Saving $80,000 should feel like a major milestone. But when you’re trying to buy your first home, it can leave you asking a very real question: is this actually enough?

In this Ask the Experts episode, a listener who’s fed up with renting wants to know whether they’re genuinely ready to buy, or about to take on more than they can afford.

They’ve built a solid deposit, but recent spending has shaken their confidence, and now they’re stuck between waiting longer or jumping in too soon.

So what does “ready” really look like for first-home buyers in New Zealand?

Vanessa Williams from realestate.co.nz is ready to help us break down the hidden house buying costs people often forget to budget for, how much buffer you really need, and what to do if you slip while building toward a first home. There’s also deposit rules, borrowing options, and how to pressure-test your plan before you make one of the biggest financial decisions of your life.

Links

Follow Frances Cook on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, or join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week.

This podcast was filmed and produced by Fanaticals

Video editing & content production by Lana Byrne

Audio engineering by Tash Chittock

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learning about money is one thing. Actually changing how you behave with it is something else entirely.

In this special episode of Making Cents, I’m pulling together three powerful money psychology insights that genuinely changed how I handle my own money. It’s not just that they were clever tactics, but that they finally helped me put good intentions into action.

Being “good with money” isn’t about deprivation or sitting on a pile of cash you’re scared to touch. It’s about deciding what kind of life you want, working backwards from there, and building money habits that actually fit how your brain works.

You’ll hear highlights from three standout conversations with experts who reshaped how I think about fear, goals, habits, and motivation — and why so many of us keep doing things we know are holding us back.

Claire Barnes, Ecoya CEO, on how the outside perspective of a coach helped her battle a fear of failure.

James Blair, Lighthouse Financial financial advisor, on the gamechanger of values-based spending.

And Dr Brad Klontz, psychologist and multiple times best-selling author, on the psychogical wiring that can hold us back, and how to change it.

In this episode, we cover:

– Why outside perspective (from a coach, adviser, or trusted third party) can unlock progress you’ll never see on your own

– How fear, anxiety, and discomfort can be harnessed instead of fought, and used as fuel rather than friction

– How values-based spending can stop money fights with your partner and make trade-offs feel intentional

– Why knowing what to do with money is rarely the problem, and how your psychology sabotages you instead

– How concepts like the hedonic treadmill and ancient “caveman brain” wiring shape modern money decisions

If you’ve ever felt like you know what you should be doing with money, but still can’t seem to follow through, this episode is for you.

Links

Follow Frances Cook on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, or join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week.

This podcast was filmed and produced by Fanaticals

Video editing & content production by Lana Byrne

Audio engineering by Tash Chittock

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fast Money with Jim Mora on Sunday Morning with RNZ. Talking the end of year GDP bounce, what a Santa Rally would tell us about 2026, how to control spending over the silly season, and the forecast for our Kiwisaver programme.

Links

Follow Frances Cook on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week, or become a confident sharemarket investor by joining the Market Memo newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hitting the milestone of $1 million in the bank should feel like financial freedom, but for many people approaching retirement, it’s the moment where the fear kicks in.

When a term deposit matures and you’re suddenly responsible for a seven-figure lump sum, the pressure to “not mess it up” can feel overwhelming.

That’s exactly the situation in today’s Ask the Experts episode. Our listener is 59, single, mortgage-free, and ready to retire soon, but unsure what to do with the $1 million they’ve worked their whole life to save.

EnableMe strategic coach Katie Wesney joins me to break it all down:

• how to invest a $1 million lump sum safely
• cash vs managed funds vs shares in retirement
• how long a million dollars really lasts
• how to structure money into short-, medium-, and long-term “buckets”
• and why doing nothing can sometimes be the biggest risk of all

If you have a letter you’d like us to answer, please send it through to ask@francescook.co.nz and you might feature on our next episode!

Links

Follow Frances Cook on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, or join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week.

This podcast was filmed and produced by Fanaticals

Video editing & content production by Lana Byrne

Audio engineering by Tash Chittock

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

New Zealand banking just changed all the rules, and you could be forgiven for not having heard about it, despite the fact this could change everything about how you handle your money.

Open banking is now officially live in New Zealand, slipping in right at the end of the year with very little attention. But this isn’t just a tech update. It’s a power shift over who controls your financial information, and how it can be used.

That matters, because open banking has the potential to make huge parts of your money life easier. From budgeting and using a budgeting app, to comparing mortgage rates, switching banking products, and even making investing simpler.

