Making Cents

Frances Cook shares the ten money lessons she wishes she'd known at 20, including the mindset shifts, small habits, and easy wins that made the biggest difference to her financial life. Follow me everywhere! Facebook / Frances Cook - Journalist Instagram / Frances | Money | Investing (@francescooknz) • Instagram profile TikTok / Frances Cook on TikTok Join the Money Memo newsletter for a free week...

It's one thing to build financial stability, it's another to actually let yourself enjoy it. In this Ask the Experts episode, Frances Cook is joined by Katie Wesney from Enable Me to unpack a problem that's more common than you'd think: what happens when the scarcity mindset that helped you build financial security starts working against you? A listener wrote in with a $5 million net worth, and ge...

What does it actually cost to walk away from a successful career and build something that matters? Ali Mau is one of New Zealand's most recognised television faces, including Breakfast, Fair Go, Seven Sharp, One News. She was also made redundant five times along the way. Instead of treating each setback as a dead end, she used them as clarity. Now in her sixties, she’s co-founded Tika, a tech-for-...

With six in ten Kiwis making impulse purchases from social media every month, Frances Cook joins the TVNZ Breakfast team to explain the manipulative tactics behind online shopping and how to take back control of your spending. Follow me everywhere! Facebook / Frances Cook - Journalist Instagram / Frances | Money | Investing (@francescooknz) • Instagram profile TikTok / Frances Cook on TikTok Join...

Financial freedom is a series of levels, and once you understand them, the whole thing stops feeling impossible and starts feeling like a plan. In this solo episode of Making Cents, Frances Cook breaks down the five levels of financial freedom, from knowing your numbers for the first time, to the point where work becomes genuinely optional. Each level builds on the last. Each one makes the next on...

You know what you should be doing with your money. So why aren't you doing it? You know you should ask for the raise. Start investing. Stop spending on things you don't care about. And yet, somehow, you don't. Counsellor and change therapist Charlotte Cummings has a name for what's stopping you, and it's not laziness or lack of discipline. It's your unbearable feeling. In this episode, Frances Coo...

The war in Iran is already moving mortgage rates, and it's not done yet. Interest rates are moving, and this will change everything with your money. Beyond the mortgage, it’s also your savings, your investments, and even your job. So what's actually happening, and what should you do about it? Frances Cook is joined by Massey University’s Christoph Schumacher and EnableMe financial coach Katie Wesn...

The New Zealand property market is shifting, and the latest data from http://realestate.co.nz tells us exactly how. In just the last three months, sellers dropped their prices enough for a total of $54 million to be wiped off asking prices across New Zealand. But strangely, it could be good news, as it’s slowing from previous falls. So are we at a turning point? In this episode of Making Cents Ask...

Made redundant in your 50s? It might just be the start of something. After decades as one of New Zealand's most recognised news presenters, Wendy Petrie was made redundant from the 6pm news. No warning, no plan B, just the sudden reality of starting over at a stage of life when most people assume the big career moves are behind them. So she bought a business. Built it from the ground up. And figur...

With warnings that interest rates are heading up fast and soon, Frances Cook joins the TVNZ Breakfast team to break down what mortgage holders can do to avoid the squeeze. Follow me everywhere! Facebook / Frances Cook - Journalist Instagram / Frances | Money | Investing (@francescooknz) • Instagram profile TikTok / Frances Cook on TikTok Join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip i...

Petrol is up 43%. Diesel has nearly doubled. But the financial damage from the Iran war goes way deeper than what you're paying at the pump, and a lot of it is already locked in, whether there's a ceasefire or not. In this episode, Frances Cook breaks down exactly what this means for your groceries, your mortgage, your job, and your KiwiSaver. And most importantly, what you can actually do about i...

Your personal brand could be the most powerful, yet overlooked, career tool you have. Marketing expert Stanley Henry, founder of The Attention Seeker, believes everyone from tradies, to career professionals, to business owners, build visibility online. And when they do, they attract opportunities, and earn more, even without going viral or becoming a full-time content creator. Stanley specialises...

Five clever ways to live the good life without blowing the budget, because cutting lattes isn't the only answer. A replay of Frances Cook's column for Stuff.co.nz, read here with permission. Follow me everywhere! Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookNZ Instagram / https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz TikTok / https://www.tiktok.com/@francescooknz Join the Money Memo newsletter for a f...

