More than 5,000 over 18s were surveyed and asked to identify various personal instincts and habits relating to their personal finances and lifestyle.
Based on their responses, individuals were given a money personality type characterised by a superhero, including Turbo Savers, Captain Savvy, The Oracles and Dark Strivers. The unique features of each personality can help to explain how different people behave when it comes to spending and saving, andhow they could get help to develop a much healthier attitude to their finances.
What makes one person prioritise for a rainy day and another blow the budget as soon as their salary hits their bank account? New research from Aviva suggests that there may be as many as ten different personality types when it comes to people’s attitude to money and savings.
In a poll1, more than 5,000 individuals aged 18 and over were asked to identify various personal instincts and habits relating to their personal finances and lifestyle. Based on their responses, individuals were given a money personality type2 characterised by a superhero, including Turbo Savers, Captain Savvy, The Oracles and Dark Strivers. The unique features of each personality can help to explain how different people behave when it comes to spending and saving, and how they could get help to develop a much healthier attitude to their finances.
From ‘Turbo Savers’ who take responsibility for their finances and reap the rewards, to the ‘Day Dreamers’ who have a ‘life’s too short to worry’ attitude, a new online quiz will help people to spot their own financial habits and learn how to become a smarter saver.
Key research findings:
- 16% of Brits ‘feel clueless’ when asked about their saving habits, and more than half (52%) of ‘Day Dreamers’ agree
- 21% of all UK adults do not have any savings [excluding pensions and property], rising to 53% among ‘Day Dreamers’
- Almost one in three Brits (29%) say they need more control over personal finances
- A ‘Super Stretcher’ saves least (£32.69) vs a ‘Turbo Saver’ who saves most (£402.46) per month
- Half of all ‘Dark Strivers’ have credit card debt (that they do not pay off each month)
- 'Time Duellers’ most likely to consider tech gadgets (44%), wine (25%) and art (26%) as investments
- Main motivators for saving were given as: holiday (34%), emergency (32%) and rainy day fund (31%)
- Only one in five (21%) Brits are motivated to save for retirement
Dr Richard Taffler is Professor of Finance at Warwick Business School and a leading authority in the new area of emotional finance which recognises the key role both conscious and unconscious emotions play in driving all financial behaviour. He says: “What is often overlooked in helping people save appropriately for the future is the emotional dimension. The future is often uncertain and uncertainty leads to anxiety which creates barriers to saving for retirement. Added to this, for many people, even thinking about what old age may mean can lead to further anxiety and denial and thus procrastination and inadequate savings provision.
“A sensitively designed programme that explicitly takes into account people’s emotional needs and anxieties when it comes to the saving process can be very facilitative in helping them think about the future and save and invest appropriately to ensure a happy and fulfilling retirement.”
Lindsay Forster, UK & Ireland Customer Marketing Director for Aviva says: “We all know that the savings gap for retirement in the UK is reaching critical levels. By encouraging people to stop and understand their personal financial behaviours, and to think about their savings habits and how they may do things differently, we think they could make a huge difference to the money they have later in life.
“Our personality quiz is a quick and fun way for people to test their savings personality. Recognising what motivates them to save, their attitude towards money and their spending tendencies is an important step in working out what they could do differently. We have lots of helpful content, and various digital tools available to help them on that journey.”
The new online money personality quiz is available from Tuesday 15 March at www.avivasavesmarter.co.uk, along with some top tips and interactive tools to help you save smarter.
Ends
If you are a journalist and would like further information, please contact: Fiona Whytock, Aviva Press Office : 01904 452659 : 07800 692299 : fiona.whytock@aviva.com
Notes to editors
About the research:
1 The research was run in consultation with Future Foundation and ICM. The findings are based on 5,000 online interviews among a nationally representative sample of UK adults aged 18 and above, carried out in February 2016 and analysed during February/ March 2016.
2 Based on longstanding research into wider consumer attitudes and behaviours, a detailed survey was designed relating to all aspects of financial behaviours and attitudes. The underlying driving factors [using over 100 statements] were analysed and fed into cluster analysis to identify 10 distinct financial personality types in the UK.
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