Keep The Change

For 12 months, 70,000 New Zealand citizens have left to live overseas. 60% went to Australia. That's the highest we've ever seen. Our most popular guest yet, Professor Paul Spoonley is back to break down what's really happening: we're losing young graduates, skilled workers, and even 30-somethings who've been in our workforce for years. Meanwhile, net migration has dropped to just 10,000, we've "e...

Only 21% of people globally are engaged in their work. That means almost 4 out of 5 people are turning up each day to something that doesn’t really light them up. Crazy, right? Well, probably bloody normal based on the stats. But for me, that’s hard to relate to. So I asked the Keep The Change audience: “Why stay in work you’re not actually engaged in?" Hey thanks for listening! Please take some f...

Most Kiwi families have no idea what's coming when their parents age. Then they get hit with legal bills, family fights, and financial shocks they never saw coming. Emily Silby breaks down the legal reality every family will face: enduring power of attorney, wills, retirement village contracts, and rest home subsidies. We cover the 30% deferred management fee, why you don't actually own anything i...

Labour’s Chris Hipkins has put his chips on the table with a Capital Gains Tax. Yep the one that’s always been political poison in New Zealand. Will Labour win an election on this? Don’t know but credit to them getting this out in the public a year before the election so that people can sit with it and have epic Xmas arguments with their family. Let's explore a quick summary of how it would work....

Every November, we see the moustaches pop up but what’s really behind the movement? In this episode, we sit down with Robert Dunne, Movember’s New Zealand Manager, to dig into the story behind the mo. We talk about how the campaign started, his involvement, what’s changed in Kiwi men’s health, and why it’s still so hard for blokes to open up. We also cover some tough conversations, and how small a...

Stats NZ dropped some new household wealth data recently. And apparently…we’re richer. The median Kiwi household is now worth $529,000. Remember 'worth' is assets minus liabilities. That median Kiwi household figure is up from $399,000 in 2021. What can we learn from the wealtheir households? Hey thanks for listening! Please take some form of action from this content, don’t just be a consumer, bec...

Sustainability isn’t just a buzzword for Rita, it’s become a core driver of long-term business success. In this episode, Luke sits down with Rita Hammond, founder of Sustaina Grow NZ, to explore how Kiwi businesses can embrace sustainable practices without sacrificing profitability. Rita shares how Sustaina Grow started while juggling three children under three, relief teaching, and an obsession w...

Retirement planning isn’t just for you it’s for your whole family. In this candid conversation, I ask Amy to explore the tough but necessary questions about whether your parents (or you) are truly on track.  Using insights from Amy’s step-by-step guide, we cover how to assess spending, assets, and retirement gaps; why compounding and smart debt repayment do the heavy lifting; and the practica...

New Zealand isn't the same country it was five years ago. But most Kiwis are still living like it is. We've shifted from a factory economy to a skills-based economy, but everyone's still thinking like it's 1995. While you're waiting for your 2.6% pay rise, house prices are forecast to grow 6% annually. The math doesn't work. Mikey and I break down what's really happening: why everything feels hard...

Too many of us have become weak in our reasons. Reasons are very powerful because they carry emotion and can pull us forward. If you haven’t, I would strongly suggest doing some work on your reasons (often called your why, purpose etc.) and drilling into things that are really emotionally powerful for you. We also forget WHO got us here. I was reflecting on this personally recently when doing some...

Most Kiwi employees are sitting on a goldmine and don't even know it. Your boss is probably over 50 and they're thinking about retirement but haven't figured out succession. Meanwhile, you're trading hours for dollars, watching house prices outpace your wages by more than double. Here's what they don't teach you: You can buy into the business you already work for with ZERO cash down. Phil Smith wa...

This Money Mail is inspired by my client, who is a business that turns over hundreds of thousands of $$$ and feeds mouths + provides opportunities. What they do, is tested and works. Success leaves clues. I hope you turn this idea into money and have your best Summer yet. Most people wait around hoping money will somehow turn up, but it won’t. So do this! Hey thanks for listening! Please take some...

I headed to Auckland University to talk with first year students about the money lessons you’ll never learn in a classroom. We covered: Why NZ schools and Uni's don’t actually teach you how to make money The real skills that matter for building wealth (and why most people miss them) How to break out of the “get a job, work hard, hope for a pay rise” mindset The biggest money myths young Kiwis stil...

