I'll have to admit i'm not in a NZ position to invest in Kiwi Saver as my wife would be. Fortunately my father lives abroad where we can manage our investments jointly. So our NZ household savings take a different path ; which i've strongly advised the wife not to join Kiwi Saver. If there were prospecting shares (or managed funds) in NZ that would be attractive, we would of done so. But for the past 15+ years, we've pretty much done better by simply buying none other than "Berkshire Hathaway".

Most people in NZ have never heard of the company. They don't even know who Warren Buffet is. But time and time again Buffet has said you're playing a fools game if you can time markets when to buy or sell or know when to be in cash or bonds (hence the behaviour actively managed funds practice). He says, "That's not how you get rich in this industry... you can't tell your clients to go put their $ in the index fund because how else would they (the financial advisors) get paid? .. That's not how the system works".

For long term returns I'd recommend interest.co.nz who publish comparisons every so often.

https://www.interest.co.nz/kiwisaver...ket-volatility
From a performance point of view, tt's a shame that the default Kiwi Saver funds 'net of fees' isn't doing any better than what the banks pay in term deposit. Of course, interest income is taxed at marginal tax rates but on a cumulative basis it might be very comparable? I recall during the Hanover Finance era banks were paying over 9% on term deposits.