Highlights so far
Empowering futures — National Strategy for Financial Capability 2025-2027 was launched in November 2024, uniting the financial capability sector to meaningfully impact financial wellbeing for all New Zealanders.
The first six months of the National Strategy 2025 – 2027 have flown by. We’ve made some good progress together against the first year of projects and initiatives identified and our collective impact is growing. We now have more than 1000 National Strategy partners spanning iwi, community organisations, government agencies, industry bodies, regulators, banks, fin techs, insurance, wealth management and investment, responsible investment, KiwiSaver providers, financial education and training providers, along with financial advisers, financial mentors and debt solution providers.
Supporting people to grow their money
Te Rito Hou
Te Rito Hou, a collaboration developed out of the previous National Strategy, saw Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission, Tāwhia, and the New Zealand Bankers’ Association, co-design, co-deliver and co-refine over three years a programme for whānau Māori rooted in kaupapa Māori values.
Between 2022-2025, 98 whānau participated in wānanga, and 22 Māori banking professionals were trained as facilitators. In May 2025 Te Rito Hou programme was formally handed over to Tāwhia, the New Zealand Bankers’ Association and the banks to continue to co-define and co-deliver.
Sorted Kaīnga Ora
Sorted Kaīnga Ora is one of Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission’s flagship programmes developed and delivered in partnership with Te Puni Kōkiri. It’s designed by Māori for whānau Māori seeking to purchase their first home and delivered across the country by trained and quality assured facilitators from iwi, hapū and community organisations who are funded by Te Puni Kōkiri to deliver the programme.
In 2025, we’re piloting the use of the Shared Impact Measures to assess whānau attitudinal and behavioural shifts from participation in Sorted Kaīnga Ora. Between March and June more than 30 new facilitators have been through the Sorted Kaīnga Ora facilitator training including the use of the shared impact measurement tool. Watch this space as later in the year we’ll be reporting back on impact!
FSC’s Empower Women
FSC’s Empower Women kicked off the year with an in-depth idea-generating session that brought together women from across the financial services sector to develop an action plan that will see workplaces equipped with the right tools to support women’s success and flourishing through all life’s stages. Now that plan is being refined, ready for launch. In September, you’ll be invited to join us at an in-person event to commemorate Suffrage Day where we’ll hear from Empower Women and other partners talking about women, work, and retirement.
Helping build resilience for the unexpected
Access to basic accounts
The Council of Financial Regulators Financial Inclusion Community of Practice released their issues paper on access to basic transaction accounts in April. This significant piece of work is being led by Te Pūtea Matua Reserve Bank of New Zealand who are consulting widely across the community and NGO sector, as well as with the banks and representative bodies. The paper is open to feedback is open until 18 June.
Sorted Money Month
Sorted Money Month supports the National Strategy for Financial Capability’s role helping New Zealanders build their financial wellbeing and resilience by providing a dedicated month to raise attention and engagement on money matters. The Money Month 2025 theme, The difference is an emergency fund, was developed alongside the financial capability sector during the 2024 National Strategy conference.
Money Month provides the opportunity for financial capability partners to leverage their collective impact by getting involved, running events and promoting Money Month to their clients and communities by promoting the emergency savings theme or more general ways to improve financial wellbeing this August.
Money Month gives everyone in the financial sector the opportunity to provide an extra boost to New Zealanders’ financial wellbeing and resilience.
Lifting financial capability through education and training
Financial education in schools
In late April 2025, the Minister of Education and Minister of Finance announced the introduction of financial education as a core element of the compulsory social studies curriculum years 1-10 from 2026.
Financial education in schools is the most equitable way to ensure that all young New Zealanders have access to high-quality, consistent, and relevant financial knowledge and skills, equipping them for their financial futures. Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission has been running its financial education programme, Te whai hua, kia ora - Sorted in Schools, in secondary schools and kura since 2018, providing teacher training and classroom resources aligned to the curriculum.
The Commission entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Education late last year to develop a nationally coordinated plan for how to integrate financial education into the curriculum, working with experienced financial education providers from the private and not-for-profit sectors. Along with resource mapping to the curriculum, together we are developing best practice guidance for the delivery and design of programmes for schools and providers. This approach ensures providers, schools, and the curriculum are aligned, enabling children and young people in New Zealand in building their financial capability and wellbeing.
