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Financial Literacy

Explore the history and world of currency and learn how to spend or bank your money. Understand concepts such as saving, inflation, investment, budgeting, profit, loss, interest, EFTPOS, credit cards and why to be wary of loan sharks. SCIS No.1830951

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New Zealand currency

New Zealand currency

In the late 19th century the kiwi was widely used as a commercial trademark, and appeared on banknotes. This 10-shilling note is from the second series of banknotes issued by the newly established ...

New currency notes

New currency notes

New $20, $50 and $100 notes released in 2016.

Electronic spending

Electronic spending

Since the 1980s digital technology has changed the spending process, through the use of credit, debit, prepaid and automatic teller cards, which carry an identification number and account details o...

Ōtaki bank

Historic Bank of New Zealand building in Ōtaki.

NZers are not saving

Two-thirds of young New Zealanders are not saving money for the long term, a new report shows.

Paper boy

Paper boy selling newspapers on Willis Street, Wellington.

A currency for Christchurch

A currency for Christchurch

Christchurch may soon have its own currency, separate from the New Zealand dollar. City Councillor Raf Manji joins Checkpoint to explain.

Budget for 2016

Budget for 2016

Bill English begins discussing the 2016 budget by describing its stand out points.

National expenditure

National expenditure

A comparison of national expenditure, 1988 and 2008.

Saving for retirement

Saving for retirement

Retirement isn't usually a subject that interests younger generations, but the new retirement commissioner is hoping to change that.

The Great Depression

The Great Depression

Although there was already some economic hardship throughout the 1920s the New Zealand economy undoubtedly deteriorated in the early 1930s. This cartoon by Gordon Minhinnick in July 1932 suggests t...

Family budgets were getting tighter during World War 1.

Reserve Bank building

Reserve Bank building

This is the Reserve Bank building, which is at 2 The Terrace in Wellington, just across the road from Parliament. It opened in 1972.

Exchange rate

The international value of the New Zealand dollar.

Pay As You Earn pamphlet

Pay As You Earn pamphlet

Pay As You Earn (PAYE) was introduced in 1958. This page from a PAYE pamphlet shows where the government spent its tax revenue in 1960.

On 20 October 1987 the news of share market falls on Wall street sparked a dramatic day of selling on the New Zealand market. In this television clip John Hudson reports on the pandemonium.

Financial literacy in schools

Financial literacy in schools

Teaching financial literacy in schools.

EFTPOS

Electronic funds transfer at point of sale.

History of NZ money

History of NZ money

A look at the 160-year history of NZ's official currency.

Māori traders

By the 1850s Māori had entered the money economy. Here Māori are taking pigs to sell in Auckland.

King movement

Te Peeke o Aotearoa banknote printed by Māori King Tawhiao.

Samoan money

£1 Teasury Note, Bank of Western Samoa / Territory of Western Samoa Legal Tender in Western Samoa by Authority of New Zealand Government, overprinted in red: Legal Tender in Western Samoa by virtue...

Selling state assets

Selling state assets

Libertarians believe that private enterprise is inherently better at running businesses than the state. The Bolger and Shipley National governments of the 1990s shared this view and sold many stat...

Watch Minister of Finance Roger Douglas give a post-budget interview in 1984. Douglas was probably the most famous economic practitioner in New Zealand in the 1980s. His use of new-right economic t...

Revolution – the great divide

Revolution – the great divide

Third episode of a four-part series on the Kiwi stock market crash in 1987.

The minimum wage

Early newspaper article on a minimum wage for New Zealand workers.

Bracken the fundraiser

Bracken the fundraiser

This is Bracken, a wolfhound-labrador cross, guarding a money trail outside the State Opera House, Wellington. He is fundraising for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) who ...

Michael Cullen as Scrooge

Michael Cullen as Scrooge

The cartoon is a fake advertisement for a musical called ‘KiwiSaver’. It features Michael Cullen as Ebenezer Scrooge from Dickens’ Oliver Twist. Scrooge was a cold-hearted miser who was said to hav...

Money lending

Mary Ryan borrowed money from a money lender. She paid back double the amount to the money lender (interest), but still owed the original amount. This was often the plight of people who borrowed mo...

Inflation and tobacco

Inflation and tobacco

Inflation occurs when the price of goods and services keeps increasing, thus lowering the purchasing power of a currency.

Counterfeit money

Counterfeit money

People have been very clever at making fake or counterfeit money for a long time. This 1914 newspaper article tells how a genuine banknote was bleached and printed with a higher denomination. If th...

You're in the money

You're in the money

Peter Dunne, Minister for Internal Affairs is handing out lottery tickets to Creative New Zealand, Surf Lifesaving and Sport New Zealand instead of their regular funding allocation that they receiv...

New decimal money

New decimal money

New Zealand decided to convert from pounds, shillings and pence to decimal currency in 1963. However, it was 1967 when the country would start using dollars and cents. The new coins were in denomin...

Excess profit of banks

Excess profit of banks

This suited ‘fat cat’ representing the four Australian-owned banks – ANZ National, BNZ, ASB and Westpac, sits contentedly on a green bag. This bag represents the excessive profits these banks have ...

Finance resources for teachers and students

Worksheets, posters and curriculum resources for teachers and students on finance and economics.

How inflation is measured and how it affects daily life.

New Zealand coinage

A history of New Zealand currency and coinage.

World financial crisis

Five of the most devastating financial crises of the world.

Good reasons for opening a savings account.

Exchange rate for the New Zealand dollar.

Still don't get bitcoin? Here's an explanation even a five-year-old will understand.

Money games for kids

Money games to use in the classroom.

Kids talk money

Kids talk about sharing, spending and saving money.

World-class Kiwi entrepreneurs

Kiwi entrepreneurs, from fashion to finance.

Idioms on money, cash, dimes, and dollars etc.

Resources for primary schools

Lesson plans, units, guides and digital activities to help learn about money.

Infographic on the story of money.

Teaching financial literacy

Integrated ideas to teach personal finance.

New Zealand money week

How to organise your money.

Zombie cash-tastrophe

Board game explaining financial concepts to help young people make decisions about money.

Types of investments

Investment types and the differences.

Five simple saving tricks.

Young enterprise

Programmes, games, resources and units of work to help kids to be smart with money.

Games In the classroom

There are several educational games that teach personal finance and student money management skills.

A glossary of financial terms

Teaching financial literacy

Fundraising ideas

Fundraising ideas for kids to help communities.

Learning network

Money: what can we do with it and what exactly does it mean to be financially literate.

Live within your means

Questioning your wants and needs to help with budgeting.

The universal basic income

Elon Musk says robots will push us to a universal basic income.

How does a credit card work?

Used well, a credit card is a secure and flexible way to pay.

Recession and depression

The difference between recession and depression.

The Living Wage rate is voluntary and for 2017 has been calculated to be $20.20 per hour.

Taxes: crash course

What are taxes and why do we pay them?

Creating a budget plan to cover wants, expenses and saving goals.

Reserve Bank museum

Features the MONIAC; a virtual money flow computer.

Calculating profit

Economic profit vs accounting profit of running a restaurant.

History of money

From barter to banknotes.

Finances for kids

Sesame Street on understanding money and making good choices.

Financial literacy in class

Lesson ideas, games, books, videos and activities to learn financial literacy.

How a bank works

How a bank works and what interest is.

Loan sharks cruising poorest areas – report

Low-income families' struggles with debt are not due simply down to bad decisions.

Cryptocurrency

A cryptocurrency is a virtual currency built on cryptographie. Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency and created by an anonymous computer programmer known as Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Many Altcoins ...