Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking The Books podcast tackles a different money problem. For the last three weeks we've gone political, asking the leader of each political party in Parliament for their best money tip for the average person.

Today is the last in the series, with Labour Party leader Jacinda Ardern. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Politicians are always banging on about the economy; who has the better understanding of it, how they're the person to get our economy running hotter, why the other guy's ideas are stupid.

Which is all well and good, but what about on the day-to-day level?

Do our politicians remember what it's like to be the little guy like you or me, and are they keeping an eye on the issues affecting our lives? How hard it is to make ends meet? Do they have a few suggestions on what we can do for life to be a bit easier?

Money issues touch every part of our lives, and I want to know what the people in charge think about it.

So, I had a chat to the freshly minted leader of the Labour Party Jacinda Ardern, about the lessons she learned trying to budget from a young age.

We also talked about how the budgeting lessons from her mum changed Ardern's relationship to money, how difficult it is for people to resist loan sharks, and how much responsibility schools have for teaching financial literacy. 

For the interview, listen to the podcast.

Already out:  Prime Minister Bill English, United Future leader Peter Dunne, Maori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell, Green Party co-leader James Shaw, ACT leader David Seymour.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters declined an invitation to take part.

Have a question about this podcast, or a suggestion for next time? Come and talk to me online. You can find me on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/, and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook. Don't forget, you can subscribe to this podcast here https://itunes.apple.com/nz/podcast/cooking-the-books-with-frances-cook/id1247311946 and on the Apple podcasts app.