Full Transcript for Nick Crawford: How do you talk to your spouse about money?

who's actually, it's his idea to have a chat about this, by the way. He is the managing director of the private office. We've actually talked with him before about what do you do if you hit it rich? And we might even touch on a couple of issues around lotto later on because I'm really bloody annoyed that they're making it harder to win. So we might have a look at that later on. But anyway, it's a very good afternoon to Nick Crawford. 00:03:41 Speaker 4: G'day, Nick. Hi, Tim. How are you? 00:03:44 Speaker 3: Not too bad. Now, you're swanning around somewhere exotic in the country, aren't you? You're over at Waiheke. 00:03:50 Speaker 4: Yes. Just at home, though. I'm lucky enough to live over in Waiheke. Oh, you live here. 00:03:54 Speaker 3: Oh, okay. 00:03:56 Speaker 2: Oh, wow. 00:03:56 Speaker 3: I did not know that. Hey, how... How common is it for families not to understand the basics of their own finances by talking to each other about it? 00:04:09 Speaker 4: I think it's very common. And I think individuals within families might have better or worse understandings, but it is quite common for families and couples to find it very difficult to talk to each other or talk collectively about money for all different sorts of reasons. Most of them link to your upbringing, actually. Really? What? 00:04:32 Speaker 3: Because mum and dad never talked about money? 00:04:35 Speaker 4: Yes, absolutely. So the way our parents are with money can often have quite a profound effect on how we are and how we view money. And you might be able to kind of think about that in your own situation or people out there. And yeah, so if you came from a family where actually, you know, it wasn't too long ago where people actually thought it was quite rude to talk about money. So if you come from that sort of family, these conversations can be quite difficult. But there are ways around it if you're struggling. Yeah. 00:05:08 Speaker 3: Sorry, have we just lost you there? Are you still there? 00:05:10 Speaker 4: No, no, no. I'm sorry. 00:05:12 Speaker 3: No, that's all right. Actually, here's a quick one. I don't know how I found out, but I do think we didn't used to talk about money a lot in our family, but I didn't know what my dad was getting paid. And I think it's because I asked him and he told me, whereas I don't know. I mean, it's an interesting detail. I don't think I would want my kids to know what I earn. 00:05:35 Speaker 4: Um, just because it's interesting that you could kind of sometimes go through, you know, years and decades without knowing something. And all you actually had to do was ask the question and you get the answer. So, And I think that gets to maybe the heart of it is the fact that starting conversations about money can be difficult and what do you say and, you know, don't want to offend someone or ask an awkward question. And so these sorts of worries about money conversations can actually take root and actually go on for long periods of time. Yeah. 00:06:10 Speaker 3: Actually, because I'll be honest, if I was married to you, I would never ask about money because you're the managing director of the private office. And if our finances aren't in order, I don't know what I'm going to say. 00:06:22 Speaker 4: Exactly. No, we'll be safe. We'll be fine, Tim. 00:06:25 Speaker 3: I think I'd probably be like, where can we afford to go on holiday at Christmas? Are we going to... It reminds me of an old sketch around dentistry. It's like, I've got to get a couple of teeth replaced. It's like, how much is it going to cost me? Oh, I think I could do that for a holiday to France. But if you push me, maybe I'll just do it for a trip to Fiji. But Anyway, that's a bit trivial. But I mean, in your household, and you may not want to answer this, would there be a certain assumption that, you know, you know what you're doing? 00:06:51 Speaker 4: Yeah. And you actually mentioned this at the start of the conversation. Lots of couples and families, there's one person that takes the lead. You know, it can be the man or the woman or anyone. But someone tends to often will have a kind of a predisposition for wanting to pay bills and make sure everything's organized. And actually, if the other person doesn't, that actually works quite well. You've got the yin and the yang. And as long as there's open conversations and the person that's not paying the bills and sorting the credit card out feels engaged, informed and it's open to them and that can work quite well and often better than two people that both want to um you know kind of run the ship and so again it's the communication side of things i think that's important but if one person takes a lead i think that works quite well in the majority of cases. 