MoneyMinded: one million and growing

There is never a bad time to learn the skills of managing your money. 

For more than 20 years the MoneyMinded financial education program has helped participants build their knowledge, confidence and skills to make informed decisions, manage their money, and navigate the financial up’s and down’s of everyday life.

During this time we have seen financial ructions and even a global pandemic – yet the program has persisted and thrived.

It was a different world when ANZ developed the program in 2002 in collaboration with the NSW Department of Education and Training, Financial Counselling Australia, the Financial Counsellors Association of NSW, ASIC and community sector representatives.  

But the program’s common-sense approach and adaptability has paid off.

MoneyMinded has now reached more than one million participants.

Community sectors are trained to use the program with their clients and are the real barometer to its effectiveness. 

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This past year, they have found it particularly helpful with 3 in 4 reporting that the program was effective in helping clients manage cost-of-living pressures.  

“A lot of clients need help to budget their money as it’s getting harder to cover all expenses and it makes the client realise what money can be saved by a few alterations in their spending,” one coach said.

In 2024, the MoneyMinded Impact Report found that the program had reached 118,021 participants in 17 countries including Australia, New Zealand and across Asia and the Pacific.  

This could only be achieved through strong partnerships with the community sector including our current delivery partners Berry Street, Brotherhood of St Laurence and The Smith Family in Australia, Private Training Establishments (PTEs) and community organisations across New Zealand, and numerous delivery partners throughout Asia and the Pacific.

It is touching many people, changing many lives and has adapted continuously to meet the ongoing needs of the community. 

Change  

Central to MoneyMinded’s success is listening and adapting the program using feedback from the community sector to understand the changing needs and challenges facing their clients.   

In 2018 MoneyMinded for Family Violence was introduced following research and feedback from community partners.  

Last year, more than 1000 participants were reached with this program. Participants were predominantly women with approximately 14 per cent being young adults under the age of 25. Reaching younger members of the community will aid in preventing issues arising in the future.

MoneyMinded also has a role to play in reaching the diverse members of our community – many of whom don’t have English as a first language. 

In 2024, MoneyMinded’s most popular participant handouts were translated and made available in five additional languages. In Australia, 12.1 per cent of participants speak a language other than English at home. While in the Asia and the Pacific a full 31.8 per cent of participants speak a language other than English at home. 

“I’ve seen nothing like these translated financial education materials in Australia. There are some resources on government websites, but never all together in the one place. I believe if someone looks at the information in their own language, it just makes it much easier to grasp. And they get the idea,” another coach said.

Scams also continues to be a risk in the community. In response an innovative new scams module – focussed on everything from phishing to remote access scams and romance scams – was launched with more than 5,000 existing MoneyMinded Coaches able to access the material. 

What next?

There will always be new challenges evolving and MoneyMinded will continue to have a role in supporting the community sector with their clients.

“MoneyMinded is such a great program supporting so many. So many participants give great feedback and share how MoneyMinded has made a huge difference to their lives,” a coach said.

As digital banking continues to grow, we know from our research that some find this challenging, particularly older members of our community. To assist, MoneyMinded will release new content on digital capability in 2025. 

All this shows how much the success of MoneyMinded has been built on listening to the community and addressing their needs.

Helping more than one million people over the life of the program is a significant milestone which could not have been achieved without the dedication and support of the community sector and the MoneyMinded Coach network.

Natalie Paine is Lead Social Impact Research & Reporting at ANZ.