The Money Message

Do we really need a million dollars in the bank before we retire? Financial guru Mary Holm talks to Emma Clifton about how women can be more money-confident and how to head happily into retirement.

When it comes to big, scary, confusing topics, it doesn’t really get more intimidating or more personal than money. Money makes the world go round. Money can’t buy happiness. Money doesn’t grow on trees. Think about all the close, intimate discussions you’ll have with your loved ones – but would you be comfortable discussing how much you’ve earned, how much you’ve saved? Money is still treated as a secret – feared by some, ignored by others, hyped by many. And then, in the middle of all that obfuscation, is Mary Holm – no nonsense, dry-witted and as Kiwi as they come, as New Zealand’s most trusted money expert.

For decades, Mary has been cutting through the confusion when it comes to how we view our money, our worth. As well being a seminar presenter and the director of the Financial Markets Authority and Financial Services Complaints Ltd, her Q&A column in The New Zealand Herald has made her something of a financial agony aunt, as readers from across the country send in their problems – the one avenue where us famously shy Kiwis get free rein to talk money.

“It’s a little bit like your sex life, your financial life,” Mary laughs as she sits down with The Australian Women’s Weekly. “A few close friends might know – especially if you’ve got problems in either area – but you tend not to tell too many people.”

Mary strips the mystery from money talk and layers her advice with kindness, humour and thoughtfulness. Feedback for her fortnightly interview on Radio New Zealand includes this pearler: “I am thinking of starting a religion in Mary’s honour and building statues and singing songs about her.”