Do you invest or pay off debt, when interest rates are this low?

Each week the NZ Herald's Cooking the Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's how to figure out the new rules of a low interest rate environment. Hosted by Frances Cook. <br /><br />It may sound unsexy, but interest rates are actually the secret sauce for understanding your money. <br /><br />That little percentage determines how much debt costs you, and how much an investment will make you, as well as a bunch of other things. <br /><br />So when you're making decisions about your money, interest rates play a huge part. <br /><br />The problem is they're acting a little weirdly right now. <br /><br />As governments both here and around the world pump cash into the economy to try and keep us going through that whole pandemic thing, interest rates are historically low. <br /><br />That means that the usual advice for how to pay off debt, and when to start investing, has changed a little bit, at least for now. <br /><br />For the latest podcast I talked to ASB senior economist Chris Tennent-Brown. <br /><br />If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here <a href="https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/" rel="noopener">https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/</a> Instagram here <a href="https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/" rel="noopener">https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/</a> and Twitter here <a href="https://twitter.com/FrancesCook" rel="noopener">https://twitter.com/FrancesCook</a>