
Money Mentors
The past year has been one of focusing on our essential service of supporting whānau to a place of financial security.
After frenetic months following Covid and the Auckland storms it was good to feel the volume of clients stabilise. This is a real positive because it means we can spend more time with each client enabling better and more sustainable outcomes.
Many of our sessions are provided under our Building Financial Capability Core (BFC Core) contract which must be renewed every three years. It was good to not only have our contract renewed but, in light of the quality service we deliver and the high need within our communities, to have a “rite of passage” for two years. That means, at the end of three years, we can elect to have the contract automatically extended for a further two years.
We’ve noticed two shifts in our client demographic. The first is the number of client whānau who are presenting with mental health issues – stress, anxiety, depression – which have been caused by their financial situation. The second shift is in the increasing number of clients (7%) who are retirees.
Also noted is an increase in the complexity of debt presented by clients – both an increase in the amount owed and in the number of creditors each client owes money to.
Of our clients 51% were self-referred and 24% were referred by other Visionwest services. Most of these spoke of the rising cost-of-living as being a significant factor in their struggling finances. As always, the most rewarding aspect of our work is seeing people released from debt and being in a position where they experience greater self-sufficiency in managing their finances.
The BFC Core contract extension will enable us to increase our number of Financial Mentors from 5 to 6.5.
The combined debt of clients seen this year is $24,417,266 ($41,738 per client. An increase of 62% from last year).
$868,534 of whānau debt was cleared this year through money mentoring strategies.
52% of Money Mentors clients are aged 36 – 46 years. 7% are over 65 years old.
Our response to financial hardship
Tā mātou whakautu ki te āhuatanga rawakore

Total sessions delivered

Whānau received financial mentoring support

Whānau debt cleared
Virginia’s Story
The presence of stress leading up to each payday as Virginia worried about how she was going to get through the coming week led her to contact Visionwest Money Mentors. Despite initial fears, she now says it’s the best thing she could have done.