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% |
