Care given and received across her life

Hours of care per week. Above the line is unpaid care she gives; below is care she receives, and from whom. Hours are illustrative, based on typical New Zealand patterns.

What she earns each year

Gross earnings in today's dollars, including paid parental leave. The gap opens with her first child and never fully closes: part-time years slow her progression, and returning mothers face an average 4.4% hourly wage penalty.

Her KiwiSaver, from 18 to the end

When she needs residential care

What she pays for rest home care under today's rules and under the changes proposed in the 2026 Ministerial Advisory Group report, based on her KiwiSaver plus other assets when she enters care.

Today: a single person with assets above $300,811 pays the full rest home rate (about $183 a day) until assets fall to the threshold. Proposed: threshold lowered to $100,000, with contributions of 60% of costs for assets of $100,000–$200,000, 80% for $200,000–$350,000 and the maximum above that, and a five-year cap on care contributions. In both cases most of her NZ Super goes towards her care, less a personal allowance of about $57 a week. Rest home level care only; proposals are not law.

How this works and where the numbers come from

The Ministerial Advisory Group's report names who carries the load when family care fills the gaps:

"Growing reliance on family care shifts risk and burden onto whānau, particularly women, Māori, and those with fewer financial resources."

Salary: Stats NZ Quarterly Employment Survey, June 2026 quarter: average weekly earnings for full-time equivalent employees of $1,730. Her salary is this × 52 plus 10% ($98,956), reached at 30 after an early-career ramp from 75%.
Motherhood penalty: Ministry for Women and Motu research found mothers' hourly wages fall 4.4% on returning to work, and 8.3% if they're away more than 12 months. Here, part-time years also slow her pay progression by half or more.
Paid parental leave: up to 26 weeks at up to $811.05 a week from 1 July 2026. Inland Revenue matches her KiwiSaver contributions on parental leave payments.
KiwiSaver: 4% employee and 4% employer contributions (the default from 1 April 2028), employer contributions after ESCT, and the government contribution of 25 cents per dollar up to $260.72 a year.
Living costs in retirement: Massey University Fin-Ed Centre, New Zealand Retirement Expenditure Guidelines 2025 (June 2025 prices, based on Stats NZ Household Economic Survey data). Weekly household spending: one person $705.34 (no frills) or $790.62 (choices) in main cities, and $580.75 or $771.89 provincially; two people $937.38 or $1,780.32 in main cities, and $1,060.65 or $1,243.41 provincially. While she's married she pays half of the two-person figure from her share of the couple's NZ Super. The guidelines cover retirement only; living costs during her working life aren't modelled.
NZ Super: single, living alone, $647.37 a week before tax ($555.15 after tax at the M code); couple, $492.14 each before tax ($427.04 after tax), from 1 April 2026.
Aged care: asset threshold of $300,811 from 1 July 2026, rest home maximum contribution of about $183 a day (2024/25), and proposed contribution settings, all from A place to grow old: Securing the future of aged care, Ministerial Advisory Group, August 2026.
Caring for a husband at home: the report notes carers are often assumed rather than planned for, respite varies across the country, and the Carer Support Subsidy (up to 25 days at $80 a day) doesn't cover a single day of residential respite. While both are over 65, she receives the couple rate of NZ Super ($492.14 a week before tax); once widowed, the single living-alone rate. Anything she inherits from him isn't modelled, so adjust other assets to reflect it.
Simplifications: all figures are in today's dollars; income tax is not modelled except ESCT; the partner earns what she would have without children; other assets and home equity are not split at separation; in-home care charges are not modelled.