Financial anxiety in 2017

We’ve recently run a small Facebook survey on what’s causing kiwis financial anxiety in 2017. The results are in, and I don’t think they’re overly surprising.

 

 

According to our survey, the biggest financial anxiety in NZ is not having enough emergency buffer when something goes wrong, followed closely by housing affordability.

For those of you that are home owners, always have a revolving credit set aside for rainy day funds. My best advice is to not make it your day-to-day account unless you are very good with managing your money.

Kiwis are loaded up to the gunnels with debt and we spend what we earn. Often our sense of wealth is driven by equity gains in property, which most kiwis view as their main investment. Kiwisaver is starting to change that but it’s a long road. 

Our survey

• 202 responses
• 60% female 40% male
• Average age 39
• Younger pollsters: more concerned about housing affordability 
• Male pollsters: more concerned with mortgage repayments
• Female pollsters: more concerned about housing affordability and emergency savings

Only 9% of those surveyed are worried about retirement savings. Not surprising, given that retirement is so far off for many of those surveyed. Those concerned about retirement income were likely to be over 45. I’ve dived into retirement income in another article this month, which you can check out.

 

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