Each week the NZ Herald and Newstalk ZB's Cooking The Books podcast tackles a different money problem. Today, it's the triangle technique that can help you manage a small windfall. Hosted by Frances Cook.

Saving money regularly is a crucial part of building your wealth, yet is often forgotten. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Little windfalls in life can be huge over your lifetime.

If you get a little pay rise of $20 a week, you could get used to going out for brunch more often. Before you know it, it’s part of your routine, and hard to give up.

Or, you could save it straight away, and watch those benefits build up.

An emergency savings account, investing in the sharemarket, knocking extra off the mortgage. That $20 could be more powerful than you realise.

For the latest Cooking the Books podcast I talked to Patrick Fogarty from The Private Office.

We discussed how to balance saving a windfall with enjoying it, where to put it beyond a savings account, and whether the size of the windfall makes a difference.

For the interview, listen to the podcast.

If you have a question about this podcast, or an idea for the next one, come talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook