People who have thought about their retirement savings target are the most confident of achieving the retirement lifestyle they want, according to ANZs latest Retirement Savings Confidence Barometer released today.

The quarterly survey asked 825 people if they are saving for retirement, how much weekly income they would like in addition to New Zealand Superannuation when they retire, and how confident they are about reaching the lump sum they need to achieve their savings goal.

"Only 29 per cent of respondents had looked into their savings goals before taking part in our survey. Of these people who have previously considered their target, 65 per cent were confident," said John Body, Managing Director ANZ Wealth and Private Banking, New Zealand.

Among those who have never previously considered the figure they are saving towards only 40 per cent said they were confident of reaching their goals.

"The results show a strong correlation between having a savings target and being confident of attaining the lifestyle you want in retirement."

Mr Body said attitudes to retirement savings have improved markedly with the introduction of KiwiSaver. "In this survey, just 5 per cent of respondents said they intended to live solely on their NZ Superannuation payments."

A third of those surveyed are not currently saving towards their retirement and in this quarter these people were also asked how confident they are of reaching their goals.

People who are not saving were asked if they expected to have an extra source of retirement income from selling their home, their business, owning an investment property or receiving an inheritance. 29 per cent of respondents without a savings scheme expect to fund most of their retirement income from these other sources.

More than half of those not currently in a savings scheme indicated they are putting off saving until a later date.

The overall savings confidence of all those who plan to have an additional income on top of NZ Superannuation remains less than half, at 47 per cent.

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Most NZers have not considered their retirement savings goal