Sarah Megginson
Sarah Megginson focuses on how economic pressure shows up in everyday money decisions and translates it into clear, practical steps for households. She is a personal finance expert and media spokesperson at Finder, covering savings, household budgets and family finance with a strong emphasis on cost-of-living stress and what people can realistically do about it. Her work draws on survey data and real-world case studies to show how many people are affected, then drills down into the behaviours and checks that can change their situation.
Cost-of-living pressure and household trade-offs
Cost-of-living stories sit at the heart of Megginson’s coverage, and she returns to them across family, housing, and consumer spending beats. She has reported on families pulling children out of private schools as fees and other costs become unmanageable, highlighting the concrete choices households make when their budgets no longer stretch. She tracks how rising grocery prices push people toward extreme shopping habits and brand-less buying, using data and quotes to show where and how shoppers compromise.
In coverage of delayed life milestones, she quantifies how many people are putting dreams such as travel, major purchases or key events on hold because of cashflow problems, then links those delays back to inflation and wage stagnation. Her work also connects hip-pocket issues to broader civic moments, such as elections, by examining how financial wellbeing and household money worries shape voting intentions and political priorities.
Across these pieces, the tone is direct and factual, with attention on the specific trade-offs people face rather than abstract economic theory.
Savings, interest rates and financial safety nets
Megginson spends substantial time on savings behaviour, interest rates and the strength of households’ financial safety nets. She covers how many people have faced a financial emergency in a given year, using survey figures to show the proportion without adequate emergency funds and the consequences when savings fall short.
She follows movements in savings account rates after central bank decisions, charting the “savings rate chase” as banks respond to rate hikes and consumers shift money to higher-paying accounts.
Her reporting on unused gift cards surfaces billions of dollars sitting idle, framing it as a quiet drain on household finances and a missed opportunity to relieve budget pressure. Across these stories and in broader saving guides, she focuses on small, actionable changes - shopping around, checking terms, moving cash to better-rate accounts - that can meaningfully improve someone’s position without relying on complex products.
The through-line is that careful attention to savings and buffers is a key defence against the shocks she documents elsewhere.
Tax-time checks and practical money guides
Megginson’s explainer work turns rules and obligations into step-by-step checklists, especially around tax and annual financial housekeeping.
In her tax-time coverage, she outlines essential checks many people miss, such as reviewing deductions, confirming details with employers and financial institutions, and ensuring that key documents and claims line up before lodging returns. The format is structured and pragmatic: she identifies common gaps, then proposes specific actions to close them, often framed as a series of checks that can be completed in sequence. This style carries through to her broader money-saving content, where she breaks strategies into simple, repeatable habits that can be built into everyday routines rather than one-off fixes.
Her guides are written in plain language with minimal jargon, targeting readers who want direct instructions more than detailed technical commentary.
Research-driven commentary across media
Beyond written pieces, Megginson plays a prominent role as a public commentator on money and finance, fronting Finder’s research across television, radio and print. She regularly explains new survey findings on cost-of-living, savings behaviour and economic sentiment, distilling large data sets into a few key numbers and a clear narrative about what they mean for households.
Her commentary on topics such as fears of an economic crash, the rise of the “bank of mum and dad”, and shifting shopping habits is consistent with the themes in her articles: a focus on how broad trends translate into day-to-day decisions. Megginson brings more than 20 years of experience in property, finance and investment journalism to this work, having previously edited specialist titles in housing, mortgages and finance before moving into her current role leading editorial and acting as a spokesperson.
She also has a background as an editor and ghost-writer in the money space, which informs the structured, accessible style of her guides and explainers.
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