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Financial situation

23 Feb 2016

Which of the following statements best describes your financial situation?

  Total   Work full time Work part time Income less than $600 pw Income $600-$1,000

pw

Income $1,000-$1,600 pw Income $1,600+ pw   Oct 2014 Mar 2015
I don’t have enough money for basic essentials like housing food and electricity 6%   4% 6% 20% 8% 3% 1%   7% 8%
I have enough money for basic essentials but I cannot save any money 35%   28% 37% 49% 41% 44% 24%   35% 39%
I have enough money for basic essentials and I can save a little money 49%   54% 49% 26% 44% 51% 60%   47% 44%
I have enough money for basic essentials and I can save a lot of money 8%   12% 5% 3% 6% 2% 13%   8% 7%
Don’t know 3%   3% 3% 3% 2% 15 2%   4% 2%

49% say they have enough money for basic essentials and can save a little money and 35% say they have enough money for basic essentials but cannot save any money. Only 8% say they can save a lot of money.

Only 29% of those earning less than $600 pw say they can save any money – compared to 73% of those earning over $1,600 pw.

Overall, there has been a slight improvement in financial situations since this question was asked in March last year – 41% (down 6%) say they cannot save any money and 57% (up 6%) say they can.

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