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ANZ NZ's Financial Wellbeing Indicator
20 Mar 2020
ANZ NZ has released the 2019 ANZ Financial Wellbeing Indicator (ANZ FWI), revealing a time series measure of New Zealand’s financial wellbeing.
The ANZ FWI provides an overview of the personal financial wellbeing of New Zealanders, and is intended to act as a ‘pulse check’ on how Kiwis are feeling about their financial wellbeing.
The results in the first report compare how Kiwis were feeling about their finances in June 2019 and December 2019, before the economic effects of COVID-19 started unfolding.
The key finding from the December 2019 data show that, compared with June 2019, New Zealanders generally felt okay about their financial situation, with New Zealand’s overall financial wellbeing score increasing 0.3 points over the six-month period.
This was up from 59 in the 2017 Financial Wellbeing Survery (published in 2018).
ANZ NZ CEO Antonia Watson said this data will help track how New Zealanders feel about their finances through the country’s highs and lows.
“It’s encouraging seeing Kiwis feeling more resilient about their finances at the end of last year. As we move into a period of economic uncertainty in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic, financial resilience will be important for New Zealanders and our economy,” Ms Watson said.
“Every one of us benefits in an environment that encourages and supports people’s financial wellbeing, whether this be on an individual, whānau, business, or societal level.
“This data will be important to look back on when we recover from this economic downturn as we continue to track how New Zealanders feel about their finances.”
Key findings from the ANZ FWI – December 2019
- Kiwis’ overall financial wellbeing score increased by 0.3 points in comparison with June 2019.
- The percent of participants who reported having “no worries” about their finances increased from 20.9 per cent of the sample population to 26.3 per cent.
- Meeting commitments - The ability to meet financial obligations in regard to bills and payments slightly decreased from 73.7 to 73.5 (out of 100).
- Feeling comfortable - The belief that current and future financial circumstances will ensure life can be enjoyed and is financially secure has increased slightly from 58.8 to 59.0 (out of 100).
- Resilience – the capacity to cope with significant unexpected expense or loss of income, demonstrated the largest improvement, from 54.8 to 55.9 (out of 100).
About the ANZ Financial Wellbeing Indicator
- ANZ partnered with Roy Morgan in 2018 to to develop and publish a new measure called the ANZ Financial Wellbeing Indicator (ANZ FWI), based on the existing framework and key financial wellbeing questions from the 2017 ANZ Financial Wellbeing Survey.
- The ANZ FWI forms a robust, six-monthly snapshot of the personal financial wellbeing of New Zealanders by identifying key questions from the 2017 ANZ Financial Wellbeing Survey, and applying them to proxies within the weekly Roy Morgan Single Source survey.
- The Roy Morgan Single Source survey collects data from 7,000 Kiwis annually.
- The Roy Morgan Single Source data was chosen because: it collects a broad dataset on financial services, product utilisation and behaviour; it is the only large scale random sample research program in Australia and New Zealand, outside of Stats NZ and the TV ratings measurement program; it collects data on how people feel about their financial outlook, along with other relevant attitudes and lifestyle preferences.
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