Datahead: Facts From Around the Financial Industry
May 11, 2009 | Free Subscription
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Very interesting, thanks for the numbers! I think the stat that catches my attention most is that 41% gave themselves c,d, or f in their personal financial knowledge, but 93% still believe they are managing their money well regardless.
There’s been lots of talk about promoting thrift, implementing PFM solutions, financial literacy programs, etc. I think that statistic is interesting because you can’t market or push a program on people who already believe they are doing just fine in that department. It doesn’t matter if they really are managing their money well or not, its about how they perceive they are doing at managing their money.
Now, don’t take that as a suggestion to give up on thrift based programs, but maybe we need to take a closer look at the consumer demand for these programs. How do you get people to jump on the thrift/budgeting bandwagon when in their mind they’re already on it.
This reads like big stress and big opportunity in an industry ripe for change.
I’m also intrigued by the self grading versus confidence in self management dilemma. Perhaps this is a clear sign that the messages being delivered to bank and credit union customers needs to change. Instead of marketing products and services, which Andy stated won’t work if people feel they’re doing a good job already of managing their finances, focus on asking the right questions and discussing the issues related to different life stages. Products and services should be secondary once you understand what’s on the mind of the customer.
Jeff, did this info also come from the Allstate-Journal source?
Luke, you can find the data from Allstate-Journal here:
http://www.mainstreet.com/article/smart-spending/budgeting/are-you-denial-about-your-money-matters
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The 13 million considering bankruptcy seems at first blush like a disturbing stat, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder a) how many people being contact by debt collectors are always “seriously considering filing for bankruptcy, or have recently done so;” or b) whether this is just a reflection of the growing credit delinquencies nationwide. Last year about 1 million non-business bankruptcies were filed. If 13 million are filed in 2009, we’re in big trouble — although “considering” bankruptcy and actually filing for bankruptcy are two totally separate things entirely. Thanks for the data, Jeff.