Stacey Morrison on finances, broadcasting and getting out of a poverty mindset - Money Talks podcast

Stacey has recently partnered with financial website Enable Me to help start conversations among Māori about money. Photo / Doug Sherring

“I’ve had to work on getting out of a kind of poverty mindset,” says Stacey Morrison.

She’s now a successful broadcaster hosting the morning show on Flava as well as authoring books on te reo Māori with husband Scotty Morrison, and hosting NZME’s Up to Speed podcast.

But as the eldest child of very young parents growing up in East Christchurch in the 1970s and early 80s, life was tough, she says.

“I’ve had to think about what my perceptions are about money and about people who have money. And so I’ve worked on that.”

Morrison remembers talking to a Māori woman who owned a business.

“She said: ‘My goal is to build inter-generational wealth’. And it just blew my little mind at the time,” Morrison says.

“I thought, what? What do you mean? How is that? I had literally not even thought about thinking that far.”

But while she has had to work at getting out of that mindset, there might be some upside.

“It makes me a saver more than anything,” she says.

Stacey’s father James went on to have great success as a broadcaster and radio host (now with NewstalkZB) and life did get easier.

Her passion for the stage and theatre led to early success on What Now, followed by a stint in Dunedin with Ian Taylor at TaylorMade Productions.

She then went on to work with the Māori department at TVNZ on shows like Marae and Mai Time.

Morrison reflects on some of the cultural differences around money and finance.

“There’s definitely cultural differences around ideas of ownership and in terms of land,” she says.

“You might be one of the owners or shareholders of a piece of land, but there’s a hundred and something of you.

“So that collective ownership is one thing and we have to talk about that and we have to have our hui and we have to have our trust meetings and all those kind of things.

“I have heard people talk about elite Māori and what that means, and I think, well, okay, so what do you want us to do? If we work hard and do get some success, then we’re elite Māori, but then if we don’t, then we’re lazy?

“Are we sure that the goalposts are all in the same place for everybody? For me, I know I’ve been really fortunate. I guess anything I’ve learned, I am keen to share, particularly with people I know and trust.

“Maybe no one in your family has had a mortgage and people just go: ‘just can’t even get my head around being that much in debt’. And then we can talk about, okay, what does debt look like? How likely are you to be able to enter it? Where will the benefit be? Even thinking about being the first of your family or your whānau to do something that is really big.”

Morrison has recently become involved in partnering with financial website Enable Me to help start some of those conversations.

“I do think that it’s good for us all to talk about money and have less whakamā, less embarrassment about that.”

Liam Dann is business editor-at-large for the New Zealand Herald. He is a senior writer and columnist, and also presents and produces videos and podcasts. He joined the Herald in 2003.

Money Talks is a podcast run by the NZ Herald. It isn’t about personal finance and isn’t about economics - it’s just well-known New Zealanders talking about money and sharing some stories about the impact it’s had on their lives and how it has shaped them.

Money Talks is available on iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.