Over the next 25 years, New Zealand will undergo the largest intergenerational wealth transfer in its history between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion in assets moving from baby boomers to their kids and grandkids. But here's the problem: as lawyer Andrew Clements puts it, we're approaching this tsunami with "all the sophistication of a kids' game of pin the tail on a donkey." In this conversation, A...

The challenge is simple. Make $100 for yourself. Give $100 to a random. This is a challenge to look around and notice the people who could use a bit of kindness, especially during the festive season. I continue to believe that a little act of generosity can lift someone’s spirits in ways you and I can’t imagine. And this is certainly what the feedback reminded us last year! Recipients were st...

Recently, my KiwiSaver balance ticked over $150,000. Out of curiosity, I looked back through my monthly tracking sheet and saw that only 18 months ago, it was sitting at $100,000. In earlier Money Mails (#198), I shared my goal of hitting $100k so the “snowball” could really start rolling. Just like Charlie Munger talks about. Watching it leap from $100k to $150k in less than two years has been qu...

We sit down with James Fuller, Co-founder and CEO of Hnry, to unpack how recent Budget 2025 changes to KiwiSaver are threatening the retirement security of New Zealand’s sole traders. If you’re a freelancer, tradie, or sole trader or keen on learning from someone who scaled from nothing to 60,000 customers, tune in. James shares insights from Hnry’s joint report with the Retirement Commission, rev...

Why do high-achieving people still struggle with self-doubt, anxiety, and burnout, even when everything looks perfect on paper? I sit down with New Zealand-based mindset coach Sarah Robb, founder of The Breakthrough Blueprint, to unpack the real reasons success doesn’t always silence self-sabotage.  Sarah shares how personal loss led her to the world of NLP, hypnosis, psychology, and timeline...

This one’s from a listener who shows exactly what happens when you take action, even if it starts small. ‘’Now I’ve got no credit card, no car payments, and a better understanding of how money can actually work for me. Your podcast changed the way I think. Now I’m planning how to grow my income and get into a house ASAP. Thank you, bro. I wouldn’t be here without your podcast." Hosted on Acast. Se...

Today we sit down with Greg Smith, newly appointed Investment Specialist at Generate and one of New Zealand’s most recognisable market commentators. With two decades in the industry and a regular presence on Newstalk ZB, NBR, TVNZ and the NZ Herald, Greg brings sharp insights and plain-English analysis to the complex world of investing. Together, we cover: Greg’s background in finance and his new...

Ever stopped to ask yourself: Who am I if I’m not working? Well today we are. In this episode, we dive deep into the topic of identity, exploring how we attach it to our jobs, what happens when work is taken away (thanks AI or unemployment), and why it's so important to know who you are beyond your title. I’ll ask you a few tough questions, share some real-world examples, and challenge you to defi...

The kitchen might still be tiny. The roof still leaks in winter. The location hasn’t changed. The utility and intended use (shelter and sleep) of many of these houses hasn’t even improved. To be fair, many have depreciated. What changed was the number on the bank’s spreadsheet and therefore…what that number could let you borrow. But now, it feels like we’re seeing the full effects. And it’s h...

Today we sit down with Nathan Najib, Managing Director of Najib Real Estate in Christchurch, to explore a refreshing perspective on the New Zealand property market. We discuss:   •  Why Nathan refuses to “spruik” the property market.   •  The key variables behind house prices in NZ that the economists miss   •  Whether we really own our h...

Let’s talk about one belief I keep seeing lately: The 'Have you seen the cost of living? The average Kiwi can't afford to save right now'. I get it. I really do. But you’ve got to be careful not to stay stuck there. Because saving or investing is a habit not a moment. And I’ve seen this thinking in both good and bad economic times. Why, in the tough economic times, will the debt dealers still happ...

I sit down with Amy Po-Ching of https://www.levridge.co.nz to find out what she is seeing out there and it is one word: uncertainty. Kiwi are stuck with what decision to make and what direction to go in. All of this in a time where we’ve never had more information. Perhaps that is part of the problem? Because realistically, Kiwi today can build more financial certainty than ever before. Drawing on...