Where’s My Money? Season 6, Episode 9
enable.me partners with rova to bring this podcast to life and stimulate the conversation about finances with everyday Kiwis. Where’s My Money? follows the story of Reagan – a man chasing the Kiwi Dream but feeling stuck living month-to-month – and his discussions with the experts about what he may be doing wrong and how to fix it.
One man. One million dollars of debt. One podcast to find a way out.
In this episode of Where’s My Money?, Reagan takes on a topic that feels global, messy, and a long way from home, but has a very direct impact on life here in New Zealand.
As tension in the Middle East puts pressure on global oil supply, the effects are already showing up where Kiwis notice them fastest: at the pump, in the supermarket, and in the wider cost of living. Economist Brad Olsen joins Reagan to explain why New Zealand is so exposed, what the next stages of the shock could look like, and why this might not be some one-off disruption we can just wait out. Then enable.me financial coach Shelley Palman steps in with an answer to the more practical question: what should households do now?
New Zealand feels these shocks faster than people expect
Economist Brad Olsen joins the conversation first and explains why something happening on the other side of the world can hit New Zealand so quickly.
As he puts it, while around 20% of the world’s oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz, the bigger issue for us is that “about 80% of oil that comes through and gets refined in Asia comes from” there, and New Zealand gets much of its refined fuel from suppliers like South Korea and Singapore.
New Zealand is a long way from the conflict itself, but we’re at the end of a supply chain that’s highly exposed to it. And because our country no longer refines its own fuel, we’re relying on others to get crude oil, refine it, and send the finished product on to us.
Brad’s explanation of Marsden Point addresses whether keeping local refining capacity would’ve protected us. His answer is basically no. “We’d either be fighting for refined fuels, which we are at the moment, or we’d be fighting for just getting the crude oil here to start with.”
It’s an important distinction, because it shifts the conversation away from nostalgic thinking and back towards the reality of matters now: how exposed households and businesses are to higher fuel costs, and how long that pressure might stick around.
This isn’t just a petrol story
Fuel is the first thing people notice, because it’s visible and immediate. “Naturally, if diesel’s more expensive already, the cost of getting the lettuce to the supermarket and, therefore, into my fridge is going to go up, right?” Reagan asks. But Brad’s point is that the impact doesn’t stop there.
“Yes we are going to see that inflationary spike,” he says, adding that current estimates suggest headline inflation could increase by “over 4%” in the June quarter.
That matters because fuel prices don’t just affect driving. They flow through freight, food production, construction, packaging, and all sorts of everyday goods and services. Brad describes it as “a multi-phase, sort of multi-hit,” problem, with the first hit showing up immediately in petrol and diesel prices, then further pressure “over the next, sort of, one to three months,” rolling through produce, meat, transport and business costs over the following months.
Brad’s realistic but pragmatic view isn’t trying to stir up panic, but it makes the point that this kind of shock often doesn’t stay neatly contained. It spreads.
Embracing panic vs becoming passive
Another major theme throughout the episode is that, while panic doesn’t help, being passive in response to these major events won’t help either.
Brad breaks the crisis down into “three potential phases.”
The first is what we’re already seeing: an economic shock where prices rise, confidence drops, and households start pulling back because more of their income is being swallowed by essentials.
The second phase, if supply gets tighter, could involve short-term rationing to bridge gaps between shipments.
The third, which he says is currently less likely, would be a more serious period of extended supply constraint.
What’s useful about the way Brad explains it is that he doesn’t lean into doom. He leans into awareness. “Knowledge is power,” he says, and while he warns against disappearing into endless doomscrolling and amateur ship tracking, he offers that “burying your head in the sand is equally not helpful.”
Ultimately, it’s about finding a balance that feels right. Ignoring the reality of the situation won’t make the potential problems disappear, but you also don’t want to spend all your energy obsessing over things you can’t control while ignoring the things you can.
The 2020s might not settle down in the way people hope
Brad also suggests that this kind of disruption may not be unusual anymore.
“I hate to say it,” he says, “this also might be our normal.” He points to geopolitics, extreme weather, and repeated global and local shocks as signs that the 2020s may keep throwing this kind of instability at us.
That’s a confronting thought, but it’s also why this episode feels useful for listeners and viewers rather than just a topical grab at sensational headlines.
If shocks like this are becoming part of the landscape, then waiting for everything to calm down before getting your money sorted probably isn’t much of a plan. The better response is to build more resilience into your household now, so you’re not thrown off course every time something external flares up.
