Press release 11 April 2012
OP-Pohjola Group Survey:
Finns Find Planning of Personal Finances Harder
According to OP-Pohjola Group's annual financial skills survey, the current general economic uncertainty has affected personal financial management and financial planning. However, people are not anxious about their finances. Higher income would make people happier but they are not ready to compromise their health and family over fatter pay packets.
OP-Pohjola Group's survey reveals that Finns think personal financial planning is harder than last year. Although more than 80% of the respondents follow financial and economic matters and related news regularly, only less than half (48%) consider financial planning easy, as against 63% a year ago.
- The world economic situation and the tone of the economic debate affect the way people feel about their personal financial management and planning, explains Riitta Pyhälä of Helsinki OP Bank Plc.
- Especially young people think that financial and economic jargon and news are difficult to understand. Only every fifth young person thinks that discussion on financial and economic matters is intelligible to them.
Continued trust in banks and insurers
An increasing number of people want expert help in personal financial management. People trust their banks and insurers as experts and mostly turn to their own bank for help in financial matters. A total of 66% of the respondents primarily turn to their own bank for financial help and 43% of the respondents say that advice from relatives and friends has no effect on decision on personal finances.
A total of 45% of the respondents believe that they would be happier if they had more money for spending. However, people take a reasonable approach to money, considering that they are not willing to work hard for money and are not ready to compromise their health or family over making more money.
- A total of 68% of the respondents know how much their spouses earn, with women representing a slight majority. It is, however, interesting that up to 17% of the respondents have kept their financial standing secret from spouses, says Pyhälä.
OP-Pohjola wants to make the management of personal daily finances easier by demystifying the financial and economic jargon. Since last week, OP-Pohjola has explained economic and financial terms in plain Finnish in its Facebook group (facebook.com/oppohjola) with the aim of "decoding" the related jargon.
Conducted by TNS Gallup and commissioned by OP-Pohjola Group, the survey had 2,359 respondents across Finland, forming a representative sample of active population at the age of 18-69 years. This was the second time when the survey was conducted.
For more information, please contact:
Riitta Pyhälä, Bank Manager of Helsinki OP Bank Plc, tel. +358 (0)40 505 0825.
OP-Pohjola Group is Finland's leading financial services group providing a unique range of banking, investment and insurance services. The Group has the mission of promoting the sustainable prosperity, well-being and security of its owner-members, customers and operating regions through its local presence. Its objective is to offer the best and most versatile package of loyal customer benefits on the market. OP-Pohjola Group consists of some 200 member cooperative banks and the Group's central institution, OP-Pohjola Group Central Cooperative, with its subsidiaries and closely-related companies, the largest of which is the listed company Pohjola Bank plc. With a staff of more than 13,000 OP-Pohjola Group posted consolidated earnings of 518 million euros before tax in 2011 and had total assets of 92 billion euros on 31 December 2011. The group has over four million customers.