Here’s the scenario: you owe the bank some money and they tell you how to repay it (eg. You have a mortgage of $200,000 and they want $1200 per month for 30 years).
So you dutifully get started making the regular payments.
But then you hear from a friend that there is a more efficient method; a [...]
Advice from The Money Coach
Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on September 1, 2010
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Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on August 29, 2010
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I’ve been speaking to people lately who, when I ask “what do you want?” reply “to be debt-free”. It rolls off their tongue well-rehearsed yet their actions show they make frequent (small and large) spending decisions which are keeping them from being debt-free anytime soon.
It’s as though the ‘expected’ answer is about eliminating what they [...]
Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on August 25, 2010
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How much money do you spend on gifts each year?
This is a question I ask each of my clients. Nearly every time they underestimate, by as much as 50%!
Try it out. Take a guess at how much you spend on gifts. Got a figure in mind?
Now grab a calculator. Do you normally spend $20, $50 [...]
Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on January 11, 2010
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The online game sensation FarmVille is teaching people valuable financial lessons, and they may not even realise.
In the Facebook game (created by software company Zynga) players plant and harvest virtual crops, tend to farmyard animals and expand their land by selling the goods.
The ‘farmers’ help neighbours with chores and exchange gifts with them. As they [...]
Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on September 8, 2009
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I introduced the Money Mindset Mob to the wonderful students at Karanga Mai College in Kaiapoi yesterday, and helped them bust the three lethal money myths.
They were an enthusiastic bunch, easily grasping how we are all different when it comes to our money habits and beliefs.
The room got a bit quiet when we starting talking [...]
Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on July 20, 2009
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More money makes us happier, right?
We can’t wait to be earning the six-figure salary or winning the lottery so we can be happier than we are now…
Yet according to Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert (as written in his book Stumbling On Happiness), this is a dangerous belief.
“Economists and psychologists have spent decades studying the relation between [...]
Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on July 11, 2009
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Or actually, why DON’T we talk about money?
This quote from John Hope Bryant raises a very valid point:
“Financial literacy is not a math class. Money is emotional. It is aspirational, cultural, environmental, deals with self-esteem and life reality… We all say we want love, sex and money, and yet we don’t really discuss either of [...]
Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on July 2, 2009
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A whole day spent listening to experts on financial literacy and money education.
Was I mad?
Apparently so! I was at Financial Literacy 09 in Wellington, a one-day summit put on by the NZ Retirement Commission and attended by 200 Suits. Yup, The Suits from banks, financial institutions and government ministries all hoping the speakers would either [...]
Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on July 2, 2009
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I spent an afternoon with some 20-something student friends of mine. The topic of the Money Survey I was running (for 12-29 year olds) came up.
We talked about what they had learned at school about personal finance.
Very little. The subjects of accounting and economics always had a business focus. It is not mandatory for NZ [...]
Written By: Teen Money Expert Stuart Fleming on July 2, 2009
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Parents should give their children an allowance
In discussing this point the Money Mindset Mob each had a different opinion.
Here is my ‘money advice‘ for parents:
One of the scariest questions I can ask a parent is: When your child reaches the age you are now, would you be happy if they had the same level of [...]
