Just one in four (24%) Irish people claim to be financially savvy. This is according to new research from KBC Bank Ireland on how people perceive their own financial literacy.
On the issue of financial literacy and managing money, 60% believe they have an average level of financial literacy with a quarter claiming to have high or very high financial literacy.
Of those on a higher income (over €60,000), one in three (34%) claimed to have a high level of financial literacy versus 19% of those on a lower income (earning less than €30K). It found financial literacy is not just determined by income and higher education but rather by certain behaviours and attitudes towards money.
Furthermore, 40% of the general population are confident they have done a good job of making financial plans for their retirement while 37% were neutral and 21% said they were not confident.
The study also showed nearly half of the population (47%) said their income has not covered their living costs at some point in the last 12 months. Young families were most likely to have experienced this, signalling a higher level of financial stress among this segment.
The top five coping strategies to make ends meet at difficult times were found to be cutting back on spending (88%), savings (57%), paying bills late (47%), borrowing from friends or family (43%), and working overtime (40%). They were least likely to take a loan from an unlicensed lender.
The survey was released by KBC to raise awareness of the importance of financial literacy following European Money Week which ran until Sunday 2nd April 2017. It is a joint initiative by European banking associations that aims to raise public awareness on financial literacy and improving financial education for primary and secondary students.
Source: www.businessworld.ie
