The Listener
  • The Listener home
  • The Listener E-edition
  • Opinion
  • Politics
  • Health & nutrition
  • Arts & Culture
  • New Zealand
  • World
  • Consumer tech & enterprise
  • Food & drink

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • New Zealand
  • World
  • Health & nutrition
  • Consumer tech & enterprise
  • Art & culture
  • Food & drink
  • Entertainment
  • Books
  • Life

More

  • The Listener E-edition
  • The Listener on Facebook
  • The Listener on Instagram
  • The Listener on X

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Listener / Business

Best of the Listener 2023: Favourite business and finance articles

New Zealand Listener
27 Dec, 2023 06:00 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Given the cost-of-living crisis, it’s possibly no surprise that personal finance and business articles were popular with Listener online readers. Photo / Supplied

Given the cost-of-living crisis, it’s possibly no surprise that personal finance and business articles were popular with Listener online readers. Photo / Supplied

Giving others a hand up rather than a hand-out, the perils of giving money to your kids and the highs and lows of our national airline: Here are our top four picks of stories that have helped readers consider how to spend, save and learn from others.

Meet the ex-Mongrel Mob member helping teens build a new path to success

By Rebecca Macfie

Taurus Taurima (left) is the bro who defied the odds for Tumana Sullivan (right). photograph by Stephen Robinson
Taurus Taurima (left) is the bro who defied the odds for Tumana Sullivan (right). photograph by Stephen Robinson

“Tumana Sullivan has found himself with a boss who is not average; a boss who understands what it’s like to struggle, because he has been there, too. Taurus Taurima is the employer who gave him a chance, hiring him three years ago to learn civil construction skills. For Sullivan and other workers, he’s the bro who defied the odds and showed them that a difficult past need not define the future.

Taurima has built a business by hiring dozens of workers with little or no education, with criminal records, gang connections and drug and alcohol problems. He provides them with training and qualifications, pastoral care, financial and health literacy and support to kick their addictions.”

You can read the full story here.

Bank of Mum and Dad: The pitfalls of giving money to your kids

By Sarah Catherall

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
A recent Consumer NZ survey estimated that the Bank of Mum and Dad has doled out $22.6 billion in home loans. Photo / Getty Images
A recent Consumer NZ survey estimated that the Bank of Mum and Dad has doled out $22.6 billion in home loans. Photo / Getty Images

“Parents are increasingly dipping into their own savings to help their adult children with daily living costs – but that is only entrenching the wealth gap.

Although the Consumer research looked purely at housing assistance, economists point to a rising number of parents who are supporting their young adult children in other ways – allowing them to live at home rent-free (25% in the Consumer NZ survey), or helping pay their tertiary education, phone and car registration bills and even holidays.

Discover more

Trade Aid: Fifty - not out

19 Dec 04:30 PM

Equal measures: Living behind her parents’ dairy taught Vanisa Dhiru to be helpful

12 Dec 11:30 PM

Inheritance wars: Lessons for avoiding family fights over money

09 Sep 02:00 AM

Family money secrets: How to build and maintain wealth across generations

02 Sep 02:00 AM

While many do so willingly, there is a dark side to the phenomenon, says economist Shamubeel Eaqub – a growing gap between the haves and have-nots in New Zealand society.”

Read the full story here.

The truth about money: Sam Stubbs on how to live a rich life

By Paul Little

Keep it simple: Sam Stubbs says he has made his own lifestyle much more modest than it once was. Photo / Ken Downie
Keep it simple: Sam Stubbs says he has made his own lifestyle much more modest than it once was. Photo / Ken Downie

“Sam Stubbs, co-founder and public face of Simplicity, the not-for-profit KiwiSaver and fund manager, is in Oslo. He is not there to research possible investment opportunities for the fast-growing company, nor to examine how a socially progressive country tends its citizens’ finances. He’s there because he told his 18-year-old son, Ben, that if Ben applied himself to his studies, he would take him on a trip anywhere in the world. Consequently, the early morning Zoom call is backgrounded by Ben’s hunt for socks and a charger as he prepares to amble out for breakfast.

Stubbs and his partner, journalist Amanda Morrall, have a blended family made up of his two – Emma, 21, and Ben – and her two – Connor, 20, and Liam, 19. All are students. Morrall is one of Simplicity’s other co-founders, along with Andrew Lance and Amir Bashir.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

It will probably reassure Simplicity’s 126,000 investors to know that the man overseeing their $4.3 billion in investments has their interests in mind, even on the other side of the world.”

Here’s the full story.

After a challenging few years, our national carrier has run into fresh turbulence

By Peter Griffin

Alisha Armstrong, Head of Customer Services at Air New Zealand: “This last year has been extremely challenging.” Photo / Supplied
Alisha Armstrong, Head of Customer Services at Air New Zealand: “This last year has been extremely challenging.” Photo / Supplied

“Our national carrier is hoping the worst is finally behind it. Air New Zealand is at least flying again after the Covid pandemic put planes into mothballs and forced it to jettison thousands of staff.

But it has had a challenging year, with a shortage of planes and extreme weather events, such as Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auckland floods, playing havoc with flight schedules.

The company, which is 51% government-owned, had long enjoyed a reputation for quality and innovation, even if its tickets could be pricey. Now, it has a 1.2 star rating from 421 reviews on Trustpilot, one of the major online review sites. It manages just 5/10 on Airlinequality.com.

Even worse, some of its most loyal customers have turned to social media in the past year to vent about a poor-quality experience and long wait times to have issues addressed.”

Read more here.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Listener

LISTENER
Weekend wine guide: Expensive wines are wasted on the average consumer, buy cheap and enjoy

Weekend wine guide: Expensive wines are wasted on the average consumer, buy cheap and enjoy

03 Jul 06:00 PM

Studies are showing that most people can't taste the difference.

LISTENER
US basketballer Caitlin Clark’s arms have people talking. Why does female muscle still divide opinion?

US basketballer Caitlin Clark’s arms have people talking. Why does female muscle still divide opinion?

03 Jul 06:00 PM
LISTENER
Book of the day: Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya

Book of the day: Our Beautiful Boys by Sameer Pandya

03 Jul 06:00 PM
LISTENER
Greg Dixon’s Another Kind of Politics: Labour Party declared “legally dead” by coroner

Greg Dixon’s Another Kind of Politics: Labour Party declared “legally dead” by coroner

03 Jul 06:00 PM
LISTENER
New albums reviewed: Rock and Roll misfits Jazmine Mary and Ratso

New albums reviewed: Rock and Roll misfits Jazmine Mary and Ratso

03 Jul 05:58 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Contact NZ Herald
  • Help & support
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
NZ Listener
  • NZ Listener e-edition
  • Contact Listener Editorial
  • Advertising with NZ Listener
  • Manage your Listener subscription
  • Subscribe to NZ Listener digital
  • Subscribe to NZ Listener
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotion and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • NZ Listener
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search