Consumers in Australasia are financially stressed out. The cure? Data-driven insights and actionable guidance.
By any measure, most Australians and New Zealanders today are stressed out about their finances.
Nearly three in five Australians said they’re worried about their current financial situation and almost 85% say financial stress affects their well-being negatively.1 Some 22% of Australian respondents in a September 2020 survey said they didn’t have any savings.2 And one fourth of Australians are pessimistic about the economic recovery, the highest since the onset of COVID-19. 3
Meanwhile, 65% of Kiwis don’t think much, or at all, about how much money they’ll need in retirement, while 16% didn’t know what their main source of income in retirement will be.4
Financial Stress is Unhealthy
Why sound the alarm about these numbers? Because when someone’s financial well-being suffers, so do other aspects of their daily life far beyond their wallet and checking account. It leads to reduced productivity in the workplace, more arguments and potential divorces at home, and more stress-related illnesses including ulcers, migraines, anxiety, depression and heart attacks.
The Cure: Data-Driven Financial Wellness Solutions
It’s clear Financial Service Providers (FSPs) have a tremendous opportunity – even a responsibility – to help their customers in Australia and New Zealand understand how to improve their financial health and provide financial education, advice and realistic-goal-based solutions for achieving financial wellness.
But it’s also clear these solutions must transcend traditional banking models, with their focus on showing consumers static data around balance, bills, and credit scores. Instead they need to deliver hyper-personalized financial insights and actionable advice to help consumers not only assess their situation but take necessary steps to change their behavior and actions to reach their financial goals.
Emerging financial technology and FinTech services have recently experienced massive increases in adoption and usage. Central to this upswing is the FSPs’ ability to aggregate financial data around consumers’ saving, spending, planning and borrowing to promote and encourage a holistic approach to financial wellness.
The most robust solutions do this by incorporating an artificial intelligence engine coupled with access to the right data. It’s this kind of data intelligence that can make a real difference in consumers’ financial well-being by helping them develop smarter habits and empowering them to make better financial decisions.
Improve Financial Wellness with Envestnet | Yodlee
Envestnet® | Yodlee® is uniquely positioned to help FSPs to take on this challenge, delivering data-driven insights, actionable recommendations, and a personalized and predictive financial wellness experience. By dynamically measuring consumers financial data, monitoring their financial health, and helping them improve and automate daily financial management around spending, saving, borrowing, and planning. Envestnet | Yodlee Financial Wellness Solutions empower all key consumer segments – Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers – to improve their financial health and reach their goals.
To learn more about the state of financial wellness in Australia and New Zealand and how FSPs can take advantage of this opportunity increase share of wallet while optimizing consumer outcomes, download our eBook “Data Intelligence Fuels Financial Wellness”.
1 “Financial Fitness 2019 Whitepaper.” Mortgage Choice. November 2019.
2 “Financial Wellbeing: A Survey of Adults in Australia.” Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. April 2018. https://financialcapability.gov.au/files/anz-financial-wellbeing-summary-report-australia.pdf
3 “Australian Consumer Sentiment During the Coronavirus Crisis.” McKinsey & Company. September 17th, 2020.
4 “Financial Capability Barometer, 2018-2019.”Celestyna Galicki. December 2019.
