One in three Australians on struggle street

A recent report from ANZ has revealed that while 45% of Australians feel like they’re on top of their money, around 36% of Australians are struggling with some degree of financial stress.

According to the ANZ financial wellbeing report, the two key financial behaviours that help Australians enjoy greater financial wellbeing were not borrowing for active expenses, and actively saving money.

When it comes to borrowing, the report found that 25% of Australians are sometimes unable to pay bills or loans when they get a final reminder.

When it comes to active saving, 28% of Australians had more than six months of saved income available, while 22% of Australians had almost no savings available. Having less than $1000 in savings and investments was strongly associated with lower levels of financial wellbeing.

Based on these findings, report gave Australia an average financial wellbeing score of 59 out of 100.

ANZ head of financial inclusion, Michelle Commandeur, gave the following commentary on the report:

“A key finding is that financial wellbeing is largely determined by a person’s behaviour and attitudes towards money, not just their financial knowledge and experience, or how much they earn.”

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