KEY POINTS:
A nationwide money course for new parents has been given the green light by Plunket, which is planning to roll out its new programme over the next few months.
The arrival of a first baby is a time of big stress for parents, when many couples find their income halved at the same time expenses increase.
More than 100 parents have taken part in the pilot Plunket course, MoneyMinded, and its initial success means it is now being extended across Plunket centres across New Zealand.
Lexi Lauchlan, 30, was one of the parents to take the pilot course in West Auckland with her husband Gareth. A Greenhithe primary school teacher, Lexi is the mother of 18-month-old Ben.
She did the MoneyMinded as part of a four-week "Active Toddler" course with 12 other mothers. "We talked about the difference between a want and a need, which was quite different between different people on the course. It was quite different also between Gareth and I sometimes," said Lexi.
"We talked about 'spending leaks' and we decided that our babies were our biggest leak - you see stuff and you want to buy it for them."
And what she considered a want or a need was often not seen the same way by other parents.
"It was quite interesting hearing other people talk on the course," she said. For instance, Lexi did not consider buying baby food as essential, preferring, instead, to make it. But this wasn't the case for other mothers.
She said the involvement of a big-name bank was not promoted through the course - not until the very end when a free piggy bank for Ben was handed out.
While some will find the course might give them a financial wake-up call, it acted as more of a reassurance for Lexi and Gareth, helping them realise that perhaps they were doing better than they first thought.
"We were actually managing quite well, although going down to one salary has been massive, [the course wasn't saying] you weren't managing, it was saying 'here's what you're doing, here are some other things to think about'.
"We thought we were doing all right so, having done it together, the only thing we've probably changed is deciding we probably need a bit more treats."
Not trips to Fiji or flash new clothes, but smaller treats are now on the agenda, like "going out for lunch" or visiting parents in Nelson.
Lexi now hopes that some of the attitudes to money she shares with her husband might rub off on Ben.
"Ultimately you do want your kid to be able to grow up and be able to afford a mortgage and that you don't necessarily just get money handed to you. But we don't want him [Ben] to have to worry about money either."
Plunket facilitator Karen Sullivan, one of the workers who helped with the pilot course, said many new parents feel more comfortable talking about their financial issues in front of a group that they'd already gotten to know through a parenting course.
Managing Director of ANZ Retail Banking, Wayne Besant, said the programme was designed to help participants "achieve their financial goals, including understanding attitudes to money, prioritising needs and wants, identifying spending leaks, goal setting and budgeting."
ANZ is an existing sponsor of Plunket, but its programme does not carry any branding or advertising - an important feature if Plunket was to endorse it and roll it out nationally.
Plunket chief executive Paul Baigent said the organisation likes to "look at family wellbeing holistically, so that if parents are making good money decisions, then that will benefit the children. The arrival of a baby and the family going on to one income can put real pressure on family finances."
Plunket's national parenting education advisor Claire Rumble said the the MoneyMinded programme was not "just handed over by ANZ" and accepted unchanged by Plunket.
It was important to make sure that the programme was not seen as advertising the bank.
"We didn't just accept it," said Rumble. "We actually developed it with them. It's not branded to the ANZ at all, so if you went to one of the sessions and looked at the handouts, you wouldn't even know the ANZ was involved."
A network of community facilitators, not bank staff run the courses, although that may change depending on the type of groups taking the courses.
"That was a key thing for us, that we kept it separate from the fact that they are one of our major sponsors. And so that is never mentioned," said Rumble.
MoneyMinded will now be included as part of Plunket's national parenting education programme run across New Zealand, aimed primarily at first-time parents.
Rumble said it's a natural time to run a financial course, since many people "halved their income and doubled their expenditure" when their first baby arrived.
"All the research shows that one of the key things for good outcomes for children is the financial health of the family," she said.
The pilot course found that the best time for MoneyMinded to be done by parents was when their baby was getting a bit older - from 3 months on, up to 12 months old.
It was around this time that "realities are starting to come home", said Rumble. Many first-time parents are given lots of things but as the year moves on, everyday expenses start to return and parents are on their own.
The people on the ground will have a lot of flexibility to work out the best way to deliver the programme, a crucial element in adult education, said Rumble. "It must be matched for the people."
Plunket has a message it describes as "conscious parenting" - where new parents are encouraged to just stop and think about why they are doing certain things - not just doing things because that's the way they were raised.
"It's about making informed decisions," said Rumble. "We are saying the same thing about your finances, to think about what you're doing and plan."
How knowledgeable are we about our finances?
ANZ-Retirement Commission Financial Knowledge Survey was conducted last year. It found:
* There is a strong correlation between financial knowledge and socio-economic status.
* People with lower levels of personal financial knowledge are more likely to be young (18-24) or older (75 years+); have lower levels of education, income and wealth, or be of Maori or Pacific ethnicity (which could be due to younger age profile, and lower levels of education).
* Forty per cent of women were in the low financial knowledge group, compared with 25 per cent of men.
* Understanding of compound interest and debt consolidation was "relatively weak".
* Mortgage holders' knowledge of mortgages shows low levels in key areas.
* "Mixed understanding" of investment strategies, particularly long-term returns from the stock market and relevance of compound interest.
* Nearly 20 per cent thought investing only in property was a way to reduce investment risk.
* One-third thought National Superannuation was income tested and a quarter did not know. Nearly 30 per cent thought it was asset tested, and 25 per cent did not know.
* 20 per cent of respondents owned shares. 27 per cent of the remaining 80 per cent had owned shares at some stage.
* The main sources of advice on share market investing was a relative or friend (36 per cent), share broker (22 per cent), specialist investment adviser (21 per cent), accountant (21 per cent), lawyer (12 per cent).
