Kiwis take action to keep their finances sorted

Friday 22 August 2008

Kiwis take action to get and keep their finances sorted

Kiwis are increasingly turning to sorted.org.nz New Zealand’s free independent money guide, run by the Retirement Commission. It’s full of calculators and information to help manage personal finances throughout life.

Since sorted.org.nz was launched in 2001 there have been nearly five million unique visitors to the website. Each of those visits represents someone accessing information for more than five minutes.

The Budgeting, Mortgage repayment and Quick KiwiSaver calculators are the most popular parts of the website.

Retirement Commissioner Diana Crossan says visitor numbers have been steadily increasing over the past few years to more than 100,000 each month. A Nielsen survey last year of Sorted users showed that eight in ten adult users took some sort of action with their personal finances as a result of visiting the site.

“There are a number of reasons why more and more people are using Sorted. I think the current economic downturn has prompted people to focus on how they spend their money, and how they can make better use of it.

“The introduction of KiwiSaver just over a year ago has also put the spotlight on the need for people to understand what their options are and what form of savings best suits them,” said Diana Crossan. Nearly 800,000 people have used Sorted’s KiwiSaver decision making resources.

There are 32 interactive calculators on sorted.org.nz and since 2001 New Zealanders have made nearly 16 million calculations. There are also a number of free Sorted booklets based on the website. More than 200,000 have been distributed throughout New Zealand in the past eighteen months.

“These figures show us that our message about the need for everyone to understand money issues is getting through. Our aim is to help provide people with the information they need, at all stages in life, to make informed financial decisions.

“There’s clearly more work to be done which is why we need to continually promote sorted.org.nz as the place New Zealanders can go to for independent information,” said Diana Crossan. A new Sorted promotion aimed at encouraging even more New Zealanders to get financially sorted was launched today.

Sorted has won numerous awards including the Net Guide People’s Choice for Best Finance Site three times, in 2002, 2004 and 2007 and is consistently in the Top 5 New Zealand government websites.

ENDS

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