02/12/2025
Today we’re releasing Towards a fairer financial world, independent research by TRA capturing frontline perspectives from financial mentors and other financial capability practitioners across Aotearoa New Zealand.
The message is clear: As cost-of-living pressures deepen, practitioners are seeing harder-to-resolve debt and a support system under real strain.
Key findings:
- Practitioners support an average of 40 clients per month, and 46% say it feels like too much work.
- 83% say clients have more complex needs beyond financial issues; 64% say debts are more complicated.
- The biggest barriers to repayment are cost of living (91%) and housing affordability (81%).
- The biggest barriers to engagement are embarrassment/shame (87%) and being too overwhelmed (83%).
- Face-to-face matters: 91% rank it most effective; 90% say it’s much more effective than digital channels.
- Only 13% feel the current funding model fully supports their work; 31% say it hardly supports or doesn’t support it.
One of the strongest themes throughout the report is that human connection should be amplified, not replaced, by technology. Rapport and trust are the cornerstone of effective engagement, and face-to-face support remains the gold standard for creating this.
We hope this report helps spark a more practical conversation about resourcing, collaboration, and policy settings that support long-term financial wellbeing and creates .
A huge thank you to all the amazing financial mentors and other practitioners who took part in the research and who work every day to help their clients across the country.
Full report: https://lnkd.in/ggZqvMX9
