Making Cents

What does it actually cost to walk away from a successful career and build something that matters?

Ali Mau is one of New Zealand's most recognised television faces, including Breakfast, Fair Go, Seven Sharp, One News.

She was also made redundant five times along the way.

Instead of treating each setback as a dead end, she used them as clarity. Now in her sixties, she’s co-founded Tika, a tech-for-good startup helping survivors of sexual harm.

In this episode of Making Cents, Frances Cook talks with Ali about the real financial reality of a major career pivot: the year of zero income, burning through savings, accumulating debt, and why none of that was visible from the outside.

They dig into how to fund a passion project when traditional funding streams are stacked against you, how transferable skills show up in unexpected ways, and what you actually need to have in place, both financially and personally, before you make the leap.

If you've ever wondered how to afford a career change, how to keep the lights on while building something meaningful, or whether it's too late to start over, this episode is for you.

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

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

With six in ten Kiwis making impulse purchases from social media every month, Frances Cook joins the TVNZ Breakfast team to explain the manipulative tactics behind online shopping and how to take back control of your spending.
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Audio engineering by Tash Chittock

Financial freedom is a series of levels, and once you understand them, the whole thing stops feeling impossible and starts feeling like a plan.

In this solo episode of Making Cents, Frances Cook breaks down the five levels of financial freedom, from knowing your numbers for the first time, to the point where work becomes genuinely optional.

Each level builds on the last. Each one makes the next one easier to reach, not harder. And the first level doesn't require much money at all - just honesty.

We talk about:
Why knowing your numbers is an underrated form of financial freedom
The one thing that reduces money stress at every income level
What "I have options" actually looks like in real NZ dollars
How compounding returns turn into a second job that requires nothing from you
The 4% rule, and how to use it to figure out your number
Why level five isn't the absence of work, it's the absence of fear

Whether you're drowning in debt and just trying to get a grip, or you're already investing and wondering what comes next, this episode will tell you exactly where you are, and where to aim next.

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

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

#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

You know what you should be doing with your money. So why aren't you doing it?
You know you should ask for the raise. Start investing. Stop spending on things you don't care about. And yet, somehow, you don't.
Counsellor and change therapist Charlotte Cummings has a name for what's stopping you, and it's not laziness or lack of discipline.
It's your unbearable feeling.
In this episode, Frances Cook sits down with Charlotte to unpack one of the most powerful concepts in psychology: the one or two feelings we hate so much, we structure our entire lives around never experiencing them.
And in doing so, we sabotage ourselves financially, professionally, and in our relationships — without ever realising why.

We talk about:
- What an "unbearable feeling" is and where it comes from
- How to figure out what yours is
- Why it's often behind the very thing making you successful, as well as being the very thing holding you back
- Common unbearable feelings that block people from investing, saving, or asking for more
- How to stop being run by your own fears (and what changes when you do)

This one will make you think differently about every money decision you've been putting off.

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

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

The war in Iran is already moving mortgage rates, and it's not done yet.
Interest rates are moving, and this will change everything with your money. Beyond the mortgage, it’s also your savings, your investments, and even your job.
So what's actually happening, and what should you do about it?
Frances Cook is joined by Massey University’s Christoph Schumacher and EnableMe financial coach Katie Wesney to break down the chain reaction from a conflict on the other side of the world, straight to your bank balance.
We're covering:
– How a war in the Middle East ends up pushing up your interest rate
– What the Reserve Bank is likely to do next, and when
– The key decisions to help you be smarter with your money, and especially your mortgage
– How to build genuine financial resilience when the future is uncertain
You can’t control the war. But you can control how you prepare.