'Financial wellbeing' higher during pandemic
/New CommBank data shows that we’re being more cautious in our spending and are saving more money during the pandemic, resulting in a 7.8 per cent jump in financial wellbeing. While other areas of our lives may be suffering, financially many are seeing an all-time high in financial wellbeing.
Commonwealth Bank publishes its regular Australian Consumer Financial Wellbeing Report with the data from over five million customers for a year to March 2021. The scale runs from 0 to 100, with Australians seeing an all-time high of 51.1. This is the highest level yet and largest year-on-year increase ever recorded, when records began in 2017.
The report looks at five of the main components of financial wellbeing: financial freedom, control, security and can meet ongoing obligations now and into the future.
The report reveals a huge improvement in financial outcomes for Australians across the past year, with 17 per cent fewer customers spending at ‘high levels', and 16 per cent fewer customers living paycheque to paycheque frequently.
It makes sense that we were better off when you consider the government assistance (JobKeeper, JobSeeker), low-interest rates, loan deferrals, emergency access to superannuation and changes to spending and saving patterns. ‘Financial wellbeing’ has a nice ring to it, but the changes might not be lasting; only the next year’s report will show us what comes next.
Savings balances increased by just over $1,000. The scale has recorded a 5.5 percentage point drop of Australians just scraping by.
The Australian Consumer Financial Wellbeing Report is a quarterly report from CommBank and the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic & Social Research at the University of Melbourne.