00:07:43 Speaker 3: Yeah I mean, you can share as little as you want about your own relationship, but how much information would you share with other family members? You're a family man, I think, haven't you? Yeah, yeah. 00:07:53 Speaker 4: I've got a 20-year-old daughter and a 17-year-old son. And. 00:07:58 Speaker 4: I, they've never asked me directly how much I earn and I haven't told them, but we do talk about, you know, the expense of things and, you know, the importance of earning money and having your own financial independence. And that's what we find with lots of people. And I don't know whether to talk about, you know, how do you talk about jobs? money to your children? And if you've got money, is it something that could be negative to your children? And so I think talking to your kids about savings when they're young and trying to get them interested in money is a good first step. And then, yeah, different families will talk more. 00:08:39 Speaker 3: If they asked you how much you earned, would you tell them? If they said, Dad, what'd you make last year? Would you tell them or would you sort of be like, none of your business? I'm happy to talk about budgets and and advice, but that's mine. 00:08:51

Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, if you put me on the spot, I think I would, but I'd want to do it in the context of the overall situation and maybe tell them a bit about our mortgage as well at the same time. 00:09:02 Speaker 3: Oh, yeah. Actually, well, I think that's, well, that's actually funny enough. It's like, Dad, how much do you earn? I earn X amount of dollars. It's funny because as soon as you give one bit of information, you probably have to buy into a larger conversation so they don't get the false impression that life's more tickety-boo than maybe it is. 00:09:24 Speaker 4: Absolutely. And we are lucky in that we can afford to go on a holiday and that sort of thing. 00:09:29 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:09:31 Speaker 4: But you want to try and impress on people the value of money and the importance of work and those sorts of things. And then everyone's financial situation is different, and some people are lucky that their parents have got good jobs and they're earning some, and then others, you know, It's been really difficult and they've grown up in environments with very little money. And this is what can lead to couples having really different relationships with money when they come into a family. And one of the reasons why different people can find it a struggle to talk about money or what they earn with their partner. 00:10:06 Speaker 3: Because I think there are a number of people who would consider themselves to be wealthy who are quite worried about their children not learning the lessons that they might have learned when they were younger. That led to them becoming wealthy and working hard, saving hard, investing, whatever. Because I guess that's the worry for any parent is that you don't really want your children to think that, don't worry, just wait till mum and dad cark it and everything's going to be fine. 00:10:37 Speaker 4: Absolutely and and when we see our families who have done well and have come into wealth that's often their number one worry that the kids are going to get spoiled and and they'll lose purpose in their lives which which you know they obviously don't want and what we often find though is because of that family money dynamics what your parents are like and what you're like often gets imprinted into your kids so if you've If you've got good values around money and you've brought them up in a way to respect money, it's often not going to be as bad as you think. But this is what people genuinely worry about when we see them. 00:11:14 Speaker 3: Because the other side of it is I know someone who doesn't like talking about money because they've been through a really tough time and they didn't want to pass that stress on to their partner. So they were keeping an eye on the spending. But they were like, I just, I don't want to ruin, you know, I don't want to stress them out. I can handle this. So I'm going to keep quiet about how bloody awful things are. Yes. 00:11:39 Speaker 4: And then communication, because if you're not saying anything, then what's actually happening and what's not can come a bit blurred. And so my advice to people who want to try and start to talk about money, but that they're finding it different, is to focus on the goal you're trying to achieve. So what it is that you're unhappy about. And if you focus on that, so that might be you want to move house or start a family or just that you go on holiday and enjoy life or maybe start a family. So if you could focus on what is important and why you're looking to save some money or what you want to do with your money, it can often help the conversation. So you get away from talking about the money and onto... thing that you want to achieve. 