It Starts With Action

Fortnight 1: Financial wellbeing for women - what does it look like?

Our first fortnight was an introduction to financial wellbeing and in particular what it looks like for women in Aotearoa New Zealand.

We launched the campaign on 2 May 2022 with a segment on TOVA and a demonstration of our Money Talks conversation cards on Seven Sharp.

The conversation cards were a great success and have been used throughout the campaign period to get more women talking about money. The original set of cards was adapted into a family edition and a te reo Māori version as well.

Supporters and social media influencers took up the #LetsTalkAboutMoney challenge by sharing their own conversations and money stories on social media, generating further reach and engagement.

Thank you for your leadership and for inspiring the sector to engage and make progress on this important topic.

- senior financial services industry leader

We had our first team meeting ... working on how we get this underway, and it was so uplifting talking with the diverse women within our own workplace. When I see what we can do when we get together like this – I don’t know why we didn’t do it sooner!!! Women are pretty smart you know!

- financial adviser

Fortnight 2: How to make your money work smarter

For the second fortnight of the campaign, we delved into the world of investing. In particular, we decided to look at five common myths women are told about money:

Women aren't good savers
Talking about money is arrogant
Women aren't interested in shares
Most women just rely on their partner
Women are risk averse

We released a series of five videos on social media addressing each of these myths and why they're wildly untrue.

Cooking the Books

We appeared on the Cooking the Books podcast on 13 June 2022 to talk about investing myths.

It is just so heartening to see the difference this campaign is making and the awareness that is now top of mind.

- senior financial services industry leader

Fortnight 3: Growing financially resilient kids

Our third fortnight looked at how to grow financially resilient kids. The message around this fortnight was that it is possible to pass on good money habits to your kids even if you're still figuring it out for yourself!

Webinar 31 May 2022

We held a webinar facilitated by Crayon's Stephanie Pow that was attended by 168 people and featured some practical tips and resources for parents looking to pass on good money lessons to their kids. Speakers Josie Crimmins, Dan Russell and Irihapeti Edwards shared their tips and tools and answered audience questions.

Money and You video episode

After being a guest on the Cooking the Books podcast, we returned the favour and had Frances Cook on our Money and You video series. She shared her insights as a mother on how to grow financially resilient kids and pass on good money lessons.

Fortnight 4: Protecting what matters

The fourth campaign theme was all about protecting what matters most to you: the possessions, things and people that you love.

Webinar 21 June 2022

Hannah Ockelford facilitated an online webinar attended by a highly-engaged audience of 169 people. Speakers Rosie O'Sullivan, Glenys Talivai, Jess Quinn and Dr. Acushla Dee Sciascia. They talked about the importance of creating a will and how insurance can help you when things go wrong.

Thank you to the Financial Services Council for putting on this webinar. It was great to be given the opportunity to discuss in an open and honest forum a topic that is important to so many of us.

- panellist

Fortnight 5: Navigating life's challenges

This theme of the campaign is all about preparing for tough times, such as separation, divorce and death, and how having healthy financial conversations can help us to navigate them.

We're looking at what healthy financial relationships look like, how to talk about money with your partner, and how to navigate some of those sticky situations so you come out the other side.

Webinar 28 June 2022

105 live attendees tuned in for our webinar facilitated by Craigs Investment Partners' Yvonne Davie. Speakers Dr. Ayesha Scott, Nicola Eccleton, Latayvia Tualasea Tautai and Bridgette Jackson answered audience questions and shared their unique perspectives on healthy financial relationships.

Fortnight 6: The gender retirement gap (and how to fix it)

The final theme of the campaign will focus on the gender retirement gap.

Women retire with 20% less on average in their KiwiSaver than men do. The penalty of motherhood was recently estimated to be up to $318,000. 62% of women do not feel prepared for retirement, according to FSC research.

This theme is all about turning these facts into action, to ensure equal retirement outcomes for all New Zealanders.

The gender retirement gap (and how to fix it)

This in-person event is being held at Westpac on 7 July 2022 and will feature a panel of speakers sharing their solutions for how we can bridge the gender retirement gap.

Campaign wrap and next steps

To bring a close to the three-month campaign, we held a Summit event at the Park Hyatt in Auckland on 28 July 2022. This event served as a celebration and reflection on the campaign and what it managed to achieve. More importantly, it involved looking to what's next, and a pledge of commitment from the financial services industry to continue the learnings forward in order to bring about impactful change. We also pledged our commitment to continue lifting the financial wellbeing of women.

The Summit was hosted by Frances Cook and featuring an incredible line-up of speakers including, Hon. Jan Tinetti, Antonia Watson, Rhiannon McKinnon, Jane Wrightson, Simran Kaur and more.