When you start working, no matter what you are doing or where you are living, one of the first things that come to mind is how to best layout your retirement plan. And the minute you start thinking about retirement, doubts about how to best pick a retirement fund. After all, it’s your money and you want to retire with a solid backing but you don’t want to risk too much.

But there lies the rub, doesn’t it? How do you know how to best select a retirement fund? Do you want one that maximizes returns but poses a greater risk? Or would you pick a package that offers “safer” investments but slower growth?

To answer all these questions, you may want to check kiwisaver, a website from the New Zealand Government, aiming to help people pick a retirement plan that best suits their goals, taking current each one’s work and personal situation (age, for instance) into account to suggest the best package for them.

The tool is really slick, with plenty of information to guide people through the process, and using AJAX UI elements to make the selection process quick and easy to navigate. After asking for some data, the tool will display the fund that best matches your situation and retirement goals, with links to the providers that offer such plans.

This process takes only a few minutes and once you’re done, you can start your application at one of the providers’ sites. One of the coolest things is the provider-comparison chart, where average returns/growth figures and features are displayed side-by-side so that you have all the information you need. A must see.