The Retirement Commission and Families Commission have completed further joint research on the indebtedness of New Zealand families.
This latest report has found that financial behaviour – notably not saving and living from pay-to-pay ‘most’ or ‘all’ of the time – can increase the likelihood of a family experiencing over-indebtedness by more than 20 percent, holding family and financial circumstances constant.
This is a significant finding and potentially changes the way we think about saving and other financial policies to improve economic wellbeing. Traditionally, income, wealth and life stage have underpinned these policies. This research shows that these factors are still important, but do not allow us to properly identify families in financial difficulty or with problem debt
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