00:12:25 Speaker 3: Yeah. Gosh, there's so many different angles to this, aren't there? Look, we want your calls, 0800 80 1080. And we're talking about just the conversations that you have with your family or would like to have, haven't had, should have, but also the questions around how much would you share about the lessons you've learned about money, but also maybe some of just the cold, hard facts. This is how big our mortgage is. This is what mum and dad make, or mum makes, or dad makes, or dad and dad, mum and mum, or whatever. But this is how much we make. Yeah, how do you approach those conversations? And how transparent are you with your family members about what you have or you haven't got? 0800 80 10 80, text 9292. Let's kick it off with a call before we head to the break. Nathaniel, hi. 00:13:10 Speaker 4: Hi. 00:13:14 Speaker 6: Hello, Tim. How are you today? 00:13:16 Speaker 3: I'm all right. How are you doing? 00:13:18 Speaker 6: I'm great, thank you. So, yeah, with me and my cousin with money, we are always trying to, you know, save as much money as possible. Like, you know, we use our money to pay bills just to keep on track on stuff. Yeah. And stuff like, you know, rates, we always... pay our rates and we, um, always, um, keep our, um, because, um, because, because my cousin, um, he, um, me and my cousin, we, we both got two cars and we always, um, you know, do like, um, you know, we always take them for the, the services, the wafts and stuff. And, and for me, I'm, I'm quite careful with my money. 00:14:08 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:14:09 Speaker 6: Like, um, you know, like, you know, um, In today's society, Tom, you know, it's hard for people, you know, because they've got, you know, big families and they're just counting, you know, for, you know, food, clothes. 00:14:30 Speaker 3: Have you had people talk to you about this, about the problems, or it's just something you notice? 00:14:35 Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah. 00:14:36 Speaker 6: Me and my cousin, we always have this talk about, how hard it is for families and that. 00:14:43 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:14:43 Speaker 3: Well, actually, I'll tell you what, you're very brave for calling up and just sharing about your thoughts about that, Nathaniel. So thanks for your call, mate. Look, we'd love to hear more

calls about the conversations that you have or haven't had or won't have with your families. How do you have those conversations? Because, you know, it's nice to think that we don't have to talk about these things because money is just an abundance, but that's not necessarily the case a lot of the time, is it? 0800 80 1080. My guest is Nick Crawford. He's the managing director of the private office, and he will be with us as hopefully you will be straight after the break on 0800 80 1080. 22 past five. Yes, welcome back. We're with the private office managing director, Nick Crawford. Quite a cool name for a company, really, isn't it, the private office? But anyway, we're talking about conversations that you have with family and or that you should have. And what would you share with them and what won't you share with them? What's none of their business, even though they're your nearest and dearest? There are a whole bunch of angles around this. In fact, one of the texts we'll get to raises the question around how you handle the dating side of things. Do you reveal the fact that you don't worry, I'm paying for this and I can pay for every meal for the next 50 years if you stick around? I don't know. Anyway, we're with Nick and now we're joined by Tammy Lee. Hello. 00:16:01 Speaker 4: Hi there. 00:16:03 Speaker 6: Hello. 00:16:04 Speaker 3: Hello. What would you like to talk about? 00:16:09 Speaker 7: Um, I was hearing you guys talk about money on the news talk. 00:16:14 Speaker 3: Actually, Tammy, Tammy Lee, can you just hold the line for a second? I'm just going to pass you back to our producer because there is a strange echo there and I might get him to explore whether you're on some sort of strange headset or in a very large bathroom. Um, we'll deal with this text, Nick. You're still there, aren't you? 00:16:30 Speaker 4: Yes, I'm here. 00:16:31 Speaker 3: You're so well behaved being quiet there. Um, This is a text, a curveball for you lads. I'm a young single man and a barrier for me to dating is finances. I'm in a much stronger financial position than most my age and work in a profession known for high wages. I'm worried about this being a deciding factor for some. Any tips on navigating money discussions while dating and any insight into how to handle wealth disparity within early relationships would be appreciated. So I think what he's reading between the lines of text is like, I don't want people to just be interested in me for my money would be my guess of what he's getting at. But what do you reckon? 