Being ready for the workforce has never been more important, as young people face increasing costs and pressure to find their financial independence and learn to save and budget. It’s important to equip them with the tools to make it easier.

 

From the age of 18 to 34, many young people are making financial decisions that can have a profound impact on the rest of their lives, such as getting a mortgage to buy a house, or taking on consumer debt and borrowing.

 

Knowing that New Zealand compares poorly on financial literacy according to OECD data, we believe students should leave school with a core basic knowledge about money, including saving, budgeting, banking, investing, setting financial goals, consumer rights, borrowing, credit cards and managing debt.

 

This means teaching them about how to do a budget, how to open a bank account, manage bills, and even how to invest their money as part of a basic set of financial life skills.

 

The earlier that young people learn about money and how to manage their finances, the more that good habits will stick. It will have an impact on all parts of their life, especially their mental health and anxiety. It is about establishing core skills and investing in their future.

The financial choices you make in your 20s can have lasting effects on your future. But it’s also a time of finding balance and experiencing various life milestones. This may be starting your first professional career, moving for work, creating a business, having children, getting a mortgage, and more.

 

Whatever your plans and goals, it is important to start right and take control of your finances to help make them happen. It’s important that you are supported to make the best possible financial decisions that will positively influence your long-term financial wellbeing. At North Shore Budget Service, we’re here to help. Here’s 6 tips to make in your 20s….

 

1. Develop good budgeting habits

Start by tracking your cash flow – that’s the flow of money coming in and money going out. As you start paying better attention, you can start to spend and save more intentionally. Prioritise your essentials, and know how you’ll pay for housing and food.

 

2. Pay down debt

If you have a student loan or a credit card balance, look for ways to pay it off. That means reduce your spending then reroute those funds toward paying off your debt. Hold yourself accountable by building payments into your budget and automating them if possible.

 

3. Automate your savings

Want to save for a trip? A house? A new car? Or your retirement? Yes, we know you’re in your 20s but it’s never too early to start planning. Set up a fund or separate account and send automatic transfers from your bank account and/or pay to that account each month.

 

4. Build good credit

With a good credit score, you’ll get lower interest rates when you need to borrow money, so you’ll spend less over time on large purchases like cars and a home. Paying off your credit card balance every month and making loan payments on time are good way of improving your credit score.

 

5. Start saving for retirement

If you are working, you can opt in to KiwiSaver, which is a voluntary savings scheme to help set you up for your retirement. You can make regular contributions from your pay or directly to your scheme provider. You can also start your own little savings nest egg. No matter how small your contribution feels right now, the account you set aside for your retirement can grow exponentially thanks to the power of compound interest.

 

6. Work toward owning your home

Not easy in this environment, we know. However, if one of your goals is purchasing your first home, then you need to work this into your financial plan. Start saving for a down payment.

Suffering from money anxiety? This is one of the most frequently asked questions. You’re not alone. At North Shore Budget Service, we support people to grow their money no matter their financial starting point.

 

We do that by reducing debt, creating a budget, starting a savings plan, or choosing the optimal KiwiSaver fund. It’s about building new habits and becoming more financially resilient.

 

Financial growth does not necessarily mean growing your income (although that is always welcome). It is about progress, and planning for your future, and being prepared when needs rise or you hit a bump in life’s road.

 

If you are made redundant, or your business fails, or you face a medical crisis, or your dog needs surgery, or your car needs maintenance… all of these ‘what ifs’ require forward planning and preparation.

 

We want you to be financially resilient and prepared so that you can get ahead in life and grow your money. Having financial choices and financial capability is freedom. It increases your financial wellbeing and independence, making you more self-reliant and self-determined.

We believe all New Zealanders have the right to financial wellbeing, and we deliver meaningful social impact to people and whānau in New Zealand who need help with their personal financial situation.

