Each week BusinessDesk and the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's listener questions about KiwiSaver. Hosted by Frances Cook.

KiwiSaver is a funny old thing. You tick yes on a box when you sign up to a job, start chucking some money in with each pay, and after a few years you notice to your surprise that you've built up tens of thousands of dollars. 

It builds up quickly, which is great for our financial future, but can also be worrying when we're not used to having a nest egg this big. 

For many New Zealanders, they hope their KiwiSaver will be a ticket into their first home, or it's their first experience of investing. 

The rules can be confusing though, and there are different ways of running your KiwiSaver to make sure that you're getting the most out of it. 

So I put out the invite – what are the questions you want answered about your KiwiSaver?

The responses flooded in, and frankly, there was too much for just one episode. 

So here's part one of answering all of your burning KiwiSaver questions, including whether it's worth it to join, which fund is best, and why on Earth your money has been falling lately. 

For this podcast, I talked to Dr Claire Matthews, associate professor from Massey Business School.

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. I'm on Facebook here, Instagram here, and Twitter here.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.