Kiwis’ financial wellbeing improves since first covid lockdown
Auckland - New Zealanders’ financial wellbeing has improved eight percent on average since the first covid pandemic lockdown last year, largely driven by reduced spending.
One year on from lockdown, new research from the ASB bank underscores the financial impact of the covid pandemic on Kiwis.
But New Zealanders are still doing it tough with more than a third of Kiwis living pay-day to pay-day and nearly half have less than $1000 in savings.
An ASB financial wellbeing study which began before the first covid 19 lockdown shows Kiwis have weathered the storm, ending up on average financially better off than they were this time last year.
ASB collaborated with an Australian, not a New Zealand university, to develop a measure that gives insight into Kiwis’ financial wellbeing, using data across more than half a million ASB personal banking customers.
The study looked into how New Zealanders fared during one of the most extraordinary years in the nation’s economic and social history.
The percentage of Kiwis living from one pay-day to the next reduced in the year to February 2021, with six percent of ASB customers able to build up enough savings over the year to change this pattern.
The ASB study also found that more than a third of customers frequently had balances of less than their average weekly expenses, and 15 percent of customers always spend more than 80 percent of their income.
Last Sunday, Gem and I travelled up the west coast of the Coromandel Peninsula to the stunning little settlement of Coromandel town..
The drive from Thames to Coromandel took about an hour, but was very picturesque. The road up was a bit dodgy (skinny) with loads of vehicles towing large caravans or Boats along the way. I was happy Roxanne (The Caravan) was resting back in Thames for this trip.