 

We create sustainable solutions for our clients by securing their financial future and enabling them to become more financially capable. Our team of mentors, who are professionally trained and accredited by FinCap, deliver one-on-one financial mentoring and advocacy services in a safe and empowering environment.

 

They help clients enduring financial hardship to identify their goals and develop a strengths-based financial plan. They work with clients to identify best debt solutions, negotiate with creditors to reduce debt, set budgets, and provide ongoing support to improve outcomes.

 

Our mentors help clients and whānau on their journey to financial independence by ensuring they have more control over day-to-day finances, more ability to absorb a financial shock, and more financial freedom to make life choices and achieve their financial goals.

 

We support clients in every way, and work collaboratively with social services to ensure they get the right help.

 

We partner with Māori and Pasifika organisations for greater impact, including Te Puna Hauora and Grace Foundation, delivering financial capability to their peoples in meaningful ways. We set budgets and sustainable financial plans together, including clients always, to help them determine their own solutions so they can control their own financial future.

 

We want our clients to thrive and flourish, with positive experiences every time; helping them save and plan for retirement, leading them into home ownership, and providing opportunities for employment or promotion.

 

NSBS has a valued impact upon people and whānau in their journey to achieve financial autonomy, and on society and government. By building clients’ financial stability and supporting their long-term socio-economic development and inclusion, we ensure they’ll be less reliant on Government assistance and social services. We reduce financial stress and improve overall wellbeing, limiting the strain on the health system, and enhancing family situations.

To improve your financial wellbeing for you and your family you need to learn to be financially resilient, which will give you money confidence and empowerment. You will feel financially secure and in control of your finances, and in control of your life.

 

It’s about making the most of your money from day-to-day, dealing with the unexpected, and being on track for a healthy financial future.

 

People who experience financial wellbeing are less stressed about money.

 

Here’s 10 tips to improve your financial wellbeing to lead a stress-free life.

 

1. Meet your expenses and ensure you have some money left over for emergencies.
2. Spend less than you earn and.
3. Keep track of your spending.
4. Create a budget and stick to it.
5. Prepare for the unexpected.
6. Manage your cashflow and debt and avoid borrowing.
7. Find the best deals.
8. Pay off your credit card, student loan and any debts.
9. Have a savings plan and set up automatic payments into an account.
10. Create good financial habits and steer clear of pay check-to-pay-check living.

NSBS has successfully been granted a funding contract from the Ministry of Social Development for its core Building Financial Capability (BFC) services to work with people to improve their financial wellbeing and take control of their finances.

 

Following an extensive and rigorous RFP process, in which many BFC providers around the country were not allocated funding contracts, or received only a portion of what they requested, the procurement panel for the Auckland region informed NSBS that the charity has been recommended for full funding to deliver financial mentoring services.

 

It is recognition and acceptance of NSBS’s vital role in providing free, confidential, non-judgemental, and personalised financial mentoring and advocacy services that empowers and enables New Zealanders and their whānau to become more financially capable.

 

The funding contract will be for three years – from July 2024 to June 2027.

 

NSBS is thrilled to receive all of the funding it requested. It is the first re-contracting of BFC services since 2016.

 

The contracts awarded to successful BFC providers, such as NSBS, are worth a total of $19.5m.

 

This year the Government consolidated funding around fewer providers.

 

The ending of time-limited Covid-19 funding has meant a 12.5% reduction in funding available for these contracts from 1 July onwards.

 

“We understand how valuable these services are for those who use them, and we are grateful to the organisations who provide them,” said Karin Dalgleish, Acting General Manager Strong Safe Families and Communities.

 

NSBS CEO Drew Glucina said the funding is deeply appreciated and could not have come at a better time, as Kiwis are facing it tough.

 

“We know that financial mentoring is a life-changing experience, and when you can help people get back on their feet and feel financially secure, you make a positive and empowering impact on their lives and that of their whānau.

 

“We are grateful to the MSD for recognising and acknowledging our organisation’s 31-year history of providing vital financial mentoring, support and education to people, families and whānau to help them achieve their financial goals and provide them with the tools and resources they need to thrive.”

