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10 Things to Do Differently with Money in 2025

​New Zealanders are struggling with rising costs, debt, and financial stress. Our guide shares practical, no-nonsense changes to help you take control of your money, stop wasteful spending, and build real financial security.
Updated 12 March 2025
Summary:
  • ​​You can't control many financial factors, but many you can – and by changing behaviours, you'll move forward and lower (or eliminate) financial stress.
  • Around half of New Zealanders worry about money, according to a 2024 NZ Herald article, and things are getting worse.
  • Inspired by videos and columns by Dave Ramsey, Mary Holm, and other personal finance experts with proven track records, our list focuses on real changes that make a meaningful impact.
  • Know This: Subscriptions, delivery services, and increased cost of living are causing many middle-income New Zealanders to struggle. Making 2025 about assessing needs vs wants will help you worry less about money. The more wants you cut out, the better you'll manage in 2025 and beyond.
  • We focus on creating a serious and honest guide you can benefit from by following the steps. If you have any suggestions, please contact our research team. ​​

MoneyHub Founder Christopher Walsh shares his views on why making changes this year is a must:

MoneyHub Founder Christopher Walsh shares his views on why making changes this year is a must:

Many New Zealanders are living in 2025 with a very problematic financial situation. The economy is slowing down, there are far more unemployed people than there are jobs, consumer debt levels are suffocating, and people are spending money they don't have on things they don't need. The government does not help with any big projects or hiring.

Adding to the downforce is a rise in the cost of living while wages aren't keeping up. More New Zealanders rely on credit cards, personal loans, and 'interest-free' traps to maintain a lifestyle they can't afford. The result? More stress, more debt, and zero financial freedom.

The Idea That Things Will 'Sort Themselves Out' is False
One of the most dangerous financial lies is believing things will "just get better" over time. They won't. The system will bleed you dry if you don't actively manage your money.
  • Inflation isn't going away – the price of groceries, petrol, and rent will keep climbing.
  • Banks don't care about your financial well-being – they're happy to lend you money via credit cards and overdrafts, knowing they'll make good profits from interest charges.
  • The government won't rescue you – we are seeing austerity in many areas and expect to see more.

Financial success isn't about luck—it's about making ruthless, calculated decisions. If you don't budget, you'll stay broke. You'll drown in debt if you use credit cards and BNPL to fund a lifestyle you can't afford. If you waste money on online shopping, you'll wonder why you still live payday to payday at 50. I am writing directly because I keep seeing people's mistakes despite sharing guides on MoneyHub for 5+ years.

Debt is the New Normal – But It Shouldn't Be
​Banks and financial institutions have spent decades brainwashing people into believing that debt is normal. It's not. Debt is the reason people never get ahead.
  • A mortgage that takes 30 years to pay off is a financial prison that can leave retirees with a mortgage-free home (at best) but with few (or no) other assets.
  • A car loan means paying for something that's losing value every day.
  • BNPL services are designed to allow you to spend more than you should.

The problem isn't just debt itself—it's the attitude that owing money is "fine." It's not. You don't have control when you're in debt - your lender has the power. You go to work every day not to build wealth, but to make monthly payments. Interest rates, repayment schedules, and bank statements dictate your future. That's not financial freedom - and I want people to know why it's a national problem.

The Silent Crisis: New Zealanders Are Financially Unprepared
A growing number of middle-income New Zealanders are one financial emergency away from disaster. The data speaks for itself:
And yet, people continue to act like nothing is wrong. They upgrade their phones, subscribe to more services, and finance cars they can't afford while wondering why their financial situation never improves.

Here's something most people don't want to hear:
  1. You will never be wealthy if you're not financially disciplined.
  2. The divide between the financially responsible and the financially reckless grows wider yearly.
  3. Wealth isn't built by hoping things will change - it's built by taking extreme ownership of your money.