Te Tāpapa – mentors’ professional development framework
In April 2025 FinCap released Te Tāpapa, a professionalised workforce development framework for financial mentors. Te Tāpapa expresses the aspirations of financial mentors to have their skills and expertise validated and their careers enhanced. It sets in motion a five-year plan of initiatives to make those aspirations a reality, carefully and intentionally, beginning with the Competencies and Standards workstream which is already underway. This is an important work programme that is going to be transformative for the financial mentoring sector over the coming years.
Moving to a professionalised workforce will ultimately improve outcomes for whānau working with financial mentors, with best practise and enhanced services on offer for them. It will also assure other stakeholders as to the quality of those services for mutual clients. New FinCap Chief Executive Fleur Howard acknowledges the support of MSD and the contribution of outgoing FinCap CE Ruth Smithers to Te Tāpapa.
Leveraging Collective Impact
Impact measures
Measuring impact is critical to ensuring the financial capability sector is providing relevant, accountable, reliable, timely and accessible research and insights, campaigns, programmes and resources that work to build the financial capability and resilience of all New Zealanders.
In September 2024, Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission launched the Shared Measurement Tool for Financial Wellbeing as a research-based, widely consulted approach to measure outcomes for people and their whānau, as well as providing an evidence base for financial capability providers, educators, and funders to understand impact.
The tool asks a person or whānau to self-assess their financial capability through ten simple measures of growth and resilience developed in the context of research that shows people’s sense of self-efficacy, their relationships to whānau and community, and their connection to the natural world are central to their development of wellbeing, including financial wellbeing. The Shared Measurement Tool’s use is now being piloted through a range of financial capability programmes delivered by diverse providers, including Sorted Kaīnga Ora, Ngā Tangata’s My Money Kete, and Pathways to Pacific Homeownership, a programme developed by Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission in conjunction with the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.
Preliminary pilot evaluations of data have shown that programmes show positive trends in shifting people and their whānau towards increases in growth and resilience measures. The pilot continues throughout 2025, and partners are welcome to book time to meet with the Te Ara Ahunga Ora team to work through using the tool in their programme or evaluation.
Impact is the focus for the National Strategy community over 2025-2026 as we work collectively to evaluate and measure impact, tell meaningful and transformative impact stories, and celebrate organisations and people who are out there working across the financial capability sector to improve financial wellbeing and resilience. The National Strategy for Financial Capability Conference 2026, Impact That Matters, will showcase the mahi of the sector and make the case for our collective impact.
National Strategy Connection Series
The National Strategy Connection Series is a key piece of the impact puzzle, providing a platform for stakeholders and partners to connect, engage and share.
Connection Series 1, Aotearoa New Zealand 2050 (26 March 2025) was kindly hosted by ANZ in Auckland. Chaired by National Strategy Lead Kate Hannah, Aotearoa New Zealand 2050 presented the key trends in demographic change, workforce participation and social norms drawing from Stats NZ and Treasury data.
The panel then explored the long-term implications of decision-making, resetting social norms, and national and global events on Aotearoa New Zealand’s future wellbeing and prosperity in conversation with panellists Dr Patrick Nolan, Director of Research and Policy at Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission, Susan Livengood, Director of Sustainability and Financial Inclusion at Te Pūtea Matua Reserve Bank of New Zealand, Steve Armitage, CEO of Hospitality New Zealand, and Lillian Grace, Founder Figure NZ, co-founder Victory & Grace.
Connection Series 2, Building financial wellbeing through financial education (28 May 2025) was an online panel hosted by Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission which saw Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson, Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission Learning Lead Yasmin Frazer, Simon Brown, CEO of Banqer, and Kylie Begg from the Ministry of Education in conversation about the inclusion of financial capability as a core component of the social sciences curriculum years 0-10 from 2026.
Financial education in schools is the most equitable way to ensure that all young New Zealanders have access to high-quality, consistent, and relevant financial knowledge, understanding and skills, equipping them for their financial futures. Te Ara Ahunga Ora Retirement Commission has been running our financial education programme, Te whai hua, kia ora - Sorted in Schools, in secondary schools and kura since 2018, providing teacher training and classroom resources aligned to the curriculum. Now the Commission is working with the Ministry of Education, alongside experienced financial education providers from the private and not-for-profit sectors, developing a learning framework which will connect providers into the curriculum. This approach ensures providers, schools, and the curriculum are aligned, enabling children and young people in New Zealand in building their financial capability and wellbeing.