In 2000, Stats NZ recorded 1.4 million taxable income sources for New Zealanders aged 60 to 64. By 2024, that number had nearly doubled to 2.6 million.

But here's the thing: we don't have 2.6 million people in that age bracket. We have roughly 350,000.

These aren't population counts. They're income streams. And the gap between those two numbers tells the story of how New Zealand's pre-retirement years have transformed over the past quarter-century.

Each of those 2.6 million entries represents a taxable income source: wages, rental properties, investments, self-employment, part-time work. One person might show up three or four times. Someone working part-time while renting out a property and drawing dividends from shares? That's three income sources right there.

In 2000, the average 60-64 year old had about four income sources showing up in the tax data. Today, it's closer to seven. We've become a nation of portfolio workers in our pre-retirement years, patching together income from multiple places instead of relying on a single salary.

The acceleration started after the Global Financial Crisis. In 2008, there were 1.8 million income sources for this age group. By 2015, it hit 2 million. The growth never stopped. Through COVID, through the cost-of-living crisis, through every economic shock of the past decade, the number kept climbing.

Part of this is people working longer. Superannuation doesn't kick in until 65, and KiwiSaver balances don't go as far as they used to. But it's also about diversification. The generation now hitting their sixties watched their parents' generation retire on a single pension and a paid-off house. They know that's not an option anymore.

So they're building safety nets out of smaller income streams. A bit of consulting work here. Some rental income there. Maybe a small business on the side. The tax data captures every piece of it.

Between 2020 and 2024 alone, income sources for this age group grew by nearly 300,000. That's 75,000 new income streams per year, during a period when the actual population in this age bracket grew by maybe 30,000 people total.

This isn't just about working longer. It's about working differently. The taxable income data is tracking a generation that's rewriting what the approach to 65 looks like: not a cliff edge, but a gradual unwinding of multiple income threads, each one a small hedge against an uncertain retirement.

We started the century with people in their early sixties having four ways to earn money. We're ending the first quarter with them having seven. That's not a data quirk. That's a structural shift in how New Zealanders fund the final years before superannuation.

(Source: Stats NZ, taxable-income-sources)