“From a household perspective, there are small things that you can do that will just make you a little bit more resilient over time.” pointing out some creative hacks he’s heard on how to stretch the budget. “Every little bit counts,” Brad finishes.
Get in control before the pressure gets worse
Reagan is then joined by our own enable.me financial coach, Shelley Palman, who reiterates the need to get a full view of our spending and start understanding where to make changes.
“The first thing is get in control,” she says. “If you’re crap at controlling your money, we’ve got to find a way for you to get better at controlling your money.”
Her advice is to stop pouring energy into tracking geopolitics and start paying more attention to what’s actually happening in your own accounts. Budget. Track spending. Understand where your money is going. If you can’t do that well on your own, get help from someone who can. Because while you can’t control oil markets or shipping routes, you can control how exposed your household is to them.
That’s really the core shift in this episode. Instead of asking, “What’s the world going to do next?”, the conversation encourages listeners to ask themselves, “What are you doing with the money you already have?”
Find the leakage before you blame the cost of living
One of Shelley’s best points is that a lot of households are leaking money in ways they don’t properly notice.
“Where are you slipping? Where is the leakage happening in your life?” she asks, before adding that enable.me estimates “about 15% is going walkabout of what’s coming in.”
That’s a strong line, because it reframes the conversation. Yes, petrol is up. Yes, groceries are likely to get more expensive. But that doesn’t automatically mean every household budget is already as tight and efficient as it can be.
Shelley’s point is that “if we can find that 15%, the extra 50 bucks a week we’re paying on petrol is going to be more than covered.” She’s not talking about one dramatic life overhaul either. She’s talking about the boring stuff: bought lunches, too many subscriptions, replacing phones too often, failing to meal plan, and all the other little habits that quietly pile up over time.
It’s not glamorous advice, but it’s useful because it puts the focus back where it belongs: on the habits and systems that make a household more resilient
Your emergency buffer needs to be non-negotiable
If there’s one idea Shelley really hammers home, it’s this: households need a proper buffer.
“Absolutely in terms of that fortification piece… non-negotiable, we have a really solid buffer,” she says. Then she gets even clearer: “Most people do the paycheck to paycheck thing,” she says and both Reagan and Shelley agree that’s “not good enough.”
Her advice is simple and practical. Work out what three months of household income looks like. Then start building towards it with automatic payments into a separate account you don’t touch. Ideally, she says, households should be aiming for three to six months as a buffer.
That’s one of the most useful parts of the episode because it moves the conversation from stress to action. You can’t make diesel cheaper or solve a geopolitical crisis from your kitchen table. But you can make sure an unexpected bill or a rough few months don’t immediately push you into debt.
Don’t make a panic purchase just because fuel’s expensive
Reagan raises the question plenty of households will be asking right now: should you go out and buy an electric vehicle (EV)?
Shelley’s answer is immediate. “The answer is no.” Not unless you were already in the market for a car. Her point is that rushing out to spend tens of thousands on a vehicle in response to rising fuel costs can actually weaken your financial position if it drains your buffer or adds new repayments.
That’s a good example of what this episode gets right overall. It separates practical adjustment from panic reaction.
Small changes that improve efficiency, like carpooling, using public transport where possible, or even just taking unused roof racks off your car, can help. Brad notes earlier in the episode that at higher speeds, removing roof racks can make a meaningful difference to fuel use over time. But that’s very different from making a major financial decision under pressure.
The biggest opportunity cost is waiting
By the end of the episode, both Brad and Shelley land on versions of the same message: don’t sit around hoping this all blows over while doing nothing with your own money.
Shelley says it directly: “The biggest opportunity cost comes when you wait.” Waiting means you don’t build the buffer. Waiting means you don’t review the budget. Waiting means you don’t get help, make a plan, or take the small steps that would leave you in a stronger position if things do get tougher. “Setting up an automatic payment to give yourself a three-month buffer,” Shelley says, “at least you feel like you’re doing something practical, and that you are taking a step, no matter how small.”
That’s the message at the heart of this episode. It’s not really just about oil. It’s about how fast external shocks can flow into everyday life, and how much better off you are if your finances are already in decent shape when they do.
Because the truth is, we don’t get much say in what the world throws at us. But we do get a say in how prepared we are when it lands.
Disclaimer: The Where’s My Money? podcast and the information shared by host Reagan White and his guests does not constitute individual financial advice. If you’re interested in receiving financial advice, you can book a consultation with an enable.me coach. Costs apply.
