Special report: Think Forward Initiative – Financial Behaviour Unveiled

Feeling out of control with your personal finances can make you feel out of control of your life. In the full data sets supporting this survey, 27% of those who feel their finances are barely or not under control say they regularly argue with their partner, friends or family about money.

The good news is many feel their finances are under reasonable control.

Across Europe, slightly more than one in three (35%) feel their finances to be completely or largely in good condition. About another third (34%) consider their finances to be somewhat under control.

This leaves three in ten (30%) who feel their finances are barely or not at all in control. There are differences between countries. People in Italy, Poland, Spain, Romania and Turkey are least likely to feel their finances are completely or largely under control. Lower incomes combined with slow growth since the global financial crisis may be part of the reason.

However, when asked more detailed questions, people’s confidence in personal finances wavers.

What happens if things change?
While about four in ten (41%) across Europe say they have a large enough financial buffer to replace three appliances if they break at the same time, responses vary greatly between countries.

More direct questions cast new light on the replies to the question about feelings of control.

Confidence also fades when people are asked how difficult they find it to make financial decisions.

Wealth choices may be harder
Fewer than one in five (18%) consider decisions about spending difficult. This rises to three in ten (30%) when asked about wealth or retirement savings.

Not only are decisions about wealth and retirement saving more difficult compared with those about spending, they are also more likely to be considered unpleasant and out of their personal control.

When prompted to think about an actual financial decision from the past, respondents typically consider the decision to have been even harder.

We also examined the financial position of younger generations.

Young people are only slightly less likely to consider their finances under control, although people in Europe overall show concern about the financial prospects of the younger generation.

Two in three agree younger people have to make more financial decisions than older generations did when they were young.

Education more important?
About three in four (76%) agree young people today have a more uncertain financial future and that financial education is more important for the young.

Across all age groups, almost two in three across Europe (65%) say they have the primary responsibility for their financial decisions.

More than half (52%) do not expect their bank to help them with financial decisions.

Of those who do expect help (39%), the most popular option is regular meetings with a financial adviser. Many also ask for help in budgeting and managing spending.

Those who have acted to improve their financial decision-making cite keeping a detailed budget (42%) as helpful.

About one in four (26%) indicate they use mobile banking to monitor finances.

Control over spending is a good thing. But our survey underlines that this may be the easiest part of personal finances for people to manage.