00:17:12 Speaker 4: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. He doesn't want people to be with him because it's just the money and they're seeing kind of a big bag of money there rather than the person. And that's, you know, you can understand why he'd feel like that. I think you're entitled to discuss as much or as little about your own financial situation as you want to, you know, and expect, and you shouldn't expect other people to, you know, to tell you something just because you've, you've told them. And so I think being discreet about the money, certainly early on in a relationship would be a good idea. If you've got those sorts of worries. Yeah. 00:17:55 Speaker 3: It's a funny one, isn't it? In the early stages. Because, yeah, the other side of it is, you know, if you don't have much money, but, of course, when you go on a date, you don't want someone to think that, I mean, it's keeping up appearances, isn't it? 00:18:08 Speaker 4: Yeah, absolutely. And these are awkward moments in dating. It's been a very, very long time since I've been doing that. But, you know, do you pay and someone shows that you're kind of thinks you're a bit flashy or do you kind of, you know, insist on 50-50 and you come across as being a bit tight or, you know, is it just you who's thinking that in the first place? And so, actually, maybe kind of making light of it and going halves to begin with is the way to go these days. 00:18:37 Speaker 3: I don't... Actually, I should have asked our newsroom in the break. I should have gone out and said, if you're out on a first date, I would imagine most... In fact, I think I'd be almost... By the way, happy to give you reckons on this. I think if I was single, which I'm not, so there's a lot of hypotheticals for both of us, Nick. But if I think if I went out for dinner with someone on a new date, these days I would... think i would be patronizing and sexist if i said this is on me unless i said listen i invited you it's my treat that'd be my guess but i mean i don't know maybe these days when you're my own feels it's 50 50 oh god thank god i'm not there any longer i. 00:19:21 Speaker 4: Know and it's that internal dialogue in your own head that actually is the is often the hardest part you know should i 50-50, and so I think that's the safest way. But, yeah, maybe I think I agree with you there, Tim. Say that this is on me. I've had a kind of a good month at work, and I'd like to treat you. It's not every time. Something like that would be a nice way. 00:19:45 Speaker 3: To show the jester. Yeah, if you can justify it as opposed to, I don't know, I imagine that would be slightly shark-infested waters. Somebody has messaged me here saying... as a 22-year-old, it's always split when dating unless you offer. It's never expected either side for someone to pay the whole meal. So times have changed because there would have been a time when, generally speaking, a guy pays, depending on the relationship. 00:20:14 Speaker 4: Yes, times have changed, obviously. 00:20:17 Speaker 3: Do you remember when you were dating in the early days? Did you always just say, hey, this is on me? Or did you be like, gosh, I hope she's got some money to pay? 00:20:25 Speaker 4: I actually think even then, it wasn't such a long time ago, but I think it was often done 50-50 with normally sort of poor students or just starting out at work and so on. 50-50, unless you'd had a good month in sales and you

could afford to push the boats up. 00:20:40 Speaker 3: You know what? I can't remember at all. I've got no recollection. I'd have to ask my wife. 00:20:45 Speaker 4: Because you were drinking so much. 00:20:48 Speaker 3: Oh, God, I'm a lightweight on that stuff. I didn't have to drink much at all. Okay, 0800 80 1080. Here's a text. This is from Dave. For the first five years of married life, I brought my pay pack at home unopened. With three kids, single income, and in rental accommodation, I didn't expect to get rich. When it came to look at home ownership, I then found out we had nothing. Only then did I find out my wife was a chronic spender. In other words, the unopened pay packet was drained. My recommendation is to always have your own money. Take out the costs and split what's left. I'd still be broke today if I didn't eventually get my own money. Kindest regards, Dave. Well, that's a difficult one because if you're the sole breadwinner, I don't know. 00:21:34 Speaker 4: Yes, and I think there's some important lessons in there that always to have some agency over your own money and know what you've got in your account. And I think even in very close couples where they share everything, it's still a good idea just to have your own bank account with an amount of money that is just answerable only to you. And I think that's quite a healthy thing to do and for your partner to have the same, even if you're pulling 95% of your money together. Yeah. 00:22:04 Speaker 3: Um, we'd love to hear from you. Oh, 880, 1080. What are the conversations that you should, or you, uh, we'd love just from your family. What conversations did you, or didn't you have when, well, right now, or looking back to when you were learning your lessons from your parents, perhaps? Oh, 880, 1080. Actually, the other thing is I tend to, I'm not sure where I'm at with this one, Nick, but for instance, just talking about financial liabilities, um, I don't