Something About Mary
In the 2020 Queen’s Birthday Honours, Mary was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit (ONZM), for services to financial literacy education.
A Qantas Media Award winning columnist, Mary writes a Q&A personal finance column in the Weekend Herald. She is interviewed on money issues every second Thursday on National Radio, and presents highly praised seminars (see Seminars page). She is a director of Financial Services Complaints Ltd (FSCL), and frequently discusses personal finance in the media.
Books
Mary is the author of seven books, four of which have been on the NZ bestseller list:
- A Richer You: How to Make the Most of Your Money (HarperCollins)
- Rich Enough? A Laid-Back Guide For Every Kiwi (HarperCollins)
- Get Rich Slow and Investing Made Simple (Penguin)
- Three books about KiwiSaver (Random House — now out of print).
- She has also written three booklets for the Reserve Bank, the most recent being Upside, Downside — a guide to risk for savers and investors
- BA in economic history (Victoria University of Wellington)
- MA in journalism (University of Michigan)
- MBA in finance (University of Chicago, where she was taught by Nobel Laureate Merton Miller and graduated in the top 15%)
- Founding director of the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) from 2011 to 2019
- Director of the Banking Ombudsman Scheme for six years ending January 2016
- Part-time senior lecturer in Financial Literacy at the University of Auckland for five years ending 2013
- Syndicated columnist in the Dominion Post, Christchurch Press, Waikato Times and Gisborne Herald for 16 years ending 2013.
- Business editor of the Auckland Sun and Auckland Star
- Financial reporter for the NZ Listener, Australian Financial Review and Chicago Tribune
- Evaluation panel for KiwiSaver default providers in 2014
- External Advisory Group for Treasury’s Long-Term Fiscal Statement in 2013
- Savings Working Group in 2010–11
- Capital Market Development Taskforce in 2009
- Development of Smart Investor and KiwiSaver Fund Finder tools on sorted.org.nz
Education
Earlier Work
Government Advisory Groups
Mary enjoys movies and plays, walking in wild places, swimming, and spending time with family and friends.
Listen to Mary discuss some of her favourite songs, books, and films on RNZ:
