Whether you like to explore your options or jump straight into investing, a bit of help never goes astray.

While there’s no shortage of financial self-help books lining Amazon, many of them are about as interesting as they sound. On the upside, the internet has had just as much impact on the types of financial resources available, as it has had on, well, the decline of bookstores. The Hatch team and some of our investors have pulled together a list of our favourites:

NZ Podcasts:

1. Your Money with Mary Holm 

Investment author and columnist Mary Holm talks to Jesse Mulligan on Radio NZ each fortnight about the latest trends in finance and her top tips for making your money work for you. Mary’s plain English podcast covers topics like insurance, managing your mortgage and ethical investing.

Great for: beginner investors wanting to get the most out of their money.

2. Cooking the books 

With a healthy dose of realism and good humour, NZ Herald journalist Frances Cook tackles a different money problem in each episode of her weekly podcast. Frances keeps things local and relatable with a strong New Zealand focus on a range of economic and investment topics. 

Great for: beginner and intermediate level investors.

3. NZ Everyday Investor 

Financial adviser Darcy Ungaro chats with a huge range of guests including CEOs, psychologists and everyday Kiwis and covers topics like inclusive investing, how to make your own KiwiSaver and the psychology of investing.

Great for: everyone.

4. Economy Watch - Interest.co.nz

We have to plug this quick-fire daily podcast (we’re sponsors!). It focuses on the latest local and global economic news and how it affects us in New Zealand, and at 5-minutes long, is an easy listen over your morning cuppa. 

Great for: existing investors who like to keep track of economic developments.

5. The Happy Saver 

We introduced you to Ruth Henderson recently. Ruth launched The Happy Saver after she struggled to find simple resources to help her get started investing. Her podcast is dedicated to encouraging conversations about money and lowering the barriers to building wealth.

Great for: people who are hesitant about investing and/or like to learn from others (it’s full of real-life examples).

US Podcasts:

6. Ark Invest 

Headed by the renowned Cathie Wood, Ark is an investment manager focused solely on disruptive innovation. They are seriously smart, a crowd favourite in Hatch Investor’s Club and have some ETFs listed through Hatch. 

Great for: people interested in growth investment opportunities in technological advancements like genome sequencing, robotics, artificial intelligence, energy storage, and blockchain technology.

7. The Peter Schiff Show 

Peter Schiff wraps his smarts in an easy listening conversational style. He covers off every financial topic imaginable, but focuses on breaking down how the US economy and political environment impacts real people and their money. 

Great for: anyone already invested in the US share markets (or thinking about getting started!).

8. Super Investors

Jesse Felder, of The Felder Report fame, periodically drops a new episode with some of the biggest names in investing, like Diego Parilla (who picked the oil price crash back in 2014). These are not short chats, but the fascinating insights make it worth an hour or more of your time. 

Great for: people who want to hear some of the smartest analysts in the world tell you their secrets in their own words.

9. Planet Money - NPR 

These prolific podcasters have clocked up nearly 1000 episodes to date, and they’re very good at it. They break down complex concepts using humorous real life examples and make learning about the economy fun.

Great for: US investing newbies who are keen to get a feel for what’s happening in the economy.

10. InvestED 

Phil Town was once a Grand Canyon river guide, then he turned $1000 into $1.45 million and established himself as an investment adviser. He has a huge back catalogue of podcasts canvassing every topic you can think of. Thanks to Town’s profile, he also has great special guests like Michael Burry (of the Big Short fame) talking about passive index funds. There’s also a Youtube channel.

Great for: everyone.

Youtube & Videos:

1. The Financial Diet

These ladies talk about personal finance in a way that doesn't make you want to curl up in a ball and cry. While it’s not strictly about investing, it does tackle emotional barriers and myths about wealth building, spending and budgeting.

Great for: getting some solid general personal finance information.

2. Investing with Tom 

We profiled Tom Botica not too long ago and are only too happy to give him another plug.  His investing ethos is built on the likes of Warren Buffet and Phil Town, and he takes time to show the exact steps to take when choosing shares, and where to find the information you need. 

Great for: beginner and intermediate level investors.

3. Mad Money 

Mad Money with Jim Cramer is the classic American full-noise TV show on CNBC that is never short of energy or opinion. Jim wants to help everyday investors understand the rules of the share market and how the big Wall St players wield their influence. He’s worth a watch for his enthusiasm alone.

Great for: everyone.

4. Motley Fool

These guys have been around the traps for a while now and most investors in Australasia will have heard of them. They produce excellent simple videos explaining key concepts like value vs growth investing as well as analysis of individual companies. 

Great for: everyone.

Events:

There are some great events and workshops to help you get started investing, and they double as excellent networking opportunities (we all need more friends to chat to about investing!). Here are a few we know of:

1. Juno Investing Magazine events 

Juno run free workshops in Auckland on a range of different topics. Keep an eye out for new offerings in 2020.

Great for: everyone.

2. Hatch events 

We’ve just had our first event and will be running more in Auckland and Wellington next year. 

Great for: investors of all levels – we’d love to see you.

3. Closing The Gap workshops 

These ladies are focused on closing the gender investment gap and run workshops that focus on the concepts and practical skills you need to get out there and start investing in Auckland and Wellington.  

Great for: beginner and intermediate level investors.

4. Auckland Investment Club events 

Meet like-minded investors who share your passion for building wealth and enjoy everything we like about an event: food, drink and good company. 

Great for: everyone.

What else you can do:

Talk to your friends, they may surprise you with how much they know! It’s much easier to delve deeper into the world of investing when you have a shoulder to laugh and cry on, and someone other than your own internal dialogue to debate with!

Buy a ‘successful’ investor a coffee and ask them how they got to where they are. How did they get their investing money together? What did they invest in? How did they figure out what to invest in? $4.50 is a cheap education (Thanks for the tip Ruth).

Learn by doing. Take a small amount and invest it in a company you use every day. Having some skin in the game is a great way to learn how you respond to share price increases and drops!

Not sure how to pick? Trust yourself and your judgement. You’ve already invested in the brands you love by buying them…Think iPhones, Ubers, Amazon, Lululemon, Canon, Nike, Levis. The list goes on. Yep, you’re already an expert at choosing which companies you back with your spending money, turn that same expertise towards your investment portfolio.