FSC finds New Zealanders’ financial resilience shines through tough times

The latest research from the FSC shows that despite global challenges, New Zealand financial resilience remains strong.

Friday, October 16th 2020, 6:46AM

The latest round from the FSC’s Financial Resilience Index shows that despite the last six months being one of the most challenging periods in recent history, New Zealanders have remained remarkably resilient and confident when it comes to financial matters.

The Financial Resilience Index is a major tracking survey of New Zealanders’ views on five key financial resilience indicators: financial confidence, literacy and preparedness, job security and wellbeing.

The final survey in the three-part series was undertaken between August 6 and 7, and compares to earlier data collected in March and April. It was launched on Thursday morning at the FSC’s Annual Conference.

“The responses in early August show that after initial uncertainty Kiwis remained resilient throughout this unprecedented period, from the introduction of Covid-19, to living in lockdown, right through to the return to alert level one,” says Richard Klipin, FSC chief executive.

“Despite these dramatic changes, New Zealanders continued to have incredible financial confidence, with around 72% of respondents still feeling reasonably, very or extremely confident when it came to their finances.

“The Financial Resilience Index has shown us that while the health of New Zealanders’ resilience remains intact, there is an underlying anxiety about money issues, that is in turn affecting our wellbeing.

“Financial resilience in isolation is not of much use – it needs to go hand-in-hand with more general wellbeing and collectively we can do better in recognising this.

“We hope that this research will help build a better understanding of these and how New Zealanders have felt during this time and how we can collectively work to help New Zealanders continue to improve their financial resilience and overall wellbeing in the future,” concluded Klipin.

The Financial Resilience Index can be found here.

Tags: financial resilience FSC