think I'd want to tell my children how big our mortgage is. I don't know where I'm at with that. 00:22:41 Speaker 4: I think I'd probably agree with you that because it's quite an abstract number, you know, sort of several hundred thousand dollars. And actually for young kids, you know, it's maybe can be quite a worrying thing if you put it out of context. So I think conversations about Money. And, you know, these are confidential family matters. Yeah, you should exercise care with that. I agree, Tim. 00:23:08 Speaker 3: Yeah. By the way, give us a call 0800 80 10 80. Actually, do you remember what you what did you learn from your parents, Nick, when it came to money? Did you or did you learn everything you know about money as a grown up sort of thing? 00:23:24 Speaker 4: No, so my parents actually both worked and it wasn't a high income family, but they both worked full time. And actually my parents enjoyed money, so they weren't particularly good savers. They preferred going on holidays and going for dinner on somebody's birthday and those sorts of things. So we weren't rich at all, but things like holidays were prioritised when we could afford them. and we were what we were expected to go out and work as well and you know we've all had um newspaper rounds and that sort of thing and so i think it was quite a good environment for me growing up um to to be expected to work but also money wasn't something that we you know weren't talking about or discussing. 00:24:15 Speaker 3: Yeah actually you know the other aspect to it of course is you know there's this thing about um transparency of wages in the workplace and how you can't suppress your employees' willingness to talk about their wages. Do we know anything about how many people actually, now that that law's been passed, how often people actually share information about what they get paid? Because, for instance, in the radio context, I don't know many people who would share what they get paid because they'd be worried they're getting more than the other person. Or they'd be really annoyed that they're getting less. I don't know. 00:24:52 Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and look, employers don't have to pay everyone the same. Yeah, I think they should be able to explain, you know, why they don't. And I suppose, you know, like we were talking about before, in this day and age, you're entitled to, you know, freedom of speech to discuss your own salary should you want to, but you shouldn't expect other people to do the same. And Yeah, I'd question why you're doing it because you're probably doing it for one of two reasons, either to brag about it or to complain you're not getting enough. 00:25:26 Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think, yeah, I mean, I don't know how many people would actually share it, but I imagine it wouldn't be as common as the law would have allowed people to do it. 00:25:36 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:25:37 Speaker 3: Actually, just on the, because when we first spoke, you and I, when you first came on the show, you deal with people who are, who've come into a bit of money. That's one of the, Yes. One of the things we talked about, whether it be through an inheritance or a lotto win. 00:25:52 Speaker 4: Yes. 00:25:52 Speaker 3: But here's the thing. I don't know what you notice or what you advise people, but what have you observed with people who have come into a lot of money, but how they've communicated it or not communicated it with their children? 00:26:09 Speaker 4: Yes. Yes, and it's a common one. And just thinking about a particular person who did win a big prize on the lotto, and actually they were completely paranoid about their kids finding out that they'd won lotto, to the extent that the word lotto was a banned word in the house because of that fear. And so it's a really difficult one to know what to do with your children when big sums come in, and often... The answer is just to say nothing at all. 00:26:45 Speaker 3: But how do they then explain dad's gone out and bought himself an Aston Martin? I'd

be actually curious to know how many people actually suppress their spending because there's a point at which it's going to create too many suspicions and people will be like, dad, have you come into some money you haven't told us about? What makes you think that, honey? Well, we've moved to a new house that's worth five times what our other one was. 00:27:11 Speaker 4: And it's not just the family, it's the people that you know and maybe your old workmates if you stop working and then it carries on. And that's what makes it really difficult because you either live a lie and pretend it hasn't happened, which certain people find it really difficult. That's not in their nature, but they're doing it, it can make them quite unhappy. Or to spill the beans and tell everyone, which it's got its own repercussions as well in terms of how people view you going forward. And so it's another one though, I don't think there's any right or wrong way. And it's about the type of person you are that I think is the most important. And living a lie can actually make people feel really miserable. 