That means:
  • Cutting unnecessary expenses without hesitation.
  • Refusing to take on bad debt, no matter how "normal" it seems.
  • Investing early and often—because no one gets rich by "saving" alone.
  • Avoiding financial traps that benefit everyone except you.

The Most Valuable Lesson for 2025
New Zealanders need to wake up. The financial system has a habit of making the rich richer while keeping the poor in debt forever. The only way to break free is to stop playing the game on their terms.
  • Stop taking on debt
  • Say no instead of yes when it comes to buying non-essentials

This guide is one of our most important, and I encourage you to read it from start to finish to see how changes in everyday habits give you financial power.
Christopher Walsh
MoneyHub Founder

Our List of Ten Things to Do Differently Right Now:

Set a Budget and Understand Where Your Money is Going

Many New Zealanders have taken on too much debt, but the root cause is not knowing where their money is going. Financial stability and being 'happy' with money starts with awareness – without a budget and knowing where your money goes, you're flying blind.

A budget is not about restriction; it's about control. It tells you how much you have, where it's going, and where you can make better choices. Without one, money leaks away into things that don't matter. We suggest the following course of action:
  1. Track your expenses for 30 days – note every dollar spent using a budget app or print your bank and credit card statements and relive each expense. You'll almost certainly be shocked at how much disappears on unnecessary spending.
  2. Choose a budgeting method – the 50/30/20 rule (50% needs, 30% wants, 20% savings) is a solid starting point - our 50/30/20 guide has more information.
  3. Find and cut the fat – eating out, unused subscriptions and impulse purchases can add up to thousands yearly. If you want to have money, it's about letting go of expenses that endlessly appear but are far from essential.

Our View: Budgeting isn't about making life miserable. It's about getting ahead. By knowing where your money is going, you make deliberate decisions instead of letting money control you.

Those who set budgets have less financial stress and achieve more with their earnings. Many New Zealanders are afraid to get an oversight of their money and how they spend it - the result is doom spending, poor planning and, in many cases, high-interest debt (by way of personal loans and credit cards that go unpaid).

As soon as you track your spending, your behaviour changes for the better - it's about being uncomfortable in the short term for long-term benefits.

Top Tip: Get an App to Help You Manage Your Spending
  • Too many people feel broke at the end of the week or month and have no idea where their money went. The reality? It’s too easy to do nothing and hope things improve—but without tracking your spending, nothing changes.
  • Many MoneyHub readers have talked fondly of Booster Savvy and its powerful spending and analytics tool which tracks every dollar you spend, giving you a clear, data-driven view of your finances. The insights help you see patterns, identify waste, and take action.
  • You can benefit from automatically categorised transactions and instantly see how much you spend on trips to the supermarket, takeaways, entertainment etc. You can set spending alerts and budgets and make better financial decisions.
  • If you prefer another app, our list of budget apps covers what's on offer locally.

Why is this important?​
​If you don't track your spending, your money controls you instead of the other way around. Budget apps give you the data you need to make smarter choices. The difference between people who struggle and those who get ahead often comes down to awareness.

BNPL is a Financial Trap - Ditch It Now

BNPL services (such as Afterpay) market themselves as interest-free, hassle-free spending tools, but they're a form of debt that makes people spend more than they should.

A 2022 Consumer NZ report found that many BNPL users miss payments and get hit with late fees – proving BNPL isn't as "risk-free" as advertised. The trap is in the convenience: the easier it is to buy, the easier it is to overspend. BNPL is dangerous because:
  1. It tricks you into spending money you don't have – "four easy payments" still means four future payments.
  2. It leads to financial juggling – using multiple BNPL providers can quickly become a budgeting nightmare.
  3. It kills financial discipline – people using BNPL tend to save less and rely on borrowing more often.

Our View: BNPL isn't a "convenience," it's a financial liability. Waiting and saving is the best strategy if you can't afford something today. BNPL is designed to make you think you're in control when locking in future payments. The safest BNPL option? Deleting the apps and never using them full stop.

