Mike's Minute: Are all our polls doing more harm than good?

I wonder if we are doing ourselves more harm than good when it comes to our finances, if not our general mental health, with what seems to be an industry in polling and surveys. 

The latest IPSOS work has over 40% of us not happy about money and a decent chunk of us "struggling". What is "struggling"? It's open to a lot of interpretation, isn't it? 

Mood doesn’t necessarily deal in fact, and in that is part of the issue. 

The facts are, on average, our wages are outpacing inflation. What that means is we are, on average, better off, but the surveys don't show this. 

We are in a funk and have been since Covid. 

The other part of the problem is the "average" bit. None of us are average, either in our expenditure or income. So, unless you see it, and feel it, and live it, average means nothing. 

The age-old question as to whether the price of a basket of groceries is too expensive has been, and forever will be, answered the same – yes it is. 

That’s not about maths, or income, or affordability. That’s about mindset. 

If you have made up your mind food is too expensive, or you don’t trust the media, or Luxon doesn’t connect with regular people, then evidence comes secondary to mood and vibe and feels. 

Is traffic too bad? Is the country on the right track? Do you deserve more income? Does the council waste your rates money? I can line up any number of questions and if I word them the right way I can virtually guarantee you an outcome. 

Having then produced the results, I need a compliant media to regurgitate them for an easy headline. 

It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. You feel life is too expensive, you feel you are struggling, you read that other people feel like you and so you say to yourself "see, I told you it's true. It's news, it must be true", and around and around we go. 

Which is not to say these things don’t have some element of truth about them. 

But it's like punching yourself in the head. If you keep doing it what are the chances you'll have a headache at the end of it all? 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Tell you what I wonder if we aren't doing ourselves
some harm, more harm than good when it comes to
our finances, if not general mental health at the moment
with what seems have you noticed this an industry in
polling and surveys. The latest IPSOS work this week has
over forty percent of us not happy about money, and
a decent chunk of us struggling. What is struggling? It's

(00:20):
open to a lot of interpretation, isn't it struggling? The
facts are here are the facts. This is part of
the issue. Mood doesn't necessarily deal in fact. Now the
facts are on average, our wages are outpacing inflation. Now
what that means is we are on average better off.
But the surveys don't show this. We're in a funk.
We've been in a func since COVID. The other part
of the problem is the average bit. None of us

(00:41):
are average, either in our expenditure or our income. So
unless you see it, feel it, livert average means nothing
to you. The age old question as to whether the
price of a basket of groceries is too expensive has
been and forever will be answered the same, Yes it is.
Now that's not about maths or income or affordability. That's
about mindset. If you've made up your mind food is
too expensive, or you don't trust the media, or luxon

(01:03):
doesn't connect with regular people, then evidence comes secondary to
your mood, your vibe, your feels. Is traffic too bad?
Is the country on the right track? Do you deserve
more income? Does the counsel waste your rates money? I
can line up any number of questions, and if I
word them right, I conversally guarantee you an outcome. And then,
having produced the results, I need a compliant media to
regurg You take them for an easy headline. It's a

(01:24):
self fulfilling prophecy. You feel life is too expensive, you
feel you are struggling. You read that other people feel
like you. You go to yourself, Oh see, I told
you it's true. It's news. It must be true. Run
and around we go. Which is not to say these
things don't have an element of truth about them, But
it's like punching yourself in the head. If you keep
doing it, what are the chances you'll have a headache
at the end of it all. For more from the

(01:45):
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