Money Talks: Rebecca Thomas, from going to school in a Rolls-Royce one day to a Mini the next

Rebecca Thomas, founder and chief executive of Mint Asset Management. Photo / Supplied

“My parents didn’t give us pocket money. The one thing they did do was they talk about money a lot,” says Rebecca Thomas, businesswoman and founder of fund manager Mint Asset Management.

It’s a parenting strategy that has clearly paid off. Thomas, who moved to New Zealand in 2004, was already a successful corporate executive and property investor by the time she set up Mint.

Born in the north of England, near the seaside town of Scarborough, she grew up in an entrepreneurial household, she tells the Money Talks podcast this week.

“Money was not a taboo subject in our household. My parents had both been entrepreneurs,” she says.

Her mother was a chef, who owned a cafe and did all her own baking. Her father’s education was interrupted by time in the army and national service.

“So when he came out of the army, he became a car salesman and then eventually started his own car dealership business.”

The financial ups and downs of business life were apparent from an early age.

“We would be going to school in a Rolls-Royce one day, and then we’d be going to school in a Mini another day. I mean, literally, those are the true extremes, depending on what stock my father had to sell at the time. But, you know, I think the important thing was that they didn’t shy away from letting us know and understand that.”

Thomas trained as a lawyer but the career was not for her.

She started looking around for something else and stumbled into the finance sector at just the right time, as the reforms of the Thatcher Government opened up the market.

Thomas went into a business owned by a French bank, which was moving from being a private client stockbroker to an investment bank and funds manager.

“So I worked my way through all of those different things and then ended up being an analyst and then becoming a fund manager.”

After a successful corporate career, Thomas followed her husband to New Zealand in 2004 (he joined Telecom to set up the 3G network).

“I was going to retire,” she says. “I didn’t. Three weeks later, I ended up being hired as the CIO [chief investment officer] of ING, the joint venture between ING and ANZ.

“That wasn’t part of the plan, but it was a very good thing because I wouldn’t have settled in New Zealand being a stay-at-home mum because it’s just not in my DNA, unfortunately. I think my children are quite glad about that now, looking back.”

She stepped out on her own, founding Mint Asset Management in 2006.

After steering it through the Global Financial Crisis, she was asked to sit on the first board of the Financial Markets Authority.

Thomas still feels passionately about financial literacy and sits on the Tainui Group Holdings board.

Asked about the root causes of inequality and poverty, she highlights education and financial literacy as the most important factors.

“So getting things back in the curriculum, back in schools and meaningful education about that is the beginning,” she says.

“We need to get more people in work and seeing the benefits of seeing paycheques actually go up. You know, just the power really of getting yourself on the educational ladder. So broader education as well as financial education.

“Some people are going to love it and for some people it’s just going to be something they hate doing, but they know that they’ve got to do it. I think everybody can find some enjoyment in it once they start on that journey and they need to start as early as they can.”

Listen to the full episode below to hear more from Rebecca Thomas.

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.