Property Investment
4 min read
Author: Andrew Nicol
Founder, 20+ Years' Experience Investing In Property, Author & Host
I analysed 4,381 real retirement plans to understand what Kiwis actually want (and why they invest in property).
These are REAL financial plans that Kiwis have created with an Opes financial adviser over the last two years.
And this lets you peer inside the minds (and wallets) of property investors … to find out why Kiwis truly invest in property.
Here are the top 5 learnings that stood out 👇
Read the full What Investors Want report here.
Almost half of the investors we analysed want to retire before 65. One in four investors plans to retire at 59 or younger.
The interesting thing is, the younger you are … the more ambitious you get.
The median person under 30 wants to retire at 55.
Those aged 30-39 aim for 60.
And 40-49-year-olds aim for 65 on average.
Property investors aren’t trying to live like kings.
The median household that creates a plan earns around $201,000 a year. That’s above the $139,000 average in New Zealand (according to Stats NZ).
But here’s where it gets interesting. The typical retirement plan targets roughly $100,000 a year of spending.
In other words, they’re aiming to retire on about half their pre-tax working income.
But you do see a lot of what I call “round-number retirement”.
The most common retirement spending goals are (in order):
That $100,000 target isn't miles away from what independent research suggests some retirees spend.
Massey University's 2025 Retirement Expenditure Guidelines put a “choices” lifestyle at about $92,500 a year. That’s for a couple living in one of the cities.
I also analysed the goals New Zealanders wrote.
Of those who gave highly detailed goals, 57% mentioned travel.
But often “travel” isn't really about sitting on a beach in Fiji.
It's about seeing family and friends who have moved around the world.
It’s when your kid moves to London on an OE, then ends up marrying a Brit. Suddenly, your grandchildren are growing up on the other side of the world.
Now you want to fly over regularly without worrying about what else you have to sacrifice at the supermarket to pay for it.
One investor put it perfectly: “We don’t want to be the richest people in the graveyard. We want to enjoy our lives. We’re not wanting to be land barons.”
Property isn't the goal. The life it can help pay for is.
For the median retirement plan, roughly:
That leaves around $38,000 a year that needs to come from somewhere else.
We call that the Wealth Gap. It’s the difference between the retirement you want. And the retirement you’re on track to have.
And 92% of the people who come through our doors have one.
But having a Wealth Gap doesn't mean you’re doomed.
It means that if you keep doing exactly what you’re doing today, your current investments probably won’t fully fund the retirement you want.
That’s where investment property comes in.
Back in the day, people at seminars told me I needed 10 properties to be comfortable financially.
Across the plans I analysed, most needed 2-4 investment properties.
The median was 3. Fewer than 1% of plans involve 10 or more.
Of course, 3 investment properties isn’t the right number for everyone.
But that's the point. Investors aren't collecting properties for property’s sake.
They're using property to help fill that $38,000-a-year Wealth Gap.
The median investor is 41 years old, and their plan runs for 20 years. Half of investors are aged 35-50.
Property investment isn't usually a last-minute scramble before retirement.
It's a mid-career decision made with roughly 20 years of runway.
So, start at 35 and 20 years means you might retire at 55.
Start at 45. You might retire at 65.
Start at 50, and you’ve got less time to make the numbers work. But you might aim to still retire at 65.
That’s why younger investors can afford to be more ambitious about retiring early.
They’ve got more time.
I think that’s the key takeaway from all 4,381 plans: The earlier you start the clock on that 20-year plan, the earlier you may be able to quit work for good.
Want to join these 4,381 people and create your own retirement plan? Book a free Portfolio Planning Session with an Opes financial adviser here.
If you want to dig into all 4,381 plans, you can read the full What Investors Want report here.
Founder, 20+ Years' Experience Investing In Property, Author & Host
Andrew Nicol, Managing Director at Opes Partners, is a seasoned financial adviser and property investment expert with 20+ years of experience. With 40 investment properties, he hosts the Property Academy Podcast, co-authored 'Wealth Plan' with Ed Mcknight, and has helped 1,894 Kiwis achieve financial security through property investment.
This article is for your general information. It’s not financial advice. See here for details about our Financial Advice Provider Disclosure. So Opes isn’t telling you what to do with your own money.
We’ve made every effort to make sure the information is accurate. But we occasionally get the odd fact wrong. Make sure you do your own research or talk to a financial adviser before making any investment decisions.
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