Making Cents with Frances Cook

How do you turn $2 into $419,000? By stopping looking for the silver bullet.

There's a mentality that I see come up over and over again, that really sabotages people with their money.

It's hunting for the silver bullet, the one big change that becomes the gamechanger.

And while they're hunting for that, they miss the small changes that stack up so fast, and could actually be a gamechanger.

Like the dad putting away $2 a day into his 3-year-old's KiwiSaver, that will be $419,000 by the time she retires. $419,000 of today's money, inflation impact included.

Not bad.

It's the exact mentality that Mark White-Robinson has pulled on in creating Feijoa an app that rounds up your everyday purchases and tips the spare change into your KiwiSaver.

It's helping people build up bigger balances, faster, by using behavioural finance tricks to stop the analysis paralysis.

So I wanted to pick his brain on that behavioural finance, and what we can use as tactics everywhere with our money, to do the things we know we want to do.

It's out now on the Making Cents podcast.

2 weeks ago | [YT] | 1

Making Cents with Frances Cook

Glam businesses? Meh. The solid earners are the underrated ones.

Waste, recycling, wholesale, import distribution - boring on the surface, solid underneath.

Jeremy Pak, MD at Velocity Capital New Zealand, on the business models most people overlook and why simple and predictable often wins.

This episode is supported by Odoo because they're the smart way to make small business life easier.

Making Cents Podcast, new episode out now!

3 weeks ago | [YT] | 0

Making Cents with Frances Cook

Imagine being too nervous to talk to IRD… then getting back $15,000??

Baqir Hussain, chartered certified accountant and founder of Finex Accounting, on Working for Families, why so many people miss out on what they're entitled to, and why the tax man isn't as scary as we think.

Out now.

1 month ago | [YT] | 1

Making Cents with Frances Cook

AI isn't coming for every job… but it is coming for some of them first.

Christoph Schumacher, Professor of Innovation and Economics at Massey University - Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa, on which jobs are most exposed, which ones aren't - and why this isn't the first time we've been here.

New episode out now!

1 month ago | [YT] | 0

Making Cents with Frances Cook

This investing mistake cost me serious money. And it catches out most people, at some point.

Because while many people hold off starting to invest, worried they'll make a newbie mistake, that's NOT actually the danger period.

The danger period is after that.

When you're a couple of years in. Feeling confident. Feeling experienced. Feeling like you could do... more.

And that's when people start breaking the rules, and losing money.

Because overconfidence and just a little bit of experience is a KILLER for your money.

And hey, like I say, been there and done that.

Felt like I was clever because I was a financial journalist. I interview experts all day! Surely I can pick a couple of winners?

And then COVID hit, and my smart picks tanked.

Sure, COVID was a weird time. But there's always something unexpected.

A war in Ukraine, or Iran. A cost-of-living crisis.

It's life. But it can really hurt your money.

So I thought, time to talk about these investing mistakes, and the systems we can put in place to save us from ourselves!

And who better than Chris Walsh from MoneyHub.co.nz to talk this through with me?

It's all on the latest Making Cents podcast, out now.

1 month ago | [YT] | 1

Making Cents with Frances Cook

The best money tip I just got had nothing to do with money... it's spice. And texture.

Because the cost of living has been hitting everyone hard, and then you get sad tips like bulk buying when things are on special, and bulking out your food.

Which, yes, they work. But then you end up eating the same thing all week, or eating things you don't really want to be.

Enter Del Holland, who specialises in creating three dinners, for two people, for $50.

And her secret? Spice and texture.

Because the same cheap base can be transformed with some spice, and then made to feel special when you play with different textures.

From Italian inspired, to Thai. The softest noodles, with crunchy peanuts on top.

And I think this mindset applies to the rest of our money too. So often it's the simple things we know we need to be doing, and we just need to find the way to do it that feels genuinely enjoyable.

Anyway, the best chat with Del about everything she learned while cooking for billionaires, that she now uses to give tips and tricks to us regular folk!

Making Cents, out now.

1 month ago | [YT] | 0

Making Cents with Frances Cook

"If you're not embarrassed by your first product, you launched too late."

Renata Wiles is something of an accidental tech founder... who launched her app at 37 weeks pregnant with her second child.

But it all started from being a frustrated mum, who wanted to find places to go with her kids, so put together a simple PDF of the places she'd found that were good.

People bought it. She knew it could be more.

Because frankly, who hasn't been there? Overwhelmed, no time to think straight, and spending more money because you don't have time to find better options?

So she started small. Then built it bigger, better, as fast as she could.

So how did a mum with no business or tech experience launch the now very successful Roam With Kids app? And beyond the business world, what's her tips for beating the overwhelm so that we stay on budget while still having a life?

I loved talking with Renata, and it's all out now on the latest Making Cents podcast.

2 months ago | [YT] | 0

Making Cents with Frances Cook

Most of us assume that getting ahead financially means working harder, watching the markets, and making smart moves. The data says that’s wrong.

In this episode, Frances talks with Sean Freer, Director of Global Exchange Indices at S&P Dow Jones Indices, about why passive investing consistently beats active fund management, and what that means for everyday investors.

We are diving into the lazy guide to investing on the latest Making Cents podcast, and it's out now.

2 months ago | [YT] | 0

Making Cents with Frances Cook

You know Ali Mau from your TV screens, but you might not know her next challenge… as a tech founder.

She’s now totally stepped away from the journalism career that made her a household name. And she’s about to launch Tika, a tech-for-good enterprise that has taken years, and a steep learning curve.

So what’s it like to totally reinvent yourself, your career, and commit to doing something that you hope will make the world a little bit better?

She's opening up about all of it on the latest Making Cents podcast, and it's out now.

This episode is supported by Odoo, because they're a smarter way to run a small business.

#startupjourney #techforgood #careertransition #entrepreneurship #femalefounders

2 months ago | [YT] | 1

Making Cents with Frances Cook

If you know what you need to do, but you just don’t do it? It’s time to figure out your “unbearable feeling” that’s behind it.

Charlotte Cummings is a change therapist who helps people figure out how to get unstuck, and that goes for our money too!

So if you’ve found yourself sabotaging while you try to live your best life, it’s time to listen to this one.

2 months ago | [YT] | 0