Think about whether you like your provider or not, and if you don’t, maybe you should think about switching.

That’s because the government has just trimmed its default providers down to six and there’s going to be a reshuffle.

This affects you if you’re still in a default fund (where you were put automatically when you joined) and if you’re with one of these providers:

• ANZ
• AMP
• ASB
• Fisher Funds
• Mercer

They’ve all lost their default status. Not only will they not automatically receive new members any more, but they’ll also lose any customers who are still in their default funds and have never made an active choice.

These people will be reallocated to the newly appointed six funds.

If you’re with one of those five, they’ll be trying to get you to stay in one of their other funds. And maybe they’re great, and you want to.

But if you’re not sure, now’s the time to look around. There are three main ways to compare funds – by Fees, Services and Returns.

The easiest way to do this at a glance is to look at the Sorted KiwiSaver Fund Finder, https://fundfinder.sorted.org.nz/.

A good thing about default funds is that from December 1 they’re all ‘balanced funds’ – part-conservative/part-growth – so you can expect a better return over time than the previous profile for default funds.

Before, default funds were ‘conservative’ funds – so they were less risky but slower-growing.

You’re free to choose from more than 20 funds, covering all levels of risk and return, services, and fund managers, both passive (following an index) or active (more buying and selling).

For some tips, see this great JUNO story by Binu Paul.