Welcome to Making Cents, the podcast for people who want financial freedom without giving up their coffee, supported by our lovely friends at Kiwibank. 

I’m Frances Cook, an independent financial journalist and fellow financial freedom seeker who makes money simple for you. 

Have you ever wished you could hack your brain, so that you can actually do all of that good stuff you know you should be doing with your money? 

You know, saving for a rainy day, paying off debt, investing… we know we should, but we often don’t, because frankly there are other things to do that are way more fun. 

Well, enter the latest tech innovation. 

They’ve tapped into the behavioural psychology that’s often used to keep us online, or gambling, or doing other naughty things… and they’ve flipped it, to help us do the good stuff instead. 

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

Welcome to Ask the Experts, where each week we talk to people in the industry to get the inside word on what’s happening right now, and what that means for the tactics that you should use to make the most of your money. 

This week we’ve partnered up with Xero, which has kindly lent us their expert GM Sustainability and Impact Tam Somers, and we’re talking about how we shouldn’t let the fear of numbers hold us back from those dreams of launching a side hustle or small business, absolutely speaking my language on this one because I don’t love the spreadsheet side of my business either, but it’s still doable!

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.

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

With tariffs flying, interest rates falling, and the job market looking a little rough... how do you survive?

Here's a survival plan, and an Ask Me Anything session, so that you can feel more confident with your cash in 2025.

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.

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

Welcome to Making Cents, the podcast for people who want financial freedom without giving up their coffee, supported by our lovely friends at Kiwibank. 

I’m Frances Cook, an independent financial journalist and fellow financial freedom seeker who makes money simple for you. 

How much money would it take for you to abandon your morals? 

Or sell something that you didn’t really believe in anymore?

That’s the question that today’s guest Rosie McCarthy had to ask herself. She’d built up a career coaching business, Badass Careers, and was making over a million dollars in sales a year. 

And yet, as it progressed, she got disillusioned. 

She had ringside seats to exactly how bruising the world of work was becoming, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to encourage people into the corporate grind anymore. 

Instead, she was becoming more convinced of self-employment, and entrepreneurship, as the path to help people find financial freedom while still living a life that they found rewarding. 

So she decided… time to shut it all down, and start again. 

To leap into the unknown, stop being a career coach, and instead help people build a business for themselves. 

So why has the world of work turned so toxic, and should we all become our boss? Let’s talk about it.

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.

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

A replay of the live webinar version of Making Cents, answering audience questions on tariffs, how to invest when the market is down, what to do about KiwiSaver, best strategies for the mortgage while interest rates are falling, and whether your job is safe.

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.

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

Welcome to Ask the Experts, where each week we talk to people in the industry to get the inside word on what’s happening right now, and what that means for the tactics that you should use to make the most of your money. 

We’ve been talking a lot about a buyer’s market in property, which has led to my DMs filling up with hopeful first home buyers, saying, is it our time?

So this week I’ve partnered up with realestate.co.nz, who has kindly leant us their expert Vanessa Williams, and she’s going to help us answer exactly that - if you want to buy now, can you make the most of the current situation? 

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.

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

There’s investing, and then there’s "Capital I Investing", the one that comes with big risk, and if it works, big reward. 

Today’s guest Rowan Simpson is someone who’s flown under the radar in that scene for a while, first working at some of our iconic tech startups, and then investing in them. 

Rowan Simpson started out by saving up $10,000 to create his own tech company, Flathunt.co.nz. He’s since gone on a journey that involves TradeMe, Xero, Vend, and Timely, iconic companies, and he’s got millions more than that first $10,000. 

Now, he’s a private and early-stage venture investor, keeping an eye out for that next great business that can take the world by storm 

So how did he get from $10,000 to tens of millions… and what does he want the rest of us to know, before we try to copy him?  

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.

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

Welcome to Ask the Experts, where each week we talk to people in the industry to get the inside word on what’s happening right now, and what that means for the tactics that you should use to make the most of your money.

This week we’ve partnered up with Xero, which has kindly leant us their expert Mere Teinaki, from Northland Chartered Accountants, and we’re talking about how everyone says you need to know your numbers... but how do you actually do that? Then, how you use that to make a plan?

Basically, it's how to use the past to predict the future.

If you want to bag a bargain, Making Cents listeners can get a whopper of a discount on Xero. Go to this link xero.com/francescook to help supercharge your small business.

The information in this podcast is general information only and you should seek appropriate tax, financial and legal advice as may be appropriate for your personal or business needs.

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.

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

A highlight clip from the February 17h episode, “How to negotiate your career like a CEO”, with Rhiannon McKinnon, former CEO of Kiwi Wealth, current CEO and founder of CEO101.

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.

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

Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson explains some of the biggest money mistakes she sees, and how we can all do something to fix them.

Money can be frustrating, and all of us have had at least once or twice when we’ve wondered, why isn’t someone trying to make this a bit easier for me? Why does it have to feel like such an uphill battle? 

Well, there are actually some people whose job it is to work away behind the scenes, badgering the government on everything from changing our education system, to retirement savings, to housing… it’s just that, well, there’s a lot to fix and sometimes resistance to fixing it. 

One of those people here in New Zealand is the Retirement Commissioner. And actually, her job starts well before you or I turn 65. 

One of her big projects at the moment, is actually helping us stamp out money problems while we’re still at school. 

So what are most of us getting wrong with our money, and are there easy wins, whether it’s from us, or bigger government changes? 

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.

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