Each week, BusinessDesk and the NZ Herald’s Cooking the Books podcast tackle a different money problem. Today, it’s how to check if your KiwiSaver is working as hard for you as it should be. Hosted by Frances Cook.

It’s the things we know we should do, but never quite get around to, that can be killers in the money world.

So I winced, but wasn’t all the surprised, when new research rolled across my desk showing that ignoring your KiwiSaver could mean you have $88,000 less in there by the time you retire.

That’s from the new KiwiSaver Value for Money report, from National Capital.

Even if you’ve figured out what type of fund you should be in, such as growth or conservative, different providers can give you a better return.

Sticking with a provider that isn’t doing so well could cost you big time, or in this case, an average of $88,000.

Retirement can feel so far away that it’s easy to ignore - you tell yourself you’ll get around to it soon.

Then there’s a panic on at the finish line when you realise you’ve run out of time to make the easy changes that could have saved you tens of thousands of dollars.

The good news is that it can be quite easy to make a few tweaks to your KiwiSaver, then sit back and reap the rewards.

For the latest podcast, I talked to National Capital director Clive Fernandes.For the interview, listen to the podcast here.

If you have a question about this podcast, or a question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it.

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