The ANZ Roy Morgan Financial Wellbeing Indicator (FWBI) update has revealed a decline in Australians' financial wellbeing, primarily due to rising cost of living pressures. The report, which compares data from December 2022 with September 2022 and December 2021, indicates that the financial wellbeing of Australians had already been on a downward trend throughout the first three quarters of 2022.
The FWBI, released today, highlights that inflation and increased interest rates have led to lower financial wellbeing scores across all states and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) by December 2022. The indicator is reported as a 12-month moving average each quarter and shows a further decline since post-COVID results collected in 2022.
A significant finding from the quarterly update is the increase in respondents with the lowest financial wellbeing scores, rising from 10.5% in January 2019 to 17.2% in December 2022 across all states and the ACT. This rise initially coincided with COVID-19's onset and rising unemployment but accelerated in 2022 due to inflation and interest rate hikes.
Tasmania experienced the most substantial year-on-year drop in financial wellbeing at 5.4%, followed by the ACT at 5.1% and Queensland at 4.9%. Despite this decline, respondents from the ACT still showed higher levels of financial wellbeing than others, remaining above the national average alongside Victoria.
ANZ has been studying financial literacy, capability, attitudes, and behaviors among Australian adults for nearly two decades through various programs aimed at improving financial inclusion and wellbeing. These initiatives include MoneyMinded and Saver Plus developed with community partners and government input.
The ANZ Roy Morgan Financial Wellbeing Indicator provides regular insights into how different factors affect Australians' financial lives over time through data sourced from the Roy Morgan Single Source Survey.
For more information on ANZ's efforts towards enhancing financial wellbeing, visit their website.