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April 19, 2022
Māori Millionaire wipes shame from money talk
Adam Gifford
Posted On April 19, 2022
The creator of the Māori Millonaire blog and podcast says many Māori whānau are whakamā about talking about money – and that needs to change if the community is to thrive.
Te Kahukuraa Boynton, and 18-year-old law student at the University of Waikato, started the blog as a way to share what she was learning about financial literacy,
She says growing up in Ahuriri/Napier, she was struck by the way all the adults she saw around her were always working and always tired but seemed to be barely able to make ends meet.
That led her to read what she could on finance and share it on a variety of social media platforms, including three podcast sessions a week with Tamatea Ngāpo-Lipscombe.
“We’re trying to create a community where we normalise korero around finance and the importance of knowing where your pūtea is going and the impacts of this,” Ms Boynton says.
Her personal aspiration is to be financially independent.
“It’s about having freedom to decide how I spend my time and live my life.”
She says better finances give more choice around housing, health and education, which are important issues for Māori.
“It’s hard to grow as a community because we are not having these conversations. Non-Māori whānau are talking about stocks and investments and portfolios. Māori are not raised like that,” she says.
Ms Boynton says because of her age and income she can’t access in the housing market, so she invests in shares.
“Shares are a great way to start investing and generating income at a lower entry point. On (online trading platform) Sharesies you can start with $10 and then grow it so if you only have $10 in your budget each week, pai ana, every small bit counts and it will add up eventually.”
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