Nadine Higgins on the extra squeeze facing women when costs climb – The Little Things

Financial adviser and Herald columnist Nadine Higgins recommends reframing the family budget as a spending plan. Photo / Supplied

Rising costs are being felt across Aotearoa, and for many women the financial pressure comes with an extra burden: the mental load of managing day-to-day household money.

In the latest episode of the Herald’s health and wellbeing podcast The Little Things, hosts Francesca Rudkin and Louise Ayrey confess they’ve carried the role of family CFO almost by default.

Talking to financial adviser and Herald columnist Nadine Higgins, Rudkin says she’s the only one in the home who knows which providers the family has accounts with. “I reckon if I got hit by a bus tomorrow, in a month, my family would have no power. They’d have no internet.”

Higgins says while women often take charge of household money, they can underestimate their strengths when it comes to investing. “The research shows that when women do invest, they get better returns. We are good investors. The problem is if you never start, you never achieve those better returns.”

To help women dealing with the stress of managing household finances, and perhaps even free up some cash to take advantage of that investing nous, Higgins suggests regular audits of what’s coming in and what’s going out.

She also recommends reframing the family budget as a spending plan.

“Budget feels restrictive… but if you actually dive into it, a really good spending plan gives each dollar a job and also works out where it’s actually going versus where we think it’s going.”

In the episode, Higgins shares her rule-of-thumb calculation for emergency funds, what you need to look at when it comes to insurance policy renewals, and why it’s important for couples to treat financial management as a team sport.

She also warns against relying on your children to support you financially as you reach the later stages of life.

 ”I think the general rule is once you have got your kids to maturity, you have to put your own oxygen mask on first because there are no guarantees that the kids are going look after you,” Higgins says.

Listen to the full episode of The Little Things for more

The Little Things is available on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. The series is hosted by broadcaster Francesca Rudkin and health researcher Louise Ayrey. New episodes are available every Saturday.