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Money

Your brain isn’t built for budgeting – here are three ways to outsmart it

Your brain isn’t built for budgeting – here are three ways to outsmart it

What if you’re not bad with money, you’re just working with outdated software?
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By Frances Cook | 28th April, 2025
Guest writer
Frances Cook and Jane Wrightson on Making Cents podcast

‘I was too careful’: How the retirement commissioner would save differently now

Even people whose job it is to think about money all day can have money regrets.
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By Frances Cook | 1st April, 2025
Guest writer
Frances Cook and Beth Vickers on Making Cents podcast

Side hustles to small business: How to make a ‘patchwork career’ work

Step one: hit the career wall. Bonus points if you’re made redundant.
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By Frances Cook | 18th March, 2025
Guest writer
Frances Cook and Muhammad Lambat (Photo: Making Cents)

Faith meets finance: The investor helping Muslims navigate the money world

Halal investing presents a number of challenges, especially in New Zealand.
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By Frances Cook | 11th March, 2025
Guest writer
Photo: Getty Images; Design: Tina Tiller

What’s your money doing in Palestine?

Your KiwiSaver could be helping to fuel the cycle of violence. Here's how to check.
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By Barry Coates | 11th December, 2023
Guest writer
Image: Tina Tiller

What inflation really means (and why it really matters)

Not sure how high interest rates, inflation and the Reserve Bank are impacting you? Here's a pocket guide.
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By Mary Jo Vergara | 28th November, 2022
Guest writer
Image: Tina Tiller

The rise of New Zealand’s middle class millionaires

New Zealand is developing its own landed gentry, with almost half of homes now worth more than $1m.
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By Justin Lester | 8th August, 2022
Guest writer
Image: Tina Tiller

Cheap cheese-buying hack revealed: just wait until next week

In this exclusive report from The Spinoff cheese desk, a curious supermarket pricing pattern is revealed.
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By Ben Gracewood | 27th July, 2022
Chief technology officer
Image: Tina Tiller
Opinion

What’s the bigger outrage – $20,000 for a documentary or $1 trillion in windfall gains?

Billions in unearned pandemic-era gains should be handed back to taxpayers to help those hurt most by Covid.
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By Bernard Hickey | 26th July, 2022
Contributing podcaster
Image: Tina Tiller

Should Auckland public transport be free? 

There’s no getting around the fact it would cost a lot of money – but it could be a solution to many of Tāmaki Makaurau’s transport woes.
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By Jonny Osborne | 18th July, 2022
Guest writer
As a kid, inflation is about balloons. As an adult, it’s somewhat less fun (Image: Tina Tiller/Getty)

Have mortgage rates peaked?

It's looking increasingly likely, argues Bernard Hickey.
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By Bernard Hickey | 10th July, 2022
Contributing podcaster
With knowledge comes power – and responsibility (Image: Tina Tiller)

What rangatahi want to know about money

'How to get rich', and other secrets from a youth financial literacy event.
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By Reweti Kohere | 8th July, 2022
Staff writer
Only 17% of New Zealanders have an enduring power of attorney in place (Photo: Getty Images; additional design: Archi Banal)

It’s never too early to get your affairs in order

It’s estimated that only 17% of New Zealanders have an enduring power of attorney – but there's no telling when you might need one.
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By Reweti Kohere | 5th July, 2022
Staff writer
A recent survey found two in five pre-retirees don’t feel prepared at all financially for retirement (Image: Tina Tiller)

A $400-a-week shortfall: Why people in their 40s are facing a retirement squeeze

Many of those in the middle of their earning years are set for a bleak retirement on KiwiSaver’s current trajectory.
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By Ayesha Scott | 4th July, 2022
Guest writer
Bear market: not as cute as it sounds (Image: Tina Tiller)

Welcome to the bear market

The stock market is melting down and crypto is crashing. Why? Nobody really knows.
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By Nick Blakiston | 15th June, 2022
Guest writer
(Image: Archi Banal)

How big a pay rise do you need to keep up with the housing market?

Most households would require an annual pay bump of at least $30,000 just to avoid going backwards.
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By Emma Vitz | 13th June, 2022
Contributing writer
Image: Tina Tiller

Introducing The Spinoff Cheese Index (TSCI)

The price of cheese has come to represent the cost-of-living crisis. So we're tracking it.
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By The Spinoff | 3rd June, 2022
Staff writers
A recent survey found two in five pre-retirees don’t feel prepared at all financially for retirement (Image: Tina Tiller)

It’s time to start thinking about retirement

Retirement isn't just an issue for older people – the earlier we all start thinking about how we're going to afford it, the better.
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By Reweti Kohere | 26th May, 2022
Staff writer
If a product you bought is recalled, you can return it to the retailer for a refund Image: Tina Tiller

How Foodstuffs’ price rollback could drive their profits even higher

For supermarkets, price cuts on 'own label' items isn't much of a sacrifice at all.
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By Jacob Flanagan | 16th May, 2022
Guest writer
Image: Tina Tiller

If we’re getting back to normal, why are all our investments in freefall?

It's only money, right? Right?
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By Nick Blakiston | 12th May, 2022
Guest writer

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