00:27:53 Speaker 3: Well, that's the thing I was wondering if, you know, for many people, I mean, sure, it's great. It takes the financial stress off if you've been really struggling, but it's suddenly a massive windfall. I mean, I imagine it can, in many respects, it can ruin your life because it just changes your life to something that you weren't ready for and would change your relationships with people and you'd find out who your friends were and weren't and the expectation. Once people know you've got a bit of money, why is it not? And why he or she not given us something? 00:28:21 Speaker 4: Absolutely. And that's why, um, a large percentage of people who win lotto come into large sums of money are often more unhappy than they were before it happened. And that's common for those reasons that you've just explained to him. Your life has changed and the things that you used to do and the people that you used to be with view you differently. And that old life is something people often hark back for and wish they could return to. 00:28:53 Speaker 3: Hey, just, we've got a few texts and other bits of communication to deal with, but as we, when we come back from the break, but just quickly, Nick, I imagine you don't have a hugely strong opinion on this, but you know how you would be aware that lotto are changing the way the game's played. So from the 13th of September, that's a couple of weeks away, it's going to be harder to win the Powerball. So, you know, they're basically changing the Powerballs from 10 to 14. 00:29:20 Speaker 4: So. 00:29:22 Speaker 3: Even if you get those six numbers, it's reducing your odds of winning it. They're going to increase the jackpot from $ 4 million to $ 5 million and increase the minimum jackpot threshold from $ 50 million to $ 60 million. I've got to say, I don't know why they've– do you have a take on that? Because I don't know why they've done this. 00:29:40 Speaker 4: Yes. Look, I don't particularly like it personally. That's just a person. opinion. The reason that they've done that is because when those prizes get to the highest level is when they sell the most tickets. It's when there's the most interest. And so I think I've read that now the odds of winning the Division I are over 50 million to one, something like 53 million to one. Yeah. And so it's much higher now to actually win it and less likely. So the chances are vanishingly small. But once the prize gets to $ 60 million, it's kind of the talk of the town and the ticket sales increase. 00:30:20 Speaker 3: I've got to say, if that's the reason, and we'll throw it out for some talk back if people want to call about it, I find that reasoning a bit obscene. Because so often people spend, I mean, we can all have an argument about whether you should be buying the lotto ticket every week or putting it somewhere else. But a lot of the time, the people who can least afford lotto, who are desperate for it, are the ones who are spending what they can't have. And if the motivation is we're going to try and drag more money out of the public, I don't know. It just seems to me strange that this was just done without, I don't know what consultation they do on it, but it seems bizarre. 00:30:58 Speaker 5: Yeah. 00:31:00 Speaker 4: Yeah, so the odds of winning have gone from about 40 million to one to 50 million to one. So it's harder. 00:31:08 Speaker 3: It's gone from one in 38.4 million to one in 53.7 million. 00:31:15 Speaker 4: Yeah, and I'm just guessing that that's the reason that they've done it. The higher prizes mean higher publicity and higher. Sales of tickets. I'm not sure on that, but I'd agree that actually, you know, $ 60 million is more than anyone needs. And, you know, you are creating problems for people at that sense. You know, someone has, you know, you could argue whether it's $ 2 million, $ 5 million. That's enough to live comfortably for the rest of your life, and it'll depend on the person. But when you're getting up to 60 million, you're really just creating. 00:31:49 Speaker 3: I was quite pleased that. 00:31:50 Speaker 4: Or 50, or even 20. Yeah, these are the times where there's actually serious responsibilities that come with that money, and lots of people are ill-equipped to be able to deal with that. 00:32:01 Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm with you. I just... It just doesn't seem that we've had enough discussion about it, but there we go anyway. That's the changes that's happened. You can give us a call with your reckons on that, by the way, because we'd love you to. 880-1080. We're with Nick Crawford. He's Managing Director of the Private Office. We'll be back in a tick. It's 18 minutes to six. Newstalk ZB. We're with Nick Crawford. We're talking about, well, a couple of things, the discussions we have with money, but also we've had a crack at whether they needed to change the odds for Lotto. I'm against

