Woolworths Financial Services has launched a podcast designed to help customers manage their money better. Called Making Friends With Money, it is presented by financial behaviour change expert Dr Harry Dugmore and provides valuable hints and tips for saving, avoiding debt and better budgeting. Woolworths is one of the first South African brands to explore the benefits of new media in this way. Head of Woolworths Financial Services Sam Ngumeni says that, in a time when people are feeling the pressure of rising interest rates and prices, this is a chance to provide genuine added value. ”The Woolworths brand is about making ‘the difference’ and the new media space seemed a way of doing that. The podcast provides excellent advice in a way that is engaging and easy to access.” Making Friends With Money is free and consists of eight, ten-minute episodes. These deal with such topics as conquering your fear of money, painless ways to save, avoiding debt and effective ways of getting out of it. The podcast can be listened to online, so anyone with access to the internet can hear it. It can also be downloaded and listened to later on a desktop or transferred to any portable MP3 player. It is also possible to subscribe to the podcast, so that every time you log on to the internet, the latest episode will automatically be downloaded to your computer. Series presenter, Dr Harry Dugmore, has written and produced other financial education series but this is the first time he has used this medium. “This has been a very interesting project for me. My motivation is to get the message out there that financial health is possible whatever your salary. Podcasting has given me a new way of doing that. I think this is only the beginning of a revolution in how corporates can provide quality content for customers that, at the same time, enhances their brand.” It is also possible for listeners to email the podcast with questions and suggestions. To hear Making Friends With Money and to find out more about the podcast go to www.woolworths.co.za. ENDS Notes for editors What is podcasting? Podcasting is part of what is now generally known as ‘new media’ or ‘web 2.0’. It is a way of broadcasting audio without needing any kind of transmitter other than the internet. A podcast is a radio programme on the internet that can be downloaded onto a computer and listened to at your convenience – either on your computer or after it has been transferred to a MP3 player. Most regular podcasts allow you to ‘subscribe’. This means that, with the use of something called an RSS feed, the subscriber’s computer automatically downloads the latest edition of the podcast every time they log on. This generally requires downloading a small piece of software that manages all of their podcast subscriptions – most people use something called iTunes. It is a bit like getting regular editions of a magazine through the post. It is generally possible to listen by clicking on a link on the podcast page and downloading or streaming the audio. Dr Harry Dugmore Harry Dugmore is an expert in the use of the popular media to promote behaviour change. He co-wrote four seasons of Soul City for both TV and Radio and headed up Khomanani, the government's HIV and AIDS programme between 2001 and 2006. More recently he has turned his attention to financial education. He devised, wrote and produced “On the Money – the Big Five secrets of money management”, a TV, radio, print and training programme for Old Mutual. The training component of On the Money now reaches over 100,000 people per year Podcast Making Friends With Money was produced for Woolworths by Podcart, a South African company that specialises in producing quality podcasts for corporates. It is run by radio producer and media specialist, Jayne Morgan. Go to www.podcart.co.za for more. Series summary Episode One – How to make a start This is a general introduction to the series and talks about our relationship with money and how it is affected by our emotions. Better financial health is about changing our behaviour, getting rid of bad habits and getting in to new ones. Harry gives you his first tips on how to do just that. Episode Two – You can save. In this episode, Harry looks at saving. Why do you need to do it? How do you start if you’ve never saved successfully before? Do you think you don’t have enough money to save some each month? Listen to Episode Two of Making Friends with Money and you’ll find out that you do. Episode Three – The do’s and don’ts of debt. This edition is all about debt. Some debt is unavoidable and even useful. But you can get caught in the debt trap. Harry explains when going in to debt is OK and when it isn’t. He also talks about the true cost of debt and takes you through the two, vital debt rules. Episode Four – Getting out of debt for good. Following on from Episode Three, Harry focuses on debt and, more importantly, provides practical tips on how to get out of it. No matter how bad the situation looks, you can get rid of debt and get back on the road to abundance if you follow a few simple rules. For instance, you can find out here about the ‘cascade approach’. Episode Five – Budgeting your way to financial health – Part one If you’ve followed Dr Harry Dugmore’s advice in our previous four podcasts, you should be well on the way to getting rid of some of your debt. Learning to budget is the way to stay debt free and be able to afford all those extra things that make life worth living. Episode Five shows you that budgeting can not only be easy, it can be a pleasure. Episode Six – Budgeting your way to financial health – Part two Here is some more advice from Dr Harry Dugmore on how easy it is to budget successfully. Here explains the ‘rolling budget’ technique and how you can use it to create ‘new money’ you didn’t even know you had. Episode Seven – You too can invest Now you have discovered extra money by using all Dr Harry Dugmore’s tips. In this episode he looks at how you can grow that money even further by investing it. This isn’t about high stock-market rollers, just a guide to basic investing success. Episode Eight – Insurance and overview In this final edition, Harry looks at insurance – why you need it and how to make sure you’re properly covered. He also takes a look back at the whole series and goes over the key things you must remember for great financial health.