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On 8 October 2008, ANZ released its third survey into adult financial literacy in Australia.
The research shows that Australian adults are generally are financially literate but some groups face particular challenges. There are also certain areas of money management and products that are not as well understood as they should be. Young people, seniors, women (particularly older women), and low income earners are significantly behind the rest of the community in financial literacy.
There is a pronounced difference in financial literacy levels between the most financially literate (top 20 per cent) of the Australian population and the least financially literate (bottom 20 per cent). Most of those in the lowest financial literacy group are responsible for the financial management of their household yet their behaviour shows:
- greater exposure to risk through less use of insurance and lower levels of understanding of the relationship between risk and return
- less use of cost-effective ways of transacting
- less shopping around to get the best deals on mortgages
- fewer people taking steps to minimise their everyday banking fees; and
- lower awareness that the primary credit card holder is responsible for all debt on the card
There are also some areas of money management and financial products that are not as well understood as they should be:
- Many consumers do not understand some fundamental aspects of investment including risk and return and the importance of diversifying investments.
- Many consumers do not understand that an insurance company can refuse a claim if questions are not answered accurately when taking out or renewing a policy.
- Almost one in two people who have superannuation either do not read their super statements or read them but say they are too difficult to understand.
Compared with the first study in 2002, the 2008 findings show encouraging signs such as:
- more people saying they are trying to save regularly
- while still too low, some increase in awareness of an investment that is 'too good to be true'
- greater use of electronic transacting channels, particularly Internet Banking
 Read the summary report (PDF, 430KB)
Read the full Adult Financial Literacy Report (PDF, 8.5MB)
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