it. What do you reckon as well? Pete, hello. 00:32:38 Speaker 7: How are you? I'm actually against it as well. Before, you don't need that amount of money when it gets to those high stakes. You're better off when it gets to, say, $ 20 million. I've talked about this for quite a few years now. What they should be doing is... split it, say, get to 20 million or 30 million, whatever they decide to do, and then split that in between, say, four, five or 10 people. So you're better off having five or 10 people getting 2 million, whatever it is. That's 10 people are going to get, isn't that better to go that way than one? 00:33:12 Speaker 3: Well, I really agree with that when it comes to me being one of those 10 people. I think that's what it boils down to, eh, Pete? 00:33:20 Speaker 7: But you knew the stats. I've done the stats as they sell more tickets with the higher stakes, whether it's $ 30 million, $ 50 million, whatever it gets up to. If I was in an account, I would disagree to that because if I knew it's to $ 20 million, it's going to get split today. For an example, if they come up, it's going to get split. Team people are $ 2 million, so there's 10 happy people getting $ 2 million each. Isn't that a good thing? 00:33:42 Speaker 3: Well, people spend it because if they're going to win it, they want to be winning the biggest amount possible. What do you think, Nick? 00:33:50 Speaker 4: I agree with Pete too. I think he's absolutely right, and it'd be far better for 10 people to win $ 2 million, but yet that's not what sells the tickets, and it's the big prizes. I think that's been shown around the world, and it's not just New Zealand. 00:34:05 Speaker 3: See, that's life-changing, but if I won the lotto top thing, I'd want it to be the sort of money where I could buy a nice house and a holiday house and never have to work another day in my life. So I've already come in at about $ 8 million. 00:34:21 Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly. 00:34:22 Speaker 3: Is that too much? 00:34:24 Speaker 7: But, you know, if you look at it this way, I've got to spend more money now to get my tickets, so I'm probably going to spend less now, because now that I've increased my chance, I've. 00:34:32 Speaker 4: Got less chance to win. 00:34:33 Speaker 3: No, you don't have to spend any more. I think you just have more Powerball numbers to pick from. You can only still pick one, so you don't have to spend any more on your tickets. That's up to you, Pete. Actually, that's Yeah, but there's something that does seem, Nick, it does seem something wrong with the idea that the higher the jackpots, the more money it's sucking out of the public, even though we're making that choice ourselves. But, you know, people can't help themselves. 00:35:00 Speaker 4: Like you say, it's making that choice and no one's compelled. But if you get the stats about who are buying the tickets and what socioeconomic groups they come to, then maybe there is a problem there. And so we could talk all day about gambling in general. So, yeah, I hear you, Nick. And it's the weighing up of the prizes versus the publicity and then what gets used with the lotto money, I suppose, as well. Yeah. 00:35:26 Speaker 3: Let's take some more calls on this. It seems that people are a little bit triggered on the lotto, as I am. Paul, hello. 00:35:33 Speaker 5: Hello, guys. Hey, just to give you a perspective from someone that's been running a lotto syndicate for just on 30, 31 years. Woo! 00:35:42 Speaker 3: That's a badass. 00:35:43 Speaker 5: I started back in 1995. There's been a number of different permutations along the way, but there's about 12 of us now. I'm not retired, but a number of the members are retired. We're all getting that way. But all we've ever done is had probably around four tickets every week for those 30-odd years. And they've just been lotto tickets, because 30 years ago, there was just lotto. 00:36:08 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:36:09 Speaker 5: And Lotto then was, I don't even think it was a million back then. 00:36:13 Speaker 3: No, that was a big weekend. That was a special weekend when it hit a million, wasn't it? Yeah, yeah. 00:36:18 Speaker 5: So the nuts and bolts of it is that after 31 years, we buy more tickets a week than your average punter would, I guess. 00:36:26 Speaker 7: We've never won Lotto. 00:36:27 Speaker 5: And that's Lotto itself. That's not Powerball. That's Lotto. 00:36:31 Speaker 3: Oh, you've never won the million. No, the odds are still pretty low, high, or whatever the word is, yeah. 00:36:38 Speaker 5: So to win Powerball in its prior existence was still astronomical. The new one, what I would have liked to have seen, and I've made this point before with them, is that I would have liked them to actually bring back up the base lotto winning from a million. Because if you win lotto now, years ago you won lotto, you'd think, well, I've won lotto, terrific. Well, if you win it now and you share it with half a dozen people, it's. 00:37:00 Speaker 3: It's a nice holiday or two, and that's it. 00:37:04 Speaker 5: So really, I think they should... they should be bringing up the base lotto win from $ 1 million to perhaps $ 5 million, and then Powerball. 