FINANCIAL WELLBEING: A SURVEY OF ADULTS IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND 2018

This survey measured the financial wellbeing of 5,099 adults in Australia and New Zealand. It is the sixth in a series of comprehensive surveys that ANZ has conducted in Australia since 2002 that explores financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviours to money.

How we calculated financial wellbeing scores

ANZ has conducted this survey based on a Personal Finance Research Centre (PFRC) model of financial wellbeing. The PFRC model used provided the basis for creating an overall financial wellbeing score for each person.  This score was derived from measures of the three components of financial wellbeing:

• ability to meet financial commitments such as bills and loan payments (meeting commitments);
• extent to which they felt comfortable with their current and future financial situation and to which their finances enabled them to enjoy life (feeling comfortable); and
• ability to cope with a significant unexpected expense or fall in income (resilience for the future).

“The extent to which someone is able to meet all their current commitments and needs comfortably, and has the financial resilience to maintain this in the future"
- Professor Elaine Kempson defining financial wellbeing 

Our survey has evolved to encompass a broader view of financial wellbeing 

Financial wellbeing is a term that recognises that finances are inextricably linked with wellbeing; and are a vital part of every household, community and wider society. Financial wellbeing is determined by people’s behaviours, knowledge and skills, attitudes, motivations and behavioural biases and also by a range of environmental factors beyond their control.