And frankly, we could all do with some help right now. There’s been growing criticism about whether the big banks in New Zealand are making it too hard, and too expensive, for customers to shop around and get a better deal. Open banking is designed to change that, by increasing competition and giving people more control over their own banking data.

But it’s not all plain sailing.

There are real questions around privacy, security, and how open banking will actually work in practice, especially in the early stages.

So how do you make the most of this shift, to simplify your finances and improve your budgeting, without exposing yourself to unnecessary risks?

In this episode of Making Cents, Frances Cook is joined by Jason Leong, CEO and co-founder of PocketSmith, to break down open banking in plain English. What’s changed, what it means for everyday people, and how to use it safely to feel more in control of your money.

Links

Follow Frances Cook on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, or join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week.

This podcast was filmed and produced by Fanaticals

Video editing & content production by Lana Byrne

Audio engineering by Tash Chittock

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2025 a strange year for money.

AI shot up so fast it started giving people Dotcom Bubble flashbacks.

Bitcoin lost more than a trillion dollars in value almost overnight.

KiwiSaver turned into an election promise.

Interest rates dropped, but didn’t truly soothe the money pain.

So if your money felt a bit off this year, you weren’t imagining it.

In this live edition of the Making Cents podcast, I’m joined by Stuff’s money editor Damien Venuto and AdviceFirst financial adviser Leon Leonardo to unpack why everything felt so unpredictable, and what actually matters for your KiwiSaver, mortgage, and investments as we head into 2026.

We get into:

• why AI looks a lot like the early 2000s tech boom

• what triggered Bitcoin’s massive wipe-out

• why KiwiSaver is suddenly political

• the confidence crash in housing

• the surprisingly good news with open banking

• and how to take back control when the system gets weird

If you want a clear, grounded look at what changed this year, and what to do about it, this one’s for you.

Links

Follow Frances Cook on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week, or become a confident sharemarket investor by joining the Market Memo newsletter.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nothing spikes the heart rate quite like seeing a headline claiming you need a million dollars to retire.

This week’s Ask the Experts listener is 47, the kids are nearly out the door, and retirement planning in New Zealand has suddenly stopped feeling like a ‘one day’ problem.

Which means the recent run of articles about retirement savings, retirement villages, or aged care costs are sending her straight into panic mode.

She’s heard the horror stories, of complex retirement village contracts, huge upfront costs, expensive aged care facilities, and now she’s worried she’s already missed the boat. How much do you actually need to retire in NZ? Is a million dollars realistic? Should you be downsizing the family home once the kids leave, or is it too early to make that call?

Will White from Heartland Bank joins the show, to strip away the scare headlines and focus on what really matters. What retirement costs most people forget to factor in, how lifestyle choices affect how much you need, and why being “behind” at 47 doesn’t mean you’re out of options.

If you have a letter you’d like us to answer, please send it through to ask@francescook.co.nz and you might feature on our next episode!

Links

Follow Frances Cook on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, or join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week.

This podcast was filmed and produced by Fanaticals

Video editing & content production by Lana Byrne

Audio engineering by Tash Chittock

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jenny-May Clarkson is one of the most recognisable faces in Aotearoa, from her years as a Silver Fern to fronting the TVNZ Breakfast couch every morning.

She’s also living proof that starting over and reinventing your career is now incredibly common. And sometimes, incredibly public.

After quite quickly leaving the TVNZ Breakfast team, Jenny-May is now facing the same reality so many Kiwis deal with: when a secure job disappears, what happens next?

Because behind the lights and glamour, the truth is simple. People on screen rely on that pay cheque just as much as anyone else. And when the TVNZ cameras turn off, the bills don’t.

In this episode, Jenny-May opens up about leaving TVNZ Breakfast, the burnout she didn’t see coming, the financial reality of walking away from a stable salary, and the fear of starting over at 51 with no guaranteed next step. She talks about losing confidence, rebuilding it, and why she believes reinvention is a skill anyone can learn, no matter when it happens in life.

Because she’s also now looking to build something new, and create opportunities through self-employment.

For anyone facing a crossroads, Jenny-May shares the mindset shifts and practical steps that helped her take control of her money, her career, and her identity again.

Links

Follow Frances Cook on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, or join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week.

This podcast was filmed and produced by Fanaticals

Video editing & content production by Lana Byrne

Audio engineering by Tash Chittock

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.