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As we enter yet another round of the superannuation debate, I note it was led off last week by a group that wanted what they termed a \u201ctop up\u201c, i.e. a pay rise for those who couldn\u2019t save.\xa0

You can see how fraught that concept is from the get go.\xa0

Why couldn\u2019t you save? You had 40 years. Actually, that\u2019s another aspect of this whole mess that\u2019s changed.\xa0

Do you have 40 years? Or 50 years? People work longer so surely a chance to save more?\xa0

Superannuation fits an almost unique category of topics that is so entrenched it won't change.\xa0

It\u2019s a futile exercise. A few bring it up, only to be beaten down by the time-honoured belief that, for whatever reason, if you get to 65 you are owed something by the state if you paid your taxes.\xa0

Of course, your taxes have been well and truly spent. For most people, whatever you handed over is long gone and in that is one of the great sadnesses of the New Zealand economic story.\xa0

We have very few net creditors, but a lot of net debtors.\xa0

People who actually pay more to the system than take from it are rare indeed.\xa0

When I started work in 1982, I took out a scheme whereby if you put a few dollars a week aside you would become a millionaire by the time you got to 60. I had completely forgotten about it, mainly because I stopped paying because I worked out it was bollocks.\xa0

I was reminded the other night when a text came through from an old girlfriend who had, when we were together, taken out her own but had stuck with it.\xa0

40 years later she was to collect $106,000.\xa0

Not quite a millionaire and not really a stunning return on investment.\xa0

But what I had worked out all those years ago was the Government were not to be part of my retirement. Why would they be?\xa0

Governments let you down. Governments change rules and have their own interests at heart, not yours.\xa0

So I sorted myself. Am I lucky? Not really.\xa0

Did I work hard? Yes.\xa0

Do I care what the retirement age is? No.\xa0

Do I care what the rules are? No.\xa0

That\u2019s the value of charting your own course and not being beholden to overlords.\xa0

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