Property vs shares. It’s one a big investing decision, and also an easy one to get stuck on. In this Ask the Experts episode, we’re tackling a question that comes up all the time: should you invest in property or the sharemarket? Frances Cook is joined by Katie Wesney from EnableMe to break down the real differences between property investing and sharemarket investing. We get into: – Is property s...

She used to think she was “bad with money.” Now she’s a confident, and unapologetically unconventional, investor. In this episode of Making Cents , Sophie Hallwright, co-founder of The Curve, is ready to unpack the messy path from financial self-doubt to building real confidence with money. Before helping thousands of women learn about investing, Sophie learned the hard way. This conversation digs...

With power prices and fuel costs climbing, Frances Cook joins the TVNZ Breakfast team to break down who solar panels and electric vehicles actually make sense for and how to run the numbers yourself. Follow me everywhere! Facebook / Frances Cook - Journalist Instagram / Frances | Money | Investing (@francescooknz) • Instagram profile TikTok / Frances Cook on TikTok Join the Money Memo newsletter f...

A breakup doesn’t just end a relationship. It can blow up the entire financial plan you built together. For many people in their 40s and 50s, that means suddenly having to make huge money decisions alone, about the house, retirement, and what rebuilding your life actually looks like from here. In this episode of Ask the Experts, Will White from Heartland Bank is in the hot seat to help a listener...

You can cancel subscriptions, ditch takeaway coffee, and trim your budget… but you still have to eat. And the way most of us shop for food? It’s costing us more than it should. In this episode of Making Cents, Frances Cook talks to Michal Garvey, founder of Foodprint, the app that’s redirected millions of dollars’ worth of surplus food from cafés and restaurants into the hands of everyday Kiwis, a...

I spent $89,000 on solar power and an electric car… and it has a better return on investment than the sharemarket. With electricity prices rising fast, more Kiwis are asking whether solar panels, home batteries, and electric vehicles are worth it. So in this episode of the Making Cents podcast, I break down exactly what happened when I overhauled my home energy setup, including the real costs, the...

A conflict in the Middle East is already showing up in Kiwi bank accounts, after sending shockwaves through the global economy. From food to petrol, daily essentials are becoming more expensive. Interest rates and mortgages could be going up. The sharemarket, and therefore your KiwiSaver, is looking wobbly. So what’s actually going on, and what should you do about it? In this live Making Cents web...

Emma Healey knows about financial transformation - she went from debt and financial stress to building passive income, investing, and designing a life that includes long-term family travel and early retirement goals. Now known for her practical money advice at mumsmoney.co.nz , Emma didn’t get there through deprivation. Instead, she used behavioural finance strategies, including gamifying her debt...

As the Iran conflict keeps pushing up the costs of daily essentials, Frances Cook joins the TVNZ Breakfast team to talk about how you can save money on food, fuel, and even your KiwiSaver. Follow me everywhere! Facebook / Frances Cook - Journalist Instagram / Frances | Money | Investing (@francescooknz) • Instagram profile TikTok / Frances Cook on TikTok Join the Money Memo newsletter for a free w...

Is politics about to derail your house buying plans? With an election looming, talk of capital gains taxes, housing policy changes, and the possibility of government interference is everywhere. And if you’re trying to buy your first home, it’s enough to make you wonder… should you rush in, or wait it out? In this episode of Ask the Experts, Frances Cook is joined by Vanessa Williams from http://re...

Why does it feel like you’re always spending more than you meant to? No, you’re not imagining it. Modern consumer life is full of supermarket tricks, subscription traps, hidden fees, dark patterns, and pricing tactics designed to get more money out of you. Luckily Consumer senior investigative journalist Chris Schulz knows all the psychological tricks companies use to drive overspending, and the p...

Just as we were hoping for a break in the cost of living, fuel and food prices are heading up again. So how can you protect your cash, and find savings everywhere from insurance, to KiwiSaver, to your subscriptions? A replay of the conversation with Jesse Mulligan on RNZ’s Afternoons. Follow me everywhere! Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookNZ Instagram / https://www.instagram.com/fran...