Sorted Money Week 2018 helps Kiwis weather the storms


CFFC’s 2018 Sorted Money Week was the most successful yet, with record media coverage and more than 1.8 million people interacting with the campaign’s messages of financial resilience.

Sorted Money Week is a public awareness campaign aimed at empowering New Zealanders to manage their personal finances. Now in its seventh year, Money Week is part of the National Strategy for Financial Capability and supports the CFFC purpose of ‘building wealthy lives’.

CFFC’s role as lead agency for financial capability is to inspire other organisations to run their own events, their own way, and provide the resources to help them. Organisations that get involved include government agencies, the finance sector, community organisations, NGOs and schools.

Weather Life’s Storms

In 2018 the theme of Sorted Money Week was Weather Life’s Storms, focusing on financial resilience to help Kiwis prepare for unexpected financial hits such as car or house repairs, dental work, vet bills, loss of income and, at worst, the death of a loved one. 

We recommended three key things people could do to weather life’s storms:

  • Savings: Build a savings buffer account to draw on when an unexpected bill arrives

  • Insurance: Rather than carry big risks yourself, get an insurance company to do the heavy lifting. Find policies that cover what’s most important to you - the people in your life, your money, yourself and your stuff

  • A Will: Get your paperwork in order – a will and an enduring power of attorney will protect and provide for your loved ones

These ideas resonated with New Zealanders and with the media:

  • 275 organisations took part in Money Week activities or communicating Money Week messages

  • 1.8 million people engaged in these activities and messages

  • 320 media stories were run across all major news organisations, and Māori and Pasifika outlets, reaching a cumulative audience of 13 million people and an advertising space rate (ASR) of $1.76 million

  • We created 12 videos, nine of which were posted on our social media channels during the week. They achieved a total of 120,853 10 second views

  • Social media achieved a total of 960,698 impressions with a reach of 385,712

  • The Community team created seven videos called Note to Self using stories behind our notes and coins. They were shared by The Reserve Bank, main banks, health and community organisations through email newsletters, internal communications and social media.

  • More than 50 different organisations, community groups, banks and schools posted about Money Week using CFFC content or their own content

  • There were 144,550 visitors to Sorted.org.nz during the campaign period, and 10,123 visits to  Moneyweek.org.nz

  • More than 1600 resources were downloaded

The Head of CFFC, Retirement Commissioner Diane Maxwell, was thrilled with the success of Sorted Money Week 2018.

“Our theme of Weather Life’s Storms made an impact and got people thinking and talking about what it means to be financially resilient,” says Maxwell. “Being able to cope with unexpected costs is key to remaining in a strong position financially, and in your long-term preparation for retirement. Sorted Money Week continues to help Kiwis on that journey.”