Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon
Nicole Pedersen-McKinnon focuses on turning complex money rules into clear, practical guidance for households, with an emphasis on loans, debt and the hidden traps in everyday financial products. She writes regular personal finance columns for The Sydney Morning Herald that blend consumer advocacy with step-by-step advice designed to change how people spend, borrow and protect their money. A finance author, commentator and money educator, she draws on long-running newspaper columns and school programs to make concepts such as compounding cash, time and habit formation concrete for everyday readers. Her recent work spans mortgage strategies, capital gains tax changes affecting assets from art to jewellery, credit and buy now pay later rules, and the fine print in rewards schemes and refund policies.
Mortgage pain and getting mortgage-free
Pedersen-McKinnon’s most sustained thread is how to take control of a home loan, get mortgage pain under control and ultimately become mortgage-free. She has written a first-person column on how she paid off her home by 36, using her own experience to frame strategies for accelerating repayments and structuring loans.
She follows this with practical pieces such as “Mortgage pain as loan sizes hit record”, which highlight the risks of larger borrowings and the impact on household budgets. In “The secret to paying off your mortgage early”, she sets out clear steps and techniques that go beyond generic budgeting, focusing on how loan structure and repayment discipline interact.
Another regular theme is optimising offset accounts, including a column arguing that borrowers should not fully pay off their mortgage when an offset arrangement can deliver more flexible, low-cost outcomes. Across these articles she positions herself as both a money educator and consumer advocate, and she reinforces the message through a book on becoming “mortgage-free” that is frequently referenced in her bylines.
Money traps in cards, loans and rewards
A second strand of her coverage is the fine print in credit, loans and loyalty schemes, where she concentrates on specific traps rather than broad commentary. In her work on “No interest loans”, she contrasts community lending schemes with payday lenders and explains how genuinely interest-free products can help people avoid high-cost debt.
She has exposed card provider practices in “Credit trap: Card providers snaring refunds while requiring repayments”, focusing on how refund handling and repayment obligations can leave cardholders out of pocket. Her consumer pieces have tackled bank behaviour, such as a case where a bank charged double late-payment penalties despite promising leniency, and she uses this to illustrate what customers should expect and how to challenge unfair treatment.
She has also reported on airline refund issues, including an article on Jetstar’s handling of cancelled flight refunds, where she follows through on individual cases to show how policy changes translate into outcomes.
More recently, she has examined the “rewards ruse” catching Telstra customers off guard and changes to buy now pay later rules that critics say do not go far enough, treating telco points and instalment products as part of the same ecosystem of everyday money traps. Her columns routinely end with a reminder that her advice is general in nature, underscoring her focus on explaining system features and risks rather than giving personalised investment recommendations.
Getting our kids money smart and changing habits
Financial literacy and behaviour change are a third pillar of Pedersen-McKinnon’s work. In a column on “What needs to be done to get our kids money smart”, she responds to a national financial literacy strategy and argues that schools are only half the answer, emphasising the role of families and practical experiences. She supports this focus through Smart Money Start, a fun financial literacy incursion that she delivers in high schools, and through her broader work as a finance author and educator.
Her author page at The Sydney Morning Herald highlights the “magic of compounding cash and the value of time” as central concepts, signalling a teaching style rooted in simple, repeatable principles. Articles such as “The seven habits of highly affluent people” extend this approach to adult behaviour, breaking down money success into habits rather than one-off decisions. Across these pieces she writes in a direct, instructional tone, using checklists, habits and illustrative examples rather than abstract theory to shift how people think about saving, spending and debt.
JobSeeker, JobKeeper and new rules for household support
Pedersen-McKinnon also covers policy changes and government support schemes where the rules are complicated but have immediate consequences for household cash flow. In “JobSeeker or JobKeeper? The answer to the question on everyone’s lips”, she walks through eligibility criteria and payment amounts using a structured series of questions, effectively turning policy detail into an accessible decision tree.
Her article on changes to buy now pay later regulations frames the reforms through the lens of critics who argue they do not go far enough, linking regulatory design to consumer protection outcomes.
In more recent work, she has examined capital gains tax changes that extend to assets such as art and jewellery, showing how tax treatment can reach into areas people do not usually consider part of their investment portfolio. She treats these topics as part of the same project: explaining how shifting rules, whether tax or welfare, alter the incentives and risks that families face.
Combined with her long-standing “Money Mentor” columns in weekend newspapers and appearances across major television networks, this policy-focused reporting reinforces her role as a finance commentator who translates new measures into clear household implications.
4 more finance journalists.
Aaron Bell
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Adam McCleery
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Adelaide Miller
Adelaide Miller is an award-winning national business reporter at the ABC who stands out for linking markets coverage with accountability reporting on how finance, regulation and corporate decisions affect workers, consumers and small businesses. She covers superannuation, small business obligations, the ASX, global indices, inflation, government debt, investor sentiment, cryptocurrency, corporate conduct, mortgage stress, and consumer impact. She reports on the gap between legislative intent and on-the-ground practice, and she often uses data, live markets context, and direct reporting from affected people. Her background includes ABC Investigations, Background Briefing, and Four Corners. She also has reported on AI-driven political campaigning, Telstra’s Senate inquiry scrutiny, family law, and a personal essay on her grandmother’s dementia. She works across TV, radio, online, and podcast formats.
Adeshola Ore
Adeshola Ore reports on finance and public policy through their effects on everyday life. They are a reporter at the Guardian, covering tax debates, public spending, institutional policy and the communities shaped by them. Their beat also includes politics, rights, social equity, climate, migration, Indigenous policy, agriculture, food safety and public health. Notable reporting has covered bird flu and egg supplies, catastrophic floods, death cap mushroom poisonings, refugee communities, university misconduct and place-naming rules in Tasmania. Earlier work included global climate conferences, international affairs and social policy. Ore reports through live political coverage, ground-level interviews, documents and hearings. They write news features and explainers that clarify complex rules, risks and rights. They also contribute to the Guardian’s daily news podcast, bringing field reporting and interviews with affected communities into wider discussions of politics and policy.