Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - Brad Olsen Is Here To Help Us Save Money This Xmas

Episode Date: December 7, 2023

NZ economist Brad Olsen is here to help our finances this year!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been a tough year with Acosta Living and we want to talk about some money saving. Tips before Christmas with a favourite Olsen behind the Olsen twins, Brad Olsen, economist. Nice to see you in the studio. It's good to be here. Lovely to. Brad, we've kind of crossed paths. We've spoken on the phone before. We bumped into you at the domestic airport and we said we'd love to have you on the show.

You're a very interesting guy. Ben was sort of explaining when you got into the stock market. At a young age, because people have seen you on the TV, on the radio, in the media, over the last couple of years, you've been talking a lot about financial stuff. But as a kid, I understand you were just really into it. I was a nerd. I was an absolute nerd. Yeah, so when I was like a first year intermediate, I got one of those like tiny little red notebooks that you get when you're at school.

And on the TV news at that point, you could still get the stock market numbers every night. So I watched the news religiously every night, wrote them down in this little notebook. So you were following the trends then. I was trying. I was trying. At eight years old,

did you have an understanding of what these numbers meant? Yeah, a little bit. Like I sort of, I knew where the directions were moving. I knew that that meant some people making money, some people probably losing it as well. But I was just interested. I mean, the numbers mean a lot to, it's people's money, it's people's lives, where they're going. So I was pretty keen to try and understand what all of that meant. Especially for somewhere like New Zealand, we're a small place down at the bottom of the world. I always found it was difficult as a young person

to figure out our place in the world. We were too small. We were always sort of, you know, down and out of the count. So I wanted to make sure, well, let's have a look at the numbers. Where are they going? Where's the money? Well, obviously ambitious as well. I feel like we're getting Oprah on you talking about your childhood.

But like another moment you were doing an assignment and you ended up talking to the local MP. You took it that far. Yeah, we again like started real young. Another moment you were doing an assignment and you ended up talking to the local MP. You took it that far. Yeah, we, again, like started real young. So I think in like year three or four at my primary school, we did this environmental action thing. And it went from like something that we did for a few hours after school to we went and won the national community problem solving competition. We went over to the US. We won the international one when I was like 11.

Wow. It was fantastic. Yeah, and you've met the Queen twice. Three times. Three times. Harry and Meghan as well, a couple of times. Before they sort of went out of favor with everyone. How did that come about?

So when I was back up in Whangarei, growing up I was on a few groups trying to make sure that there were some options for young people with a health clinic and a few other bits and pieces. And then there was an application for this Queen's Young Leaders Award. And someone said to me, hey, look, there's no New Zealanders who have applied this year. And they said, look, you probably won't get it, but we need some representation. We need to show that Kiwis are up there.

That is a classic New Zealand approach. You're probably not going to win, mate, but you check it over there. This is the thing. I was like, totally cool. So I put in an application, also classic Kiwi, like an hour before the deadline. And then I got this call. I was in my first year hall down in Wellington. I got this call at like 7 a.m. in the morning.

And I thought it was a prank call because someone was like, oh, you know, you're off to see the Queen next year. And I was like, ha, ha, ha. And they're like, no, no, seriously. And I was like, wow, ha, ha. And they're like, no, no, seriously. And I was like, wow, okay, this is a bit different. So then I went over in 2016, got a medal, and then went back the next two years to go and help sort of lead the leadership journey. Wow, and did she remember you from the other meetings? She did.

Wow. And I know this sounds a bit, but the second time around when we went through, we were in one of the rooms at Buckingham Palace, and she came out of this ballroom, and all of a sudden she sort of stopped and came over to two of us who had been there the year before and came and had a bit of a natter for 10 minutes. She made the entire event like way over time by about an hour. But also it's the Queen and it's her house. So like, you don't know.

And is there any crazy protocol? There is. But they also sort of say, look, if you're particularly if you're there for an award ceremony, like it's your day. And as long as you don't do anything like particularly awful, you're there for an awards ceremony, like it's your day, and as long as you don't do anything particularly awful, you're pretty good. You shouldn't turn your back on her, and you should let her speak first and all that sort of thing.

Actually, that's my probably biggest issue, is that I interrupted her the first time. Yeah, so you're supposed to let her speak first, but I was the sort of earnest, young, nervous. You're probably nervous, yeah. Very nervous. We'd be shockers. We talk over people all the time.

Exactly. High five people and all sorts of a bit. Not a great look what happened was we went up we got told we only got 30 seconds with her and so i was going she didn't say anything immediately now like in new zealand you know how you like basically talk to someone as you start arriving to them you don't wait until you're right in front of them and so i was walking up and there was nothing nothing i got there and i waited, it was probably only half a second. It felt like five years. And then I started to say something just as she started to say something.

Whoops. And then we both went silent and we both did the same thing again. One of those. And then I just, I shut my mouth and I was like, I'm not saying another thing. Over to you, Liz. You take it from here.

That's bloody interesting. We've got young economist Brad Olsen with us this morning. So how are we feeling? Because obviously we all know as New Zealanders it hasn't been that easy. And everyone's feeling the pinch, the cost of living. Is there some light at the end of the tunnel? Or is it still going to be some hard times for the next 12 months? I sort of think it's a bit of both.