 

Glucina said the new funding will allow NSBS to expand the organisation’s services further.

 

“We have always provided financial mentoring clinics throughout the North Shore and extending to South Auckland. With this new funding, we will work with our partners to increase our service provision in South Auckland, where the rising cost of living has created a significant need.”

 

The NSBS team of mentors are professionally trained and accredited by FinCap. They deliver one-on-one financial mentoring and advocacy services, helping clients enduring financial hardship to identify their goals and develop a strengths-based financial plan.

 

They work with clients to identify the best debt solutions, negotiate with creditors to reduce debt, set budgets, and provide ongoing support to improve outcomes.

 

The NSBS mentors help clients and whānau on their journey to financial independence by ensuring they have more control over day-to-day finances, more ability to absorb a financial shock, more financial freedom to make life choices and achieve their financial goals, and more ability to save and plan for retirement, leading them into home ownership, and providing opportunities for employment or promotion.

We build the financial capability of Māori and Pacific peoples, and we work closely with Māori and Pasifika healthcare partners and community organisations, and incorporate tikanga Māori and cultural values into our BFC service to deliver better financial futures and outcomes for Māori and Pasifika communities.

 

The reasons for Māori inequity are historic and still affect Māori socially and economically. At the same time, approaches to building financial capability are not often designed or delivered in culturally appropriate ways. We believe in better supporting Māori financial wellbeing and resilience.

 

We know that raising Māori and Pacific peoples’ financial capability will significantly benefit and improve their economic, cultural and social wellbeing. We create innovative, safe and culturally relevant solutions and respond to their holistic needs of integrating families and communities.

 

Raising Pacific people’s financial capability skills will help improve their economic, cultural and social wellbeing, and research shows the most successful programmes are those grounded in Pacific values and culture, and holistically integrated around families and community. We focus on delivering financial capability support in culturally appropriate ways, so Pacific people and their families are reached effectively.

 

Through our BFC programme, and our experienced te reo-speaking mentors, we empower our Māori and Pasifika clients on their journeys of financial capability. We work with Māori and Pacific Island organisations and employment schemes, and act in accordance with tikanga to offer culturally appropriate and conversant mentors to Māori and Pacific clients who feel more comfortable with one.

 

We work with Te Puna Hauora, the Māori health organisation based on the North Shore, and Grace Foundation, which offers safe shelter and holistic services to marginalised Māori and Pacific peoples. We deliver one-on-one financial capability and advocacy services to clients and whānau of both organisations as part of a strategic, collaborative partnership.

 

We deliver mentoring at De Paul House working with Māori, Pasifika, migrant, and refugee individuals and whānau facing homelessness to provide financial capability knowledge and solutions to improve their life outcomes.

 

We also welcome  Māori and Pasifika individuals and whānau from South Auckland who choose to come to our Takapuna office because they don’t want a financial mentor in their location, ashamed they’ll be recognised by their community. And we work with individuals and whānau in South Auckland who come from the Māngere Refugee Resettlement Centre, and from emergency accommodation.

NSBS welcomed a visit by National Party leader Christopher Luxon and members of the media to shine a light on the important work we do in delivering financial mentoring to the community, and directly improving the lives of Kiwis suffering from the cost of living crisis.

 

“It was a privilege to visit NSBS, a financial mentoring non-profit in Takapuna, and meet CEO Drew Glucina and some of their clients today,” Mr Luxon said.

 

“I sat down with a couple who are staying in transitional housing, have one toddler and a baby on the way. They’re ambitious, have big dreams and want to get ahead but right now they can’t,” the National Party leader said.

 

Mr Luxon met NSBS clients Esther and Vanu Rea, who are proud parents of an 18-month-old son and a baby due next month.

