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A New Zealand doctoral candidate is investigating how cultural influences shape financial behaviours and decision-making among young Pasifika people in the country.
Massey University's Vika Namoa, who has Tongan heritage, saw first-hand in her first job how poor financial literacy impacts on Pacific communities in Aotearoa.
She told Pacific Waves that she has seen families seek to withdraw funds from their KiwiSaver accounts to help meet financial obligations - something she discourages.
"They feel that they need to dip into when they need to send money back or get some money out to help with family functions or family events and even funerals," she said.
Namoa said language barriers are an issue for Pasifika.
She said she hopes with her research will develop proper Pacific translations of key financial terms.
"I think that is the root issue...proper Pacific translations that match the thinking and the values, including communication styles of our Pacific communities.
"I have seen how the financial language use of New Zealand. It obviously does not align with the way we think, speak, and understand money matters."
She said existing financial support services are not culturally relevant.
"We need to offer...a program that reflects the values and lived experiences of our people.
"As a Pacific person, we explore and we go through... different sort of financial background from the rest of the other ethnic groups, and we have more of a communal, rather than individual.
"What works for other ethnic groups might not work for us."
But people also need to be open about receiving support, Namoa said.
"My recommendation would be to not isolate yourself when you get yourself into debt. And that's something that I've come across in this, not just the research itself, but the financial mentoring role.
"We get a bit ma, right, when we come across debts and and we think it's the end of the world, but there are services out there, like the financial mentoring. Utilize the services for free."
Learning to balance a household budget and understand interest rates will become compulsory for New Zealand school children from 2027.