People often yell at me on the street as they walk past. Sometimes it's nasty stuff that we won't repeat on radio. We get that. Sometimes it's though like, you know, what's happening? Is the economy good or bad? And I often sort of say, could be better, could be worse. Like, we've raised interest rates hugely in the last couple of years. So the fact that the economy's going as well as it is, is actually quite remarkable, right? We thought, go back last year, I would have been thinking things could be a lot darker. But equally, like, there are some people out there

who are hurting bad. You know, when it comes to Christmas this year it's a question of if there are presents under the tree not how many so you know I recognize that for a lot of people they're struggling the essentials are expensive if you're renting that continues to go up if you're thinking of buying a house or having a kid all of that's costing you food and fuel all of that's a bit of a challenge but i think also like we've started to see some better numbers so produce costs and what have you have started to come back you can pay like four bucks a kg for tomatoes like that's a a win compared to where we were before so i'll take the wins as well as the losses and so would you say there is uh relief

coming up in the next i'd say 24 are we going to have cost seizing or interest rates coming down? I don't think you'll see interest rates coming down, to be honest. I think they're sticking up probably until 2025 or so. And if you do, it's not enough to make a lot of relief for people. You know, there's a lot who are still on like a 4% interest rate. They're probably still coming on to a 6%, probably more a 7% at the moment. So those people are going to be hit. What's interesting, I think, is it's going to be a lot of particularly young people. Like I've got a friend,

she needs to find $30,000 more this year to repay her mortgage. I've got another friend, her and her partner, they're refixing next year. They've saved 20K this year to make sure that next year when it rolls over, they're able to make that payment. So like that's just two people, $50,000 that's not getting spent in the economy. So that's tough for them. So are there tips to navigate through this, what is a very costly period, December? I've had a bit of a look through at where, how much inflation has come through. When you're doing your Christmas shopping, you know, maybe you won't get a lot of bang for buck and maybe there aren't a huge number of fantastic deals out there.

Like almost everything is more expensive than last year. But there are a few areas that i thought were uh interesting uh you look at the likes of uh pet products man i wouldn't be buying a pet at the moment 12 increase in pet product costs over the last year so now producer taylor do you hear that 12 increase in pet products for louis don't buy him a cute santa outfit she's got a dash in louie. A very aggressive dash in. And look, if you're going to, this is not the year to get a number of toys for the dog. Choose one and stick with that one smaller item because it's going to cost you.

I'm always like, and I love my dog, I love my animals, but I'm like, do the kids want to get them? And I'm like, he won't remember. He doesn't care. He'll be happy with the leftover, but it's a chicken or something. Give him a newspaper. I'm like, we can probably. That's my financial advice. He doesn't care. He'll be happy with a leftover chicken or something. Give him a newspaper. Yeah. I'm like, we can probably. That's my financial advice.

That's a fair one. I think we probably do have a bit more bang for buck. This is a good one, an economist's favourite. Get outdoors. Normally pretty free and cheap. Petrol, you're going to pay for no matter where you go, right? So maybe if you have a look at the likes of sports, camping equipment, outdoors, that's only increased by 2.7 percent in the last year so i'm not going to say affordable you're not going

to go out and buy like a 10 person tent for just the fun of it but maybe there's a few more outdoors options we might have a more decent summer i hope and the kids can hunt their own food with their bare hands get out there get a possum or something well and sometimes you're going to have to mean, you look at the likes of what I wouldn't be giving for Christmas or would be a lot more nervous about this year, chocolate. Chocolate cost up about 11% in the last year. Wow. That's spinny. Why?

Because sugar and cocoa prices internationally have massively gone up. Everyone's demanding it. I think it's climate change as well or something that's like changing how much it costs to grow this stuff in Brazil and places. and places so that's gone up the last thing i wanted to do before you go because obviously you spend a lot of time traveling is it is new zealand more expect we hear it's more expensive than a lot of other places is that is that the case yes and no like it depends on where you want to compare it to like i've just come back from china man stuff was dirt cheap over there like food, all of that was pretty cheap in many areas.

But about a month before that, I was over in the United States. That place was way more expensive than us. I feel like we're a little bit in the middle. We probably skew a bit higher. But also, what you get over here is generally pretty good. Like the quality, the people, the food, all of that. I've travelled a fair bit, and I quite like what we've got here. Awesome. Oh, hey, thanks for coming in. If people want to follow bit and I quite like what we've got here. Awesome. Oh hey, thanks for

coming in. If people want to follow you and your advice and tips, where can they head to, mate? Most of the good social medias. The gram is always a good one. I mean, LinkedIn if you're really sort of nerdy and professional. I think I'm into his LinkedIn. But at Brad Olsen, NZL. Awesome, hey. Well, thanks for coming in, mate, and have a great Christmas.

Yeah, you guys too. Hey, coming up next, someone hacked my phone and I don't know how to undo what's been done I'll tell you in the throw Oh we playing this are we? Okay Snoopy's Christmas