Focus on Repaying Personal Debts and Limiting Credit Cards

As per recent research from AUT personal debt is one of the biggest financial traps, and many New Zealanders carry far too much of it. Credit card and personal loan interest rates remain high despite a lower OCR, and every extra dollar paid in interest is a dollar you can't invest, save, or spend on things that matter.

Credit cards, in particular, are a disaster zone for financial stability. Our credit card guides argue the best credit card, for most people, is no credit card at all. This is because the average interest rate is above 20%, and many New Zealanders fail to repay their balance every month, meaning even a small unpaid balance snowballs fast. Paying the minimum keeps you in debt for years, while so-called "solutions" like balance transfers only shift the problem unless there is a serious effort to repay.

If you have credit card debt, personal loans, car finance, or hire purchase agreements, repaying them should be a top priority. The goal is simple: get and stay out of debt.

How to tackle personal debt fast:
  • List every debt you owe (including the amount, interest rate, and repayment terms).
  • Prioritise repayment – focus on the highest-interest debt first while making minimum payments on everything else.
  • Cut unnecessary spending – redirect that money toward debt repayment instead.
  • Stop adding to the problem – please forgo using your credit cards, take on personal loans, refinancing, or use BNPL until debts are cleared. It may sound unrealistic to do so, but these debts are expensive to service and take you backwards.
  • Use extra income wisely – any tax refunds, overtime hours, work bonuses, or side hustle earnings should go straight to paying down debt.

Our View: Debt is a burden that weighs down your financial future. Clearing what you owe is the first step if you want financial freedom. People often assume credit cards are a "normal" part of life, but normal means paying 20%+ interest on things you bought months (or years) ago. The reality is simple: the less debt you have, the more control you have.

Avoid the Financial Advice of Broke Friends

Everyone has an opinion on money, but most people have no idea what they're talking about. This may sound cynical, but we stand by it. If your friends are constantly broke, living payday to payday, or drowning in debt, they're not the best people to take financial advice from.

Good financial habits come from learning from the right sources. Why take money advice from someone who can't manage theirs? Common bad financial advice to ignore:
  • "You only live once—just spend it!" Living once is exactly why you need to make smart financial decisions. Life is too short to spend it being poor.
  • "Let's do Uber Eats for dinner" - it's expensive, addictive and just a waste of money. 
  • "A car loan is fine—everyone has one." Just because something is common doesn't make it smart. Car loans are expensive to repay and leave a lot of New Zealanders in a bad financial position.
  • "Investing is too risky - you'll lose money." Not investing (and spending your money instead) ensures poor future outcomes, such as having no emergency funds, money to buy a house or retirement funds. Furthermore, keeping money in a low-interest savings account guarantees you'll lose to inflation. KiwiSaver contributions are popular, and with the government's annual contribution, the first $1,040 you put in triggers a $520 contribution from the government every year.
  • "Debt is normal - don't stress about it." Debt may be common, but it's never beneficial.

The best financial advice comes from people who have built wealth, not those constantly struggling to get by.

Our View:  If someone isn't where you want to be financially, don't take their advice. The best approach is to follow those already financially successful through books, podcasts, or interviews with proven experts. Making smart money choices requires filtering out the noise and focusing on effective strategies.

Watch Your Online Shopping – It's Designed to Make You Spend More

Online shopping is a trap. It's deliberately designed to make you buy things you don't need, and the rise of one-click purchases, algorithm-driven recommendations, and flash sales is making it worse.

Many New Zealanders treat online shopping as a hobby, and retailers know this. They use psychology to encourage impulse spending, whether it's limited-time discounts, "free shipping over $100" tricks, or endless email promotions.

It's too easy to spend - your card is saved, the checkout is frictionless, and your phone is always within reach. While you can always cancel or return items, many New Zealanders don't, meaning cash evaporates on non-essential shopping.

