributions actually missed, so the single most effective mitigation is not stopping entirely.

Halving the contribution during the break roughly halves the cost. On a long break early in a working life that is worth tens of thousands of dollars for a change that is often manageable.

The input for this sits in the left panel. Set the contribution during the break above zero and watch the figure move.

The Catch-Up Is Smaller Than The Cost

An $82,983.72 shortfall sounds unrecoverable. Spread across the remaining years, and compounding along the way, the catch-up contribution needed is modest.

The calculator solves for the extra monthly amount that closes the gap exactly. Because those dollars also earn returns for decades, the required increase is a fraction of what the headline number implies.

That is the practical output of this page: not a reason to avoid a break, but a plan for afterwards. Our compound interest calculator shows the same mechanism working in your favour.

KiwiSaver Is Worse Than This

Everything above models an ordinary investment account. A KiwiSaver savings suspension carries two extra costs.

Employer contributions generally stop when yours do, so the money going in falls by more than your own contribution.

The annual government contribution depends on what you have put in during the year, so a suspension can reduce or remove it.

A KiwiSaver pause therefore costs more than the equivalent pause here. Our KiwiSaver calculator covers the scheme mechanics.

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Frequently asked questions

What does a career break cost my investments?

Far more than the contributions you skip. On the worked example an 18-month pause on $600.00 a month means $10,800.00 of contributions missed, and reduces the final balance from $1,218,972.45 to $1,135,988.73, a cost of $82,983.72. That is 7.68 times the money you did not pay in, and the difference is the compounding those dollars would have earned.

Why is the cost so much larger than the contributions missed?

Because a contribution made thirty years before you need it is worth many times its face value by the time you do. Skipping it removes both the dollar and everything it would have earned. The multiple depends almost entirely on how long the money had left to grow, which is why the same break costs so much more early in a working life than late.

Does the timing of a break matter more than the length?

Often, yes. On the worked example the same 18-month break costs $82,983.72 if it starts in year one and $14,493.91 if it starts in year twenty-six, a difference of nearly six times. If the timing is genuinely flexible, moving a break later is worth more than shortening it.

Does a longer break cost proportionally more?

Slightly less than proportionally, which surprises people. On the worked example a 3-month break costs 8.02 times the contributions missed and a 36-month break costs 7.30 times. The multiple falls because the earliest missed dollars are the ones with the longest to compound, so each additional month of pause is a little less damaging than the one before.

Should I avoid taking a career break?

That is not what this calculation says. Parental leave, study and time out are decisions about a life, not a portfolio, and the figure here is one input among many. What it does show is that the cost is larger than it looks, that it is worth knowing before rather than after, and that small mitigations, such as contributing something rather than nothing, are worth more than they appear.

How much extra do I need to contribute to catch up?

Less than the headline cost implies, because the catch-up contributions also compound. The calculator works out the additional monthly amount needed over the remaining years to reach the same final balance. Because that figure is spread across decades it is usually modest, and knowing it turns an alarming number into a manageable plan.

Does this apply to KiwiSaver?

The same arithmetic applies, and KiwiSaver has extra consequences a pause triggers. Employer contributions generally stop when your own do, and the annual government contribution depends on how much you have put in during the year. A KiwiSaver savings suspension is therefore more costly than the equivalent pause in an ordinary account.

Is contributing a smaller amount better than stopping?

Materially better, and the calculation shows why. The cost scales with the contributions actually missed, so halving your contribution during a break costs roughly half as much as stopping entirely. For a long break early in a working life, keeping something going is one of the highest-value adjustments available.