Nearly 11,000 early KiwiSaver withdrawals in March saw the value withdrawn reach a new monthly high of more than $296 million, with just over half of withdrawals due to financial hardship.
The March dollar value topped the previous high, last November, when the value withdrawn hit $255.3 million.
The number of total early withdrawals in March also hit a record high of 10,990 as KiwiSaver members took out a total of almost $296.7 million. Of the 10,990 early withdrawals, 5610 were for financial hardship, while 5380 were for first home purchases.
By value, first home buyers pulled out a lot more money than those feeling financial hardship. March withdrawals for financial hardship totalled $49.2 million, while the withdrawals for first homes reached $247.47 million.
The figures come from Inland Revenue (IRD), which rounds the number of KiwiSaver fund withdrawals up to the nearest 10.
People usually withdraw money from their KiwiSaver when they reach 65, which is retirement age, but you can also apply for early withdrawals to buy your first house or because of financial hardship.
In March, there were 82,895 savings suspensions, which is when people temporarily stop their contributions. Of those, 1120 stopped because of financial hardship.
As of March, 828,977 members had their accounts closed or chose to opt out of KiwiSaver. Of this, 639,810 members had closed their accounts while 189,167 chose to opt out.
Members usually have their accounts closed because of death, permanently leaving the country, retirement, serious illness or other reasons.
When it came to KiwiSaver schemes, 640,927 people were in default allocated schemes, 207,171 were in employer nominated schemes and 2,589,410 had actively chosen their schemes in March.
At 762,176, the 35 to 44 age demographic had the largest number of KiwiSaver members. The 25 to 34 age category follows with 734,243 members.
During March, 5121 people became active or provisional (you have eight weeks before you can choose to opt out) KiwiSaver members. There are a total of 3,448,750 active or provisional KiwiSaver members, IRD data shows.
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