How to Control Online Spending:
  1. Remove stored credit card details – manually entering your card slows you down and makes impulse purchases less appealing. We also suggest keeping your card(s) away from your phone or computer to make it harder to make an online purchase.
  2. Use the 24-hour rule – wait a day before buying anything non-essential. We believe that in most cases, you'll realise you don't need it and don't need to buy it.
  3. Unsubscribe from marketing emails – they exist to make you spend. If you don't see the deals, you won't be tempted. By purging your inbox with a mass unsubscribe, you can avoid getting sucked into deals you don't need or want.
  4. Set a spending cap – if you must shop online, limit how much you allow yourself to spend each month - this is the only way to keep control given how easy it is to spend.
  5. Delete shopping apps – removing them from your phone makes it harder to browse mindlessly. This includes apps like Temu, which have arguably gamified shopping.

Our View: Retailers study human psychology to maximise their profits - the more aware you are of their tricks, the better you can protect your money. Shopping online is convenient, but it's also a financial black hole for people who aren't disciplined. The key is control—treat online spending as a tool, not entertainment.

​Too often, New Zealanders reach the age of 30, 40 or 50 and have a home cluttered with stuff they've bought online they no longer use but won't throw out. Apps like Temu are part of the problem where buying cheap junk seems affordable, but the value is arguably low, and the long-term use is limited. Please be cautious as online shopping is becoming more creative, aggressive and insidious in getting users to spend without considering needs and consequences.

Grow Your Emergency Fund – It's More Important Than Ever

​​An emergency fund isn't a luxury - it's a necessity. While interest rates on savings accounts aren't as high as in 2023, having cash on hand for emergencies remains one of the smartest financial moves you can make.

Many New Zealanders rely on credit cards or personal loans for unexpected expenses—but this is a mistake. Debt is not an emergency plan.

How much should an emergency fund be?
  • Minimum: $1,000 covers small but urgent costs (car repairs, medical bills).
  • Better: Three months' living expenses are enough to cover job loss or a major financial shock.
  • Ideal: Six months' worth – financial peace of mind, no matter what happens.

​How to Build Your Emergency Fund:
  • Set up a separate savings account – don't mix it with your daily spending money.
  • Automate savings – set up a small, automatic transfer every payday. This can be as low as $20/week (which would build $1,000+ a year).
  • Use windfalls wisely – tax refunds, overtime and extra hour payments, work bonuses and side hustle income can build your emergency fund quickly.
  • Cut non-essential spending – redirect money from impulse purchases to your emergency fund - this is easier when you use a budgeting app that tracks and visualises your money so you can use it more wisely.

Our View:  Too many people learn the importance of an emergency fund the hard way—when it's too late and after taking on expensive debt. Having savings set aside is the difference between a minor inconvenience and a financial disaster. The goal isn't just to have money sitting there - it's to sleep better at night, knowing you're covered no matter what happens.

Keep Investing – Even When Markets Move Up and Down

Many people panic and stop investing when markets drop, but this is the worst possible strategy, as proven in early 2020 when KiwiSaver investors saw their balances fall, switched to cash funds and locked in losses.

Investing should be a long-term plan, and market downturns are not a reason to quit - they're the best time to buy.
If you invest when markets fall, you're buying at a discount. If you wait for "the perfect time," you can't time the market and will likely miss out on gains. The key to building wealth isn't timing the market; it's time in the market.

How to invest wisely:
  • Stick to a long-term plan – don't react to short-term market movements. Dollar-cost average investing and choosing a proven managed fund or KiwiSaver fund is a strong starting point.
  • Keep adding money regularly – a set monthly amount helps smooth out price fluctuations. This can be automatic (as with KiwiSaver) or a fixed amount, such as $100 a fortnight, using an investing app.
  • Diversify – don't put all your money into one share or sector. This is why index funds are popular as they spread the risk while focusing on growth.
  • Use KiwiSaver strategically – ensure you're in the right fund for your goals. Our guide to trusted funds has more information.
  • Ignore the noise – the media loves financial panic, but markets recover over time. This is why KiwiSaver is designed around investing in shares, as it's seen as a long-term wealth creator.

