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At the age of 26, Callum Eloff already has a devoted partner, a gorgeous young son and a large student loan. Like most people his age he's still renting, and despite the current property slump, doesn't expect to be buying a house any time soon.

Yet he's fairly confident he'll be financially fit in his old age.

"I want to do lots of travelling, so hopefully by then I'll have a few investments. I'm already in KiwiSaver, so I definitely won't just be relying on New Zealand Super," he muses.

Such is the optimism of youth. Not that you could exactly describe Eloff as an optimist. Like many 20-somethings, the IT worker is not particularly impressed with the economic legacy older New Zealanders have bequeathed him.

His generation, he notes, are not only having to spend a much greater portion of their income on a house they can call their own, they are also having to contribute to the cost of their own education, and are being encouraged to save for their own retirement.

Okay, so they're not having to hand over 66 per cent of their incomes in tax either, but Eloff is nevertheless planning to move overseas at some point, convinced the much higher salaries his mates are still enjoying in London will be the answer to his money problems, in the short term at least.

At this stage he doesn't expect to stay away forever, and for that reason today's baby boomers should be grateful. Because, boy, are we going to need his taxes.

As a journalist, I feel duty-bound to disclose my personal interest in Eloff's earning potential.

I have recently turned 43, which by some definitions makes me the very last of New Zealand's baby boomers. It has been estimated that by the time I am eligible to collect NZ Super, possibly in 2031, there will be one superannuitant for every three other people in this country - up from one for every seven other people at present.

In other words - as we have all been warned for many years now - the number of superannuitants will roughly double in this country over the next few decades. Meanwhile, the proportion of people working and paying taxes will dramatically shrink.

Despite the advent of KiwiSaver and what has become known as the Cullen Fund, superannuation then, as it is now, is likely to be largely a pay-as-you-go scheme - in other words, it is our children, not ourselves, who will be paying for our pensions.

Despite the insistence from politicians and some academics that there is no need to panic about this potential demographic doomsday, I have to admit I am just a tiny bit nervous. And if I were Ellof, I'd be slightly worried too.

The NZ Superannuation Fund, set up by former Labour Finance Minister Michael Cullen in 2001 to help smooth the future cost of superannuation, was expected to begin contributing to super payments from 2027. That is now likely to be around 2031, after