Making Cents

Frances Cook joins the TVNZ Breakfast team to crunch the numbers on a proposed policy that would automatically enrol newborns into KiwiSaver with a $1,000 government contribution and what that could actually be worth by the time they retire.
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One in four young people in NZ can't find work. But some jobs are up 200% year on year.

The job market hasn't collapsed - it's split. And if you're on the wrong side of that split, waiting for things to improve isn't a strategy.

In this episode, we get into which jobs are actually booming right now, what the latest Stats NZ unemployment numbers really mean once you dig past the headline figure, and what it tells us about where the economy is actually heading.

Then we get practical. How to make yourself the person your employer can't afford to lose. How to job hunt strategically when most roles are never even advertised. And how to ask for a pay rise, with real scripts, not vague advice about knowing your worth.

We also talk honestly about AI: what it actually means for your career right now and the two smart plays depending on where you want to go.

In this episode:
The Stats NZ unemployment data and what's buried in it
The top 10 most in-demand jobs in NZ right now
Why the hidden job market is 70-80% of all roles (and how to access it)
Two career strategies for navigating AI
How to ask for a pay rise: timing, preparation, and the exact words to use

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This podcast was filmed & produced by Fanaticals
Video editing & content production by Lana Byrne
Audio engineering by Tash Chittock

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 talk about:
Why 86% of professional fund managers fail to beat the index over 15 years
What index funds and ETFs actually are, and how to choose between 14,000+ options
The NZX 50, the S&P 500, and how market concentration really works
Why fees quietly destroy your investments, and what to do about it
The behavioural finance traps that cause investors to sell at exactly the wrong moment
Why the "set and forget" approach outperforms almost everything else

Whether you're new to investing or already have a passive strategy, this episode will sharpen your thinking… and probably confirm you're overcomplicating it.

This episode of Making Cents is proudly supported by Odoo. Go to http://odoo.com/r/hpl now and try it for free, for 15 days.

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Join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week https://www.francescook.co.nz/subscribe
Become a confident sharemarket investor by signing up to the Market Memo newsletter https://www.francescook.co.nz/invest

#MakingCents #FrancesCook #MakingCentsPodcast #InvestingPodcast #MoneyPodcast #FinancialFreedom

This podcast was filmed & produced by Fanaticals
Video editing & content production by Lana Byrne
Audio engineering by Tash Chittock

Frances Cook shares the ten money lessons she wishes she'd known at 20, including the mindset shifts, small habits, and easy wins that made the biggest difference to her financial life.
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It's one thing to build financial stability, it's another to actually let yourself enjoy it.

In this Ask the Experts episode, Frances Cook is joined by Katie Wesney from Enable Me to unpack a problem that's more common than you'd think: what happens when the scarcity mindset that helped you build financial security starts working against you?

A listener wrote in with a $5 million net worth, and genuine anxiety about spending any of it. Kmart clothes, secondhand cars, no overseas trips in six years. On paper, financially free. In practice, still living like every dollar matters.

In this episode, we get into:
– Why money anxiety doesn't disappear when the numbers improve
– The difference between what you should spend on and what actually lights you up
– How childhood experiences with money shape your relationship with it for decades
– What a financial adviser actually does to help you build permission to spend
– The practical systems that replace anxiety with confidence
– Why the 4% rule exists, and how to think about your own number.

Have a question you'd like us to tackle? Send it to [email protected] and you might feature on a future episode.

Follow me everywhere!
Facebook / https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookNZ
Instagram / https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz
TikTok / https://www.tiktok.com/@francescooknz

Join the Money Memo newsletter for a free weekly money tip in your inbox each week https://www.francescook.co.nz/subscribe
Become a confident sharemarket investor by signing up to the Market Memo newsletter https://www.francescook.co.nz/invest

#MakingCents #FrancesCook #MakingCentsPodcast #InvestingPodcast #MoneyPodcast #FinancialFreedom

This podcast was filmed & produced by Fanaticals
Video editing & content production by Lana Byrne
Audio engineering by Tash Chittock