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New Year, new financial resolutions
Banking
22 January 2018
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With Christmas festivities coming to an end, many of us are now taking to think about new year’s resolutions and goals for 2018. Getting a handle on finances or setting financial goals is often high on the list, however most of us are destined to fail.

Recent research by AMP, a leading financial services organisation, has found three quarters of Australians will be starting the year without a defined and specified budget, which will make sticking to our new financial goals tricky.

Michael Christofides, Director of Retail Solutions at AMP Bank, said the findings are worrying as budgeting is a critical part to achieving financial security.

“Knowing what you earn, owe and spend gives your greater control over your money and lets you quickly identify areas where you could be saving.

“The problem is that many people mistakenly think they are too busy to budget.

“But perhaps this is because many of us are still using back of the envelope and time-consuming techniques to try and track our finances.”

According to AMP’s research, over a third of Aussies (34 per cent) believe budgeting is too much effort and almost one in five Aussies (19 per cent) say budgeting takes too much time.

“The problem is that many people mistakenly think they are too busy to budget" - Michael Christofides

Even if we do start off the year with good intentions - sitting down and creating an initial budget - over a quarter (27 per cent) of us won’t end up sticking to it.

The research also showed that regularly checking our bank accounts (47 per cent), paper (28 per cent) and excel (20 per cent) were the main ways we keep track of our budgets.

Mr Christofides said, “In this era of smart banking applications, Aussies don’t need to be spending time hunched over an excel spreadsheet – not when an application or smart bank account can do all the work for you with far greater accuracy, giving you far greater control.”

So maybe this year, if we are to meet our financial New Year’s resolutions, we should look to use technology to help us. Not only will it take away the time and effort of budgeting, it will help us to achieve our financial goals and resolutions in 2018.

For more information, visit https://www.amp.com.au/personal/banking/products/amp-bett3r-account

State comparison 

 

AU

NSW

VIC

QLD

SA

WA

% that have a defined and specific budget

23%

21%

19%

26%

30%

27%

% that have a budget but it’s a rough figure

57%

61%

56%

54%

54%

52%

% that don’t keep track of their finances

20%

18%

25%

20%

16%

21%

% say budgeting takes too much time

19%

19%

17%

20%

18%

18%

% say budgeting takes too much effort

34%

32%

24%

40%

27%

18%

% say they don’t know how to budget

13%

12%

14%

5%

27%

23%

% say they are not good with finances

16%

12%

20%

8%

27%

27%

% say they’ve created a budget but never keep to it

27%

32%

28%

23%

27%

18%

% that track their budget in Excel

22%

21%

26%

20%

32%

27%

% that track their budget on paper

28%

25%

28%

27%

25%

36%

% that track their budget in an App

10%

8%

14%

7%

7%

7%

% that track their budget in their bank account

47%

43%

43%

53%

51%

46%

 

Age comparison

 

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55-64

65+

% that have a defined and specific budget

21%

16%

25%

20%

26%

28%

% that have a budget but it’s a rough figure

52%

63%

53%

58%

52%

60%

% that don’t keep track of their finances

27%

20%

22%

22%

12%

20%

% say budgeting takes too much time

29%

19%

29%

18%

12%

4%

% say budgeting takes too much effort

35%

25%

42%

37%

39%

4%

% say they don’t know how to budget

39%

14%

8%

13%

3%

4%

% say they are not good with finances

29%

16%

26%

11%

9%

4%

% say they’ve created a budget but never keep to it

26%

32%

34%

24%

21%

20%

% that track their budget in Excel

17%

29%

25%

21%

23%

20%

% that track their budget on paper

33%

27%

27%

28%

25%

28%

% that track their budget in an App

18%

18%

15%

6%

5%

1%

% that track their budget in their bank account

49%

48%

39%

54%

45%

47%