By Peter Jackson
After delivering mainstream financial literacy courses for the Commission for Financial Capability (CFFC) and a number of other organisations, ACE Aotearoa Board member and independent board member Peter Jackson has developed a financial literacy course that is designed specifically for Māori.

With a Business Degree from Victoria University, a rental property portfolio, and experience in establishing a number of successful small businesses, Peter has the skills and knowledge needed to teach others about how to become financially secure.

He became aware that the mainstream financial literacy courses were not engaging Māori and felt that there must be more effective ways of helping them understand what they can do to create a better financial life:

“I could see that the other courses, which are delivered in two-hour sessions over eight weeks, are very well put together, but they didn’t quite hit the mark. Māori and Pasifika are the poorest people in Aotearoa, and it is very dry and off-putting to come into a course and have to start by listening to a session about compound interest, KiwiSaver and wills. I could see that I really needed to take the best from all of the courses and contextualise and culturalise the content. So I developed my own course. I’ve called it, Gaming Life. If you like – how to play the game of life and play it well.

“A lot of Māori don’t believe they can build a good life in Aotearoa. That’s because many whānau only see or associate with people who don’t have a financially secure life. They see that as normal. They don’t understand how vital it is to do well financially.

“We start the course talking about our ancestors and how they risked life and limb to navigate their way across the Pacific. We talk about the key factors that helped them achieve such a feat.

“Then we talk about what they would have had to do to survive in a new land – grow food, build houses. The discussion then leads to the role that money plays in our lives.

“Once they get that understanding it is easier to talk about savings and the way we should be thinking about money – not simply buying what we want, without a thought for the future. So we do the standard exercise about needs and wants – and ask about the sort of future that they want for themselves.”

“My goal is to create a situation where Māori can learn and understand how the world actually works. For example we talk about how, two weeks into the first lockdown in 2020, some people had run out of money, and others who outwardly looked well-off were lining up at food banks in their Mercedes Benz. About how, many families are just three months away from bankruptcy.

“We talk about where they learnt about money, and most learnt from their parents, many of whom had little understanding about how to build a financially secure life.

“I think that the current financial and social circumstances that my people experience is a direct result of colonisation. That fact in a sense can also be something that many lean on. They feel that they can’t improve their lot in life. I want to show them that they can. I cite the fact that many refugees who come to this country after great hardships do well, so why can’t we?”

The course is run over a full day, rather than eight two-hour sessions. And that, thinks Peter, is another factor in the success of his approach.

Each course is run during a weekend and has 20–30 participants – of mixed ages. Seeing older people in the group, says Peter, is a challenge, because many of them just don’t have the time, the number of years needed to become financially secure.

So far Peter has been approached by a few Māori organisations and asked to run his course.

For example the Settlement Trust in Wellington, which has been building houses for Māori, wanted to make sure that those who were given access to housing and access to a Te Puni Kokiri loan could meet their financial obligations.

Tupoki Wairau Hunter is doing just that – he and his sister Kiriana have bought one of the houses in Wainuiomata and they are having no trouble managing their mortgage. He was just 21 when he did Peter’s course:

“The information was all quite new to me. It made me think about saving money – wisely. I learned about things like compound interest, needs and wants… It took about a year and a half to save some money. I worked as a builder during the week and in the weekend I drove trucks. My sister did the course after me and together we were able to get a mortgage.”

Sometimes it is parents who connect their children to the programme.

Danny King is a financial advisor and mortgage broker – and he attended the course with his two daughters:

“I came with them to toutoko (support and encourage) their journey onto the property ladder. The way Peter ran the course was relatable. That’s the best word for it. We were with a group of other people wanting to achieve the same goal and he opened our minds by helping us understand our historical situation, and our modern-day challenges. When we talked to each other, we were all in the same boat – trying to get our first home. It was a family environment. We felt we were all cousins effectively – in the same room with the same goals and objectives. Everyone was there to support each other – as opposed to competing with each other. Peter broke down all the challenges we had to overcome.”

The result for Samantha, one of Danny’s daughter’s (the other has put her plans on hold) is that she and her partner Reece Eru have just bought a house in Napier. That involved Samantha working hard for nine months to get rid of all her short-term debt, moving out of Wellington (where her landlord had almost doubled the rent), getting a flat in Napier, selling their second car and joining the navy. She and Reece are now delighted to be on the property ladder. The course, says Danny, was critical to her success.

Peter brings all sorts of different behaviours and cultural values into the discussion – to help participants understand the role of money.

“One of the difficulties I face is that most Māori organisations and most of my people are more interested in protecting the planet and Papatuanuku than financial literacy. I get that looking after the planet is critically important, but so too is looking after our finances.

“Sadly, when you look at non-Māori who are involved in environmental organisations like Forest and Bird, for example, they are usually quite well-to-do. They are financially sorted. They want to self actualise by contributing to an environment cause. In general, Māori who are similarly deeply committed to the environment, are poor. We discuss these differences.”

Gaming Life is a programme that aligns traditional Māori values and behaviours with the 21st century world. It is making a difference.