By Amanda Morrall
Think budgeting is too hard, too boring or too much effort?
You're not alone.
Close to half of New Zealanders (45%) surveyed by Westpac NZ about their personal finance habits confessed they either didn’t know how or just plain couldn’t stick to a budget.
What’s worse, 32% of households surveyed by Westpac as part of an on-line questionnaire said they experienced financial difficulties on a weekly basis.
Callum Wilson, general manager of Strategy, Productivity and Innovation for the bank, said the results underscored just how helpless many New Zealanders are to get a grip on their finances at a basic level.
“It’s quite incredible really,’’ Wilson said of the results.
Budgeting is "boring"
“We all know how important it is to have some basic plan about where you are going, and yet for thousands of people it’s either too hard, too long or just too boring to do.’’
The bank’s survey also found that only 22% of New Zealanders have received budget advice or training.
Wilson said Westpac’s most recent app for iphones "Budget Planner, was aimed at younger time pressed customers keen to improve their money management.
Wilson said smartphone technology has made it easier for customers to take charge of their financial affairs because they can do it from any location and also because the platform is “fun’’ as opposed to boring.
“It’s a simple tap and go device, so you can do it anywhere, for example while you’re bored sitting on a bus. “
The app, which is free, can by used by customers from other banks.
Although the budgeting app doesn’t interact with personal accounts and data, Wilson said it wouldn’t be long before that facility was available via another app for Westpac customers.
The budgeting app is the fifth in a suite of personal finance tools introduced by Westpac which has seen a 500% increase in the use of mobile banking in the last six months, 160% in the past two months.
Westpac is recording 1.2 million log-ins and transactions via mobile per month.
7 Comments
Not surprising really - Governments are the worst offenders - watching English bob and weave ahead of an all to well signalled budget spending revision is a lesson not to miss.
And just out of interest who takes the fall for this piece of financial ingenuity? The well paid Auckland Council chief executive? - and if not why not?
League fans are being asked to bail out Eden Park, which is cash-strapped and weighed down by debt in the wake of the Rugby World Cup's euphoria.
The cup's legacy is a 50,000-seat stadium $55 million in debt and struggling to break even and the plan is to move the Warriors from Mt Smart Stadium to Eden Park.
Hmmmm S H - they set a great example don't they !
Having no budget is like having no road map when your trying to get somewhere. Govt and it's agencies all produce budgets but then lack the skill and ability to make it work. They're not driven by the desire to get value because it's not their money or butt on the line.
Budgeting should be fun and highly competitive. You have to love a bargain, know quality, love the thrill of the chase, cut out excess, sometimes you got to spend more to make more, haggle over price etc.
here is a tip for beginners to budgets.
no more coffee from the cafes .. bring your own from home.
no more trips for lunch and morning tea to the hot bread shop..make your own from last nights tea.
no more after work drinks...leads to more after work festivities like lets have takeaways i 'm to pissed to cook.
youdon't have to live like a hermit but just take advantage of the things around you..goal achieved
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