Jane Wrightson: How Motherhood Impacts Your Retirement Savings

In this episode, I chat with Jane Wrightson, New Zealand’s Retirement Commissioner, to unpack how motherhood impacts women’s long-term financial security.Jane shares her personal experience of becoming a mother in the 1990s without paid parental leave and highlights how policies like KiwiSaver, superannuation, and workplace flexibility directly shape women’s financial futures.From the gender pay gap to the retirement savings gap, she explains why even short breaks from the workforce have long-lasting effects, and what families, employers, and policymakers can do to change the system.This candid conversation blends policy insights, practical advice, and big-picture thinking about how to value caregiving and create fairer systems for mothers in Aotearoa.If you’ve ever wondered how career breaks, flexible work, and financial planning intersect with gender equity, this episode will give you both clarity and a call to action.We speak about:· Why the motherhood penalty shows up in retirement savings· How KiwiSaver contributions (or the lack of them) compound over time· The importance of agency and open conversations with employers, partners, and whānau· What employers can do to reduce inequity and close the pay gap· Why NZ Super is a feminist issue and what changes Jane believes would make a real differenceConnect with EmmaThis podcast was funded and created by Emma Mclean, the founder of Works for Everyone.Emma Mclean is a mum of three and founder of Works for Everyone, a professional development business that partners with NZ's leading corporates to help them retain and grow their working parent talent. She does this through innovative leadership programmes, executive coaching and keynote speaking. She founded her business in 2019 following a 20-year career in corporate strategy where she experienced first-hand how hard it was to have a career and a family.As an impatient optimist when it comes to system change, she launched her successful podcast “How to Smash the Motherhood Penalty” in 2023 where she talks to humans who are actively working to change the system that creates financial penalties that only mothers pay. And in 2024 she launched the first NZ Part Time Power List – to shine a light on those senior roles in NZ that are career building, not side stepping." To work with Emma or enquire about speaking – [email protected] www.worksforeveryone.co.nz https://www.instagram.com/worksforeveryone/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-mclean-9176217/