00:37:12 Speaker 4: I don't know. 00:37:12 Speaker 3: Oh, well, they have raised the... So the Powerball's going to be starting point at $ 5 million now from $ 4 million. 00:37:20 Speaker 4: Yeah. 00:37:21 Speaker 3: Hey, what's the biggest prize you've won? 00:37:24 Speaker 5: We've won five numbers a few times. So it's probably half a dozen times five numbers. 00:37:28 Speaker 4: Which would be. 00:37:29 Speaker 3: It's a few hundred bucks. 00:37:31 Speaker 5: Six, seven, eight hundred, yeah. 00:37:33 Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I've won five numbers before. And I thought that this has to be really good money, but it was like 500 bucks. I was like, God, thanks. 00:37:46 Speaker 4: I'm sure, Paul, did you watch the Beat the Lotto movie that was out last year about the

syndicate in Ireland? In Ireland? Yeah, that's right. 00:37:56 Speaker 5: Yeah, I think I did. How did that go again? I did see it. 00:37:59 Speaker 4: So that was in the early days of the Irish Lottery, and it was just six numbers. And when the prize got to a certain level, the syndicate tried to buy every single ticket because if they did, they couldn't lose. I think it's on Netflix or TVNZ, but it's actually really good. 00:38:16 Speaker 5: How many tickets do you buy? 00:38:21 Speaker 3: How many in your syndicate and how many tickets do you. 00:38:23 Speaker 4: Buy, Paul? 00:38:24 Speaker 5: There's 12 of us now. We buy four tickets a week. We've had some of the numbers going back perhaps all those years. Some of them have changed just as different people have come and gone, but We buy what's called a combo eight, which is an expensive ticket, but it's any combination of eight numbers. And then we just get three other, I get two other standard lotto tickets. So we spend every, I get my tickets, I buy them every 10 weeks. So I go into the same lotto shop, I give them my tickets, I get 10 weeks, I get 10 Wednesdays, 10 Saturdays, spend about $ 800. There's normally some winnings to come back. So, you know, we might spend five, six, $ 700. So that's roughly what we spend every 10 weeks. It's $ 6 a week for everyone. It doesn't break anybody's bank. It just disappoints me that they've let the actual lotto itself slide. It means nothing now compared to what. 00:39:15 Speaker 4: It should do. 00:39:17 Speaker 3: I get you. Absolutely, it does seem to be a bit stingy now. Hey, thanks, Paul. We've got to go to a break. We'll be back in just a moment to wrap up. We're with Nick Crawford. He is Private Office Managing Director. We're back in a tick. Yes, News Talk ZB. Just a few texts before we wrap up while we're with Nick Crawford from the private office. Quite a few people, you're not fans of the lotto changes, saying they're despicable, no need to increase the maximum prize or increase the odds against us. Another person has said that the divisions two to six are increasing by an average of 45%. That's from Gaza. And just on the... sharing information around your wages. This interesting text from somebody. He said, my mate and I were pretty well regarded in our roles in a mine in Aussie. We actively shared our salary with each other so we could leverage pay rises. It worked for a while until the GM had a word. I don't know what the word the GM would have. It's like, you know, you're talking to each other and making me look like I'm the stingy boss that I am. Possibly. Anyway, hey, look, Nick... Thanks for joining us, mate. Where do people go if they want to get in touch with the private office? 00:40:27 Speaker 4: They can just come to our website, which is theprivateoffice.co.nz. 00:40:33 Speaker 3: Theprivateoffice.co.nz. Well, I look forward to seeking you out when the numbers go my way, you know, when the lotto gets up to the 60 mil. But Tim, why are you calling me now? I'm not due on the show. 00:40:44 Speaker 4: Well. 00:40:46 Speaker 4: Exactly. I'll be around with the champagne, especially as I know that you're only getting interested when it gets up to like the 40, 50 million mark. 00:40:54 Speaker 3: Oh, no, I'm there all the time. Anyway, hey, good to have you on the show, mate. Cheers. 00:41:00 Speaker 4: Pleasure. 00:41:00 Speaker 3: Okay, bye-bye. And thank you to my producer, Locke. Well done. And we'll look forward to your company next weekend, of course, from three till six. You can check the podcast out. Of course, wherever you get your podcasts or iHeartRadio or NewstalkZB.co.nz. Don't forget the new podcast on the 100 Years with Mike. It's talking about sport. And we'll catch you soon. Sunday at 6 is next. Have a great Sunday evening. 00:41:42 Speaker 1: For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News Talk ZB weekends from 3 p.m. or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.