KiwiSaver Savings Suspension Impact Calculator NZ

This calculator shows what pausing your KiwiSaver with a savings suspension really costs in New Zealand, both the contributions you skip while paused and what that money would have grown to by retirement. A savings suspension lets you stop contributing for a set period once you have been a member for at least twelve months, which can be a useful release valve when money is tight, because your contribution stops coming out of your pay. But it is not free: while you are paused, your employer stops contributing too, so you miss both your own money and your employer's match, and you also lose all the investment growth those amounts would have earned over the years until you retire. That lost growth is the part people overlook, and over a long horizon it dwarfs the contributions themselves. You enter your salary, your contribution rate, your employer's rate, the number of months you would pause, the years until retirement and the return you expect, and the calculator works out the contributions missed and their value at retirement. Use it to see the true cost before pausing, and to compare a short pause against a longer one. A suspension can still be the right call under genuine pressure, but going in with eyes open matters. Returns vary; this is a projection, not advice.

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$14,223
value lost at retirement from pausing
Contributions missed$4,200
Includes employer$2,100

Counts your and your employer's contributions for the pause, grown to retirement at your return. Returns vary and are not guaranteed. Projection only, not advice.

How it works

The monthly contribution missed is your salary divided by 12, times your rate plus the employer rate. Multiplied by the months paused, that is the total contributions missed. The value lost at retirement is that amount grown at your expected return over the years to retirement, as a lump sum that would otherwise have been compounding.

Worked example

On a 60,000 dollar salary at 3.5 percent plus 3.5 percent employer, pausing for 12 months skips about 4,200 dollars of contributions. Grown at 5 percent over 25 years, that is roughly 14,223 dollars less in your KiwiSaver at retirement.

Related calculators

Data sources: the rates and thresholds on this page are maintained against Inland Revenue. Figures are checked twice monthly.

Frequently asked questions

What is a KiwiSaver savings suspension?

A savings suspension lets you pause your KiwiSaver contributions for a set period once you have been a member for 12 months. While paused, neither you nor your employer contributes, so nothing goes into your account during that time.

What does pausing cost me?

You miss your own contributions and your employer's matching contributions for the pause, and you lose the growth those amounts would have earned over the years to retirement. The longer the pause and the longer until retirement, the bigger the cost.

When does a suspension make sense?

It can provide breathing room during genuine financial pressure, freeing up the contribution from your pay. But weigh it against the lost employer money and growth. A short pause costs far less than a long one.