Sad news today about former Finance Minister, Sir Michael Cullen. Unlike most politicians from both the left and right, he leaves huge legacies. He was a founder of the NZ Super Fund and also the hugely popular Kiwi Saver scheme. This blog supports saving schemes to help fund not only retirement, but also the health needs, of individuals.
Sir Michael, right up to the end, wrote extraordinarily perceptive articles in the media on matters related to economics and finance. He was the very best kind of politician. One who gave issues a great deal of thought, was very smart and set up schemes, like the above ones, that were not about boosting short-term popularity, but about achieving good outcomes for the country over the longer-term. He also had a profound social conscience and wanted to design policies to help everyone, not special interest lobby groups.
Maybe one day everybody in this country will have a KiwiSaver account that will help them build their own wealth, even those on the lowest of incomes. Such an achievement would help alleviate poverty, reduce inequality, as well as increase investment, which would, in my opinion, continue Sir Michael's legacy and be true to it.
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