 

The young Pacific Island couple are struggling in this cost of living crisis, despite having a fulltime job as a retail manager and being cautious with their income. Food is too expensive and rent prohibitive, and they worry how they will manage to get by.

 

Mr Luxon took time to meet with the young couple and their NSBS mentor, Nick Handey, who explained how he is helping Esther and Vanu build a solid financial future for their growing family.

 

He also met the team of financial mentors at NSBS and listened to their stories about the wide variety of clients who really struggling in the cost of living crisis.

 

He toured the NSBS offices at the Mary Thomas Centre, where for 31 years, the organisation has provided free, confidential, non-judgemental, and personalised financial mentoring and advocacy services that empowers and enables New Zealanders and their whānau to become more financially capable.

 

Mr Luxon heard how, in the last two years, the number of financial mentor numbers at NSBS has swelled. The charity has expanded the number of full-time and volunteer financial mentors to meet the demand for our services from clients who are suffering from the cost of living crisis. He learnt that mentoring sessions are provided one-on-one and in-person at NSBS’s Takapuna office, or virtually via Zoom call; and available six days a week, including Saturdays, and after-hours each weekday evening to keep up with demand.

 

NSBS CEO Drew Glucina told Mr Luxon the increased number in mentoring sessions – up fourfold – is due to the number of new clients who now come from all walks of life.

 

“NSBS has experienced unprecedented demand for financial mentoring from individuals and whānau,” Ms Glucina said. “And that increased demand illustrates that we are needed, valued and warranted.”

 

She added: “Our clients represent all aspects of society. They come to us for a lifeline because they are struggling with a high level of debt. The cost of living crisis and the rise in inflation and food costs has severely impacted budgets across the country, and many of our clients are enduring financial hardship and stress while struggling to manage debt.”

NSBS mentors help clients identify their goals and develop a strengths-based financial plan and best debt solutions. They advocate and negotiate on their clients’ behalf with creditors to reduce debt, set budgets, and provide ongoing support to improve outcomes.

 

NSBS sets budgets and savings plans and delivers financial specialist intervention services such as Debt Repayment Order, Insolvency Procedure, No Asset Procedure and Bankruptcy, and KiwiSaver Hardship Applications. Clients come from all over New Zealand – and abroad. NSBS delivers financial capability services to expat Kiwis in Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Argentina and Ukraine.

At the NSBS offices, Mr Luxon told waiting media, including journalists from TVNZ, TV3, NZ Herald, RNZ, Stuff and other media outlets, that he is committed to reducing the cost of living for New Zealanders.

 

The cost of living for the average household increased 7.7% in the 12 months to March 2023. This follows an 8.2% increase in the 12 months to December 2022. Higher prices for interest payments, grocery food, rent and fruit and vegetables were the main contributors to this increase. Inflation is at a three-decade high, and interest rate hikes have endured a long stretch, ensuring the cost of living is one of the central matters on which next month’s election will be decided.

 

Mr Luxon said the National party’s Back Pocket Boost policy could assist young couples like Esther and Vanu, which would deliver tax relief of up to $100 per fortnight for an average income household, plus a FamilyBoost childcare tax credit of up to $150 per fortnight.

 

The Labour government has pledged a package of measures, including removing taxes from fresh fruits and vegetables and expanding free dental care to include people aged under 30, and removing charges for prescription medicines.

 

For Ms Glucina, a global leader in financial literacy, the demand for financial mentoring services is not ebbing anytime soon.

NSBS has been recognised by the Government with a special certificate and pendant for the important work and responsive measures the non-profit organisation provided to individuals and whānau during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

As a dedicated agency working during the height of the Coronavirus epidemic to offer financial mentoring services, money management support and emergency relief funding, NSBS is honoured to receive the recognition as part of the Government’s Care in the Community Welfare Response.

 

The Care in the Community Welfare Response action was part of the Government’s three-phase plan to mitigate the impacts of Omicron in our communities and support the expected increase in the number of people who were required to self-isolate at home.