Our View: Investing isn't about making money overnight - it's about playing the long game. You lock in losses if you react emotionally and pull out when the market drops. Stay consistent, keep investing, and focus on the bigger picture.

Don't Delay Buying a Home if You're Ready (and Can Afford It)

​The New Zealand housing market has cooled, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. Many people are waiting for "the perfect time" to buy a home—but trying to time the market is a losing game. If you have a stable income, a good deposit, and can afford repayments comfortably, waiting indefinitely could cost you more in the long run.

What to consider before buying:
  • Affordability matters more than price predictions – interest rates go up and down, but borrowing within your means is always smart.
  • Avoid stretching yourself too thin – taking on a mortgage that dominates your income can turn homeownership into a financial nightmare. It happens too often in New Zealand, given the housing prices, but it can be avoided by scaling back the desire for the 'perfect' home.
  • Negotiate hard – with lower demand, buyers hold more power—you can use it to secure a better deal and stand up to real estate agents who always prioritise the seller's interests.
  • Factor in ongoing costs – home insurance, rates, maintenance, and unexpected expenses can add up.

Our View: There's no "perfect time" to buy a home; it's only the right time for you. The mistake is not buying when you're financially ready. If you wait for prices to drop further and they don't, you risk being priced out. If you buy without considering affordability, you risk financial stress.

The key is balance - be strategic, plan, and buy only when it makes sense. Challenge the numbers, and don't let anyone tell you that a home is affordable if you don't think it is - just because a lender has approved you for a certain mortgage balance doesn't mean it's affordable.

Work Together With Your Husband, Wife, or Partner on Big Expenses

Financial stress destroys relationships, and money is one of the biggest reasons couples fight. If you're in a relationship, managing money as a team is critical to ensure you work in harmony with each other.

​How to avoid money conflicts:
  • Have open, honest discussions about financial goals, debts, and spending habits. Getting on the same page is essential to avoid conflicts and uneasy thoughts.
  • Agree on big purchases – one person spending recklessly while the other saves is a recipe for tension. Don't allow this to happen - bring up money and make it a regular topic. The more comfortable you are with it, the happier you both will be.
  • Set financial goals together – whether it's buying a home, paying down debt, or saving for a trip, being aligned helps ensure you spend wisely and purposefully.
  • Split finances in a way that works for you – joint accounts, separate accounts, or a mix—whatever keeps the peace. You need to talk openly to find what works best for you.

Our View: A relationship where both people are financially on the same page is far less stressful. If one person saves and the other constantly spends, resentment builds up. The goal isn't financial control - it's teamwork. The more aligned you are, the stronger your financial future will be.

Play Offence with Money, Not Just Defence

Most New Zealanders looking to get ahead only play financial defence - cutting costs, paying off debt and saving an emergency fund.

However, true financial success comes from playing offence—earning more, growing wealth, and thinking beyond survival mode.
Too many people stay stuck in the mindset of "I just need to save more". While saving is crucial," you can't shrink your way to wealth. At some point, you need to focus on increasing your income and making your money work for you.

​How to play financial offence:
  • Invest aggressively in skills – the more valuable you are, the more you can earn. Upskill, get certified and keep learning.
  • Build multiple income streams – a job is great, but adding a side hustle or investments creates security.
  • Make investing a priority – instead of just saving what's left over, pay yourself first and invest consistently.
  • Use your time wisely – binge-watching Netflix won't make you richer - self-improvement, networking and working smarter for specific goals will.
  • Think bigger – once you've nailed how to save $100 a month in expenses, focus on how to earn an extra $500-$1,000 a month.

Our View: Saving money is defensive—it keeps you from losing ground. But offence is what moves you forward. You'll never build real wealth if you only focus on cutting costs. Instead of just asking, "How can I spend less?" start asking, "How can "earn more?" That's how you get ahead. ​
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