Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to get ready so the bank's more likely to say yes to a mortgage. Hosted by Frances Cook.

We all know that house prices are soaring, making it harder than ever to scrape a deposit together.

The trick is, when you're talking to a bank, getting approved for a mortgage isn't a black and white process.

The bank does have a little bit of discretion. Just not much.

They're charged with making sure they don't give you so much debt that it crushes you – which means, if you can show that you're financially a safe pair of hands, they might let you through with a smaller deposit than others.

It's all about speaking the bank's love language. So what can you do to stand out from the herd?

In the latest podcast I talked to Rupert Gough from Mortgage Lab.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's what to know if you're a DIY investor diving into the sharemarket. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Even in the relatively small time that this podcast has existed, the investing landscape has changed enormously.

It's only in the last couple of years that we've seen easy options popping up for people to start investing in shares, on their own terms, with whatever money they have to hand.

Before that it was common that you needed several thousand dollars at a time just to be in the game.

Now the industry is opening up, making wealth creation a possibility for a far wider range of people.

I want to be clear before we get into this – I myself am a DIY investor, and I think this is a wonderful thing to create opportunities for people, and level the playing field.

But in opening things up, we do also open up more opportunities for things to go wrong.

When you dive in by yourself, there's the possibility of making serious mistakes, or taking on more risk than you realised.

In the latest podcast I talked to George Carter from Nikko Asset Management NZ.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's where to spend and where to skimp if you're having a baby. Hosted by Frances Cook.

If you're planning to have a baby it's a really exciting time, but it can also be a minefield of change that you're navigating for the very first time.

Many of those changes will be powered by money, and it can be a bit confusing trying to work out how much you'll need.

What do you need to buy, and what's just advertising that's preying on your fears about a new situation? What can you get secondhand, and what do you really need to get new?

It's not all bad; there are some things you can get for free, including many of the maternity healthcare services in New Zealand which are free of charge.

So what's the good, bad, and the ugly, and how can we make it more manageable so that you can focus more on that cute baby?

In the latest podcast I talked to Jhena Hawley from Plunket.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's keeping emotion in check to become a better investor. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Emotions and money are like petrol and fire. Try not to mix them if you can, because it's likely you won't enjoy the result.

So while I've loved seeing more people paying attention to their money in the last year, and particularly the fantastic surge in people who are interested in investing, I have found it worrying the emotions that are clearly also in the mix.

Strategies abound for getting rich quickly, hyped stocks are spread through online forums, and for every overnight winner there are ten losers left in their wake, carrying the can.

The reaction to this in some quarters has been for people to warn that the sharemarket is like a casino, and that if you dabble, you should prepare to get burned.

Well that's just not true either.

Shares are a proven wealth-building strategy, it's just that you do need a strategy as you get started.

Getting your emotions under control is part of that strategy for every single one of us, whether that's greed, fear, or FOMO.

In the latest podcast I talked to AUT senior lecturer in finance Dr Ayesha Scott

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's the forces behind house prices, and what's likely to happen next. Hosted by Frances Cook.

If you've paid even the slightest attention to the news lately you'll know house prices have spiraled up past even the most optimistic expectations.

It's led to intense bidding wars, buyers offering tens of thousands above asking price just to secure their spot, banks reporting backlogs of mortgage applications … frankly, it's a housing feeding frenzy.

Now while house prices are something that makes people feel rich if they already own a place, I do feel for the frustrated first home buyers who struggle to keep up with this flurry of activity.

Another issue is that when there's this level of emotive buying in a market, it tweaks my spidey senses.

Emotions and money are a bad combination, and can lead to bad outcomes in the end.

So how can you make sense of what's going, and what's likely to happen next?

For the latest podcast I talked to independent economist Tony Alexander.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to figure out the new rules of a low interest rate environment. Hosted by Frances Cook.

It may sound unsexy, but interest rates are actually the secret sauce for understanding your money.

That little percentage determines how much debt costs you, and how much an investment will make you, as well as a bunch of other things.

So when you're making decisions about your money, interest rates play a huge part.

The problem is they're acting a little weirdly right now.

As governments both here and around the world pump cash into the economy to try and keep us going through that whole pandemic thing, interest rates are historically low.

That means that the usual advice for how to pay off debt, and when to start investing, has changed a little bit, at least for now.

For the latest podcast I talked to ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's where to start if you're wanting a job change. Hosted by Frances Cook.

We all know 2020 was a lot, not least because many of us found our working lives totally changed.

It was a split situation, with industries like aviation and tourism hammered, but others like tech, financial services, or deliveries, doing well.

The latest overall stats on this are, happily, quite encouraging.

New figures from job website Seek show job listings are continuing to bounce back.

For the last quarter of last year, job ads were up 19 per cent quarter on quarter.

Compared to the same time a year before we're still down a little, but not that much, with a dip of 7 per cent.

Healthiest sectors are information and communication technology, manufacturing, transport and logistics, and trades and services.

But underneath all of that, other sectors are still struggling. Even if your own situation is doing okay, having so much change all around you can also trigger the need to re-evaluate.

For the latest podcast I talked to Infometrics senior economist Brad Olsen.

We discussed what the changes are after Covid-19, how permanent they're likely to be, and what are the good areas if you're wanting to try something new.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/, Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's the financial independence movement, and whether normal people can give it a try. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Financial independence is something you might have seen floating around, and been curious about.

On the face of it, it sounds too good to be true. Save and invest hard, and you build up enough investment income that you don't have to work anymore.

Surely that's something that's only possible for rich people?

It's open to more people than you might think.

Here's the maths behind it. The idea is that you work out how much you need in a year to live the life you want.

So you might be happy living a very frugal lifestyle, which always makes things easier. Or you might enjoy some of life's nicer trappings, and want to keep them.

Whatever that number is, you need a nest egg of 25x that, then the idea is that you can withdraw 4% of it each year, in order to live that lifestyle you like.

For the latest podcast episode I talked to financial planner Liz Koh from Enrich Retirement.

We discussed whether the maths behind the idea works, the different types of financial independence, and tactics for the average person to get there.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to handle a split and the financial fallout. Hosted by Frances Cook.

January has a fun nickname in the lawyer world – "splitting season".

After being cooped up with each other through the holidays, the stress of Christmas and family expectations, it turns out a bunch of us decide, we've had enough.

But of course, like everything else in the last 12 months, Covid-19 is making it worse.

Plenty of lawyers have been speaking out, saying there was an increase in demand for their services even before we hit January, because of the lockdowns and stress of this year.

Now divorce is obviously very tough, and it's also one of the worst things you can do to your money.

Even worse is when through the course of the relationship, one person has simply trusted the other to take care of the financials. When it comes to the split, you're suddenly on the back foot.

So how do you handle it to come through this as best you can?

For the latest podcast I talked to Bridgette Jackson, divorce coach from Equal Exes.

We discussed how Covid-19 has impacted relationship breakdowns, and where to start when you've split.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.