 

NSBS is recognised as a valued provider and received funding as one of 150 agencies throughout New Zealand that delivered a wide variety of services to individuals and whānau who were self-isolating at that time, many of whom had complex needs and required a variety of support.

 

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins signed the certificates recognising those agencies and community providers. The Government provided funding totalling $407.9 million for the Care in the Community Welfare Response.

 

“Our dedicated staff and volunteer mentors worked exceptionally hard during the pandemic, remaining resilient and flexible in an extraordinarily difficult environment to ensure all our clients’ mentoring needs were safely met by phone or virtual technology,” said NSBS Chief Executive Officer Drew Glucina.

 

“The lockdowns throughout the country only raised the need for our money management expertise. The growing demand for budgeting and debt solution services came at a time when delivering face-to-face support became more difficult, but NSBS was able to step up to the challenge, offering flexible delivery procedures to cope with the rise in need.”

 

Many Kiwis were left severely impacted by the pandemic facing lost income and livelihoods, financial uncertainty, elevated costs and unexpected expenses.

 

NSBS saw a significant rise in the number of new clients impacted by the crisis and in need of financial mentoring support post-lockdowns, from seniors to small business owners, and debt-free individuals looking to prioritise their lives and develop a better savings plan or leave a family legacy.

 

People came to NSBS actively looking for more support to better manage their money and reduce the burden of financial worries so they can live happier, more fulfilled lives.

 

While the lockdowns have ended and the pandemic has eased, the crisis will continue to reverberate on our economy for some time and we will feel the effect on our personal finances and livelihoods. Whatever NSBS can do to free New Zealanders from money worries to live their best life, we will do.

Ordinary Kiwis are doing it tough and are more in need than ever of financial mentoring services to overcome the burden of financial stress that they are under.

 

The financial mentor team at NSBS has seen a significant rise in the number of people seeking help with financial budgeting and debt resolution due to the rise in the cost of living, inflation, and interest rates.

 

This crisis has seen ordinary working Kiwis really struggling and stressing about their day-to-day money management; including how they will pay the increase in mortgage payments, how they will stretch their income to buy food and fuel, and how they can keep their head above water without going further into debt.

 

This has become an even bigger priority since the January floods that impacted much of Auckland, and the states of emergency around the country following Cyclone Gabrielle.

 

“New Zealanders are really struggling this year, with many barely managing to cope with their daily finances or to put food on the table. We have been inundated with requests for financial mentorship this year, on an unprecedented scale, and the urgency is very real,” said NSBS CEO Drew Glucina.

 

“The financial stress Kiwis are under is immense, and with that often comes a deep sense of shame and embarrassment to ask for help for many people who have never needed to do so in the past, simply because they are facing a series of situations beyond their control.

 

“At the same time, many are simply so desperate and in need of help right now, they ring to ask for a $50 or $100 handout to help them meet the rent that week, or put petrol in the car, or buy basic groceries for the family,” she explained.

 

From pensioners to homeowners, farmers to beneficiaries, young professionals, and small business owners, NSBS has seen a significant jump in Kiwis from all walks of life needing financial mentorship.

 

National Party finance spokesperson and deputy leader, Nicola Willis, is not surprised by the surge in the need for help.

 

“The cost of living is higher than it’s ever been. The price of everything just keeps climbing – food, rent, mortgage payments; it seems the only way is up, and things are going up faster than many can remember happening before,” she said.

 

“The typical hourly wage might have a bigger number on it, but the pay-check doesn’t go as far as it once did, with each fortnight’s pay seeming to get stretched thinner than the last.”

 

The New Zealand cost of living crisis has impacted all Kiwis with food prices soaring, petrol costs skyrocketing, and energy bills rising as we head into winter, and inflation making everyday life more expensive.

 

The team at NSBS is here to tackle the reality of the cost of living crisis on ordinary Kiwis by helping to take the stress out of their present financial situations so they can make sustainable plans for a positive financial future.