ANZ’s Financial Wellbeing Survey has found a quarter of Kiwis have no cash savings.
The survey of more than 1500 New Zealanders explored the financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of adults in Australia and New Zealand.
Although the findings show 23% surveyed have no financial worries, 40% said they are ‘doing OK’, 24% are getting by and 13% admitted they are struggling.
“While most New Zealanders feel they are doing OK with money, we have a significant number without savings to fall back on,” said Antonia Watson, ANZ Managing Director Retail and Business Banking.
While most New Zealanders feel they are doing OK with money, we have a significant number without savings to fall back on.
Watson said one of the biggest factors for those feeling higher financial wellbeing was the ability to save, even if only a small amount.
“To improve New Zealanders financial literacy we need to start with our kids at school. Learning the basics at a young age is important and financial education needs to be integrated into our curriculum,” said Watson.
The Commission For Financial Capability’s (CFFC) GM Education, David Boyle, says it’s important that Kiwis have some form of financial buffer in place for when unforeseen things happen that bring unexpected costs.
“Having an income obviously is important but what you do with that income is something that we focus a lot on here at the Commission,” he said.
Having mortgage protection and/or income protection is important, he added, so that Kiwis have some way to protect and cover some of the risk that they can manage, depending on their circumstances, income and lifestyle.
The research found less than half (44%) of New Zealanders felt on top of their money and one in four single parents said they would need to borrow within a week if their income dropped by a third.
One in five New Zealanders indicated they were often unable to pay bills or loans at final reminder.