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 Something About Mary
Qantas Media Award-winning columnist Mary Holm writes two personal finance columns, one in the NZ Herald, the other in the Christchurch Press, Dominion Post, Gisborne Herald and Waikato Times.
She is a part-time senior lecturer in financial literacy at the
University of Auckland, a member of the Financial Markets Authority board, and a director of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme. She also presents seminars, and frequently discusses personal finance on radio and television.
Mary is the author of "The Complete KiwiSaver" as well as two other best-selling books about KiwiSaver (all published by Random House); "Get Rich Slow" and "Investing Made Simple" (both published by Penguin), and "The REAL Story - Saving and investing now that inflation is under control" and "Snakes and Ladders – A guide to risk for savers and investors" (both published by the Reserve Bank of NZ).
She holds a BA in economic history (Victoria University of Wellington), MA in journalism (University of Michigan) and MBA in finance (University of Chicago, where she was taught by Nobel Laureate Merton Miller and graduated in the top 15%.).
Mary was a member of the Savings Working Group in 2010-11 and the Capital Market Development Taskforce in 2009, and worked for the 1997 Todd report on retirement income. She has been business editor of the Auckland Sun and Auckland Star, and has covered personal finance for the
NZ Listener, Australian Financial Review and Chicago Tribune.
She enjoys movies and plays, walking in wild places, swimming, and meeting with friends.
PLEASE NOTE: The opinions Mary expresses in her writing and on this website are in no way connected with the Financial Markets Authority or the Banking Ombudsman Scheme.
What Readers Say
Mary routinely edits out compliments from letters before running them in her columns.
But here are some recent comments:
- My Mum suggested I send you an email as you have loads of great advice.
- First up, I love your column. The debate and discussion are great and really stimulate thinking - last year's running saga over gold was a classic.
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I really enjoy your NZ Herald column and have changed my spending habits significantly since becoming an avid reader. Although, having said that, I do miss lattes!.... Keep up the great column!
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I just want to say that as someone with no finance background, I look forward to your column on the NZ Herald every Saturday as it is both informative and easy to understand. As a result of your columns I have bought two of your books (one was for my mum and dad!) on KiwiSaver…..Keep up your great work Mary!
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Kia Ora Mary, I enjoy listening to you on radio.....keep us updated...I have found that the banks do not know enough on KiwiSaver and if I hadn't listened to you on the radio they would have misinformed me.
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Keep up the good work with your excellent Dominion column.
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I read you column every week and over the years have had some great "pearls of wisdom" which have been of great assistance.
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Love your articles and agree with you 98% of the time.
Explaining finance to the wider public is important as well as being a bit of an art. You have a real talent for it.
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I have read your column and books for several years and have been impressed by the consistency and quality of your advice.
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I enjoy reading your column which I still do, on line, even though I am now living in Australia.
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Well written Mary. Thanks for the enjoyable read.
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Thank you so much for your response to my question, your answer was so insightful and helpful.
I enjoy your column as a must read on Saturday morning. We recently purchased your 'Get Rich Slow' book, which has been very worthwhile for us…. Keep up the great work.
We enjoy reading your column in the Herald as you talk about money, finance and the economy in a simple, uncomplicated way that a lay person can understand - lay people like us who know nothing about shares, bonds and markets but are still anxious to preserve and grow the nest egg we have.
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I love reading your columns in the Herald (giving myself a sound financial education -without university prices thanks!!).
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First of all thank you very much for your column in NZ Herald. For us as migrants it has been a great help and has given us very good understanding about financial matters in New Zealand.
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Hugely enjoy your column.
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Happy New Year, Mary. Your column has been missed over the break!!
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I’m a regular reader of your column in NZ Herald and would like to thank you for your easy to follow and down to earth comments . Reading your column has been a huge part of my education in financial matters (I’m very much a novice!), and I pass on the suggestion to read your column to junior colleagues in our department.
- As they say, long-time reader, first time commenter. I am a Dunedin-ite and always enjoy your NZ Herald column (via the WWW) every Saturday morning over a bowl of porridge (well usually muesli actually but that spoils a good story).
- Interesting (incidentally) to see the stuff about spreading one's KiwiSaver funds between providers, which was one of the few KiwiSaver issues I was still interested in (of course it's all exciting when you tell it - (grin)!).
- Just a word of thanks for your answer to my query. Your article is a comprehensive and unbiased analysis and it's easy to understand. You must have spent a lot of time on it. Thanks again.
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I am an avid reader of your Herald column - the main reason I buy the Herald on Saturdays.
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