{"id":54188,"date":"2026-04-23T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/?p=54188"},"modified":"2026-04-23T07:30:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T00:30:00","slug":"which-money-type-are-you-new-research-maps-financial-habits-of-young-australians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/?p=54188","title":{"rendered":"Which &#8216;money type&#8217; are you? New research maps financial habits of young Australians"},"content":{"rendered":"<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"10\" cellpadding=\"5\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnasia.com\/media2\/2809261\/Southern_Cross_University_Australia_Logo.jpg?p=medium600\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" title=\"logo\" hspace=\"0\" vspace=\"0\" width=\"118\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span class=\"legendSpanClass\">GOLD COAST, Australia<\/span>, <span class=\"legendSpanClass\">April 22, 2026<\/span> \/PRNewswire\/ &#8212; Under 35, navigating the cost-of-living and trying to get ahead? New research from Southern Cross University, QUT and Griffith University challenges the idea that financial literacy alone addresses this problem. Instead, three distinct &#8216;money behaviour types&#8217; among young Australians are linked to different financial outcomes<span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"PRN_ImbeddedAssetReference\">\n<\/div>\n<p>In a study of 519 Australians aged 18\u201335 years, researchers found that young people cluster into three groups based on their real-world financial habits: <b>Financial Explorers, Habitual Savers, and The Disengaged<\/b>. The study focused on the pivotal transition into\u00a0fulltime work; a moment when financial habits begin to solidify and compound over a lifetime.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Funded by the Financial Planning Education Council, the study\u00a0analysed patterns of saving, investing, budgeting and use of modern financial tools such as buy-now-pay-later and investment apps among young adults within five years of entering the workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The three distinct behavioural profiles identified:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><b>Financial Explorers<\/b>: highly engaged with their finances. They budget, save, invest and are also more likely to use products such as buy-now-pay-later. They tend to be confident in their financial abilities \u2013 sometimes overly so.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><b>Habitual Savers<\/b>: cautious and conscientious,\u00a0prioritising traditional saving and avoiding debt and investing. They generally feel in control of their spending but may miss opportunities to build long-term wealth.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><b>The Disengaged<\/b>: limited active financial planning, little budgeting or regular saving, yet still likely to take on debt or use buy-now-pay-later. This group is more likely to experience financial stress.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lead author Dr Jennifer Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance at Southern Cross University, said the findings have important implications for financial education, policy, and support services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She\u00a0emphasised the importance of meeting people where they are, not where we assume they should be, if we want financial education to work. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One-size-fits-all financial literacy programs are unlikely to be effective. Young Australians are not a homogeneous group when it comes to money. They bring different habits, confidence levels, and social influences into their financial lives,&#8221; said Dr Harrison. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The researchers stressed the behavioural profiles aren&#8217;t a ranking system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no perfect money type here. Each group does some things well and others less so,&#8221; said co-author Dr\u00a0Steffen Westermann, a Financial Planning Lecturer at Griffith University. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Crucially, the research found &#8216;money type&#8217; differences were not explained solely by financial literacy. Instead, social norms, perceived control over money, personality traits, and financial stress also played a significant role in shaping how young people behave with their finances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Associate Professor Elisabeth\u00a0Sinnewe from QUT&#8217;s School of Accountancy said: &#8220;Interestingly, the move into full-time work is not a complete financial reset. Socialisation and disposition tend to reinforce existing financial behaviours. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our research gives financial advisers, policymakers, and consumer advocates a real opportunity to meet young people where they are.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Instead of treating all young people the same, the research suggests more tailored approaches could better support different groups. For example:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>help <b>Financial Explorers<\/b> better assess risk and navigate information sources.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>support <b>Habitual Savers<\/b> to build long-term wealth through appropriate investing.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>provide <b>The Disengaged<\/b> with simple, low-effort tools and support to reduce financial stress and build basic habits.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The research has been published in Pacific-Basin Finance Journal and can be accessed here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0927538X26000132\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Unpacking financial (Dis)engagement of young adults transitioning into the workforce: An investigation of financial habit clusters &#8211;\u00a0ScienceDirect<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>What&#8217;s your money type?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>To bring the findings to life, Southern Cross University has launched an interactive tool that reveals which &#8216;money type&#8217; best matches your behaviour and some action steps related to that group. <a href=\"https:\/\/scuau.qualtrics.com\/jfe\/form\/SV_bIosY9getrvtfim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The quiz is available here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><!-- wp:html --><\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"10\" cellpadding=\"5\" align=\"right\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/mma.prnasia.com\/media2\/2809261\/Southern_Cross_University_Australia_Logo.jpg?p=medium600\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" title=\"logo\" hspace=\"0\" vspace=\"0\" width=\"118\" \/><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><span class=\"legendSpanClass\">GOLD COAST, Australia<\/span>, <span class=\"legendSpanClass\">April 22, 2026<\/span> \/PRNewswire\/ &#8212; Under 35, navigating the cost-of-living and trying to get ahead? New research from Southern Cross University, QUT and Griffith University challenges the idea that financial literacy alone addresses this problem. Instead, three distinct &#8216;money behaviour types&#8217; among young Australians are linked to different financial outcomes<span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"PRN_ImbeddedAssetReference\">\n<\/div>\n<p>In a study of 519 Australians aged 18\u201335 years, researchers found that young people cluster into three groups based on their real-world financial habits: <b>Financial Explorers, Habitual Savers, and The Disengaged<\/b>. The study focused on the pivotal transition into\u00a0fulltime work; a moment when financial habits begin to solidify and compound over a lifetime.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Funded by the Financial Planning Education Council, the study\u00a0analysed patterns of saving, investing, budgeting and use of modern financial tools such as buy-now-pay-later and investment apps among young adults within five years of entering the workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The three distinct behavioural profiles identified:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li><b>Financial Explorers<\/b>: highly engaged with their finances. They budget, save, invest and are also more likely to use products such as buy-now-pay-later. They tend to be confident in their financial abilities \u2013 sometimes overly so.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><b>Habitual Savers<\/b>: cautious and conscientious,\u00a0prioritising traditional saving and avoiding debt and investing. They generally feel in control of their spending but may miss opportunities to build long-term wealth.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li><b>The Disengaged<\/b>: limited active financial planning, little budgeting or regular saving, yet still likely to take on debt or use buy-now-pay-later. This group is more likely to experience financial stress.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lead author Dr Jennifer Harrison, Senior Lecturer in Accounting and Finance at Southern Cross University, said the findings have important implications for financial education, policy, and support services.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>She\u00a0emphasised the importance of meeting people where they are, not where we assume they should be, if we want financial education to work. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;One-size-fits-all financial literacy programs are unlikely to be effective. Young Australians are not a homogeneous group when it comes to money. They bring different habits, confidence levels, and social influences into their financial lives,&#8221; said Dr Harrison. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The researchers stressed the behavioural profiles aren&#8217;t a ranking system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s no perfect money type here. Each group does some things well and others less so,&#8221; said co-author Dr\u00a0Steffen Westermann, a Financial Planning Lecturer at Griffith University. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Crucially, the research found &#8216;money type&#8217; differences were not explained solely by financial literacy. Instead, social norms, perceived control over money, personality traits, and financial stress also played a significant role in shaping how young people behave with their finances.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Associate Professor Elisabeth\u00a0Sinnewe from QUT&#8217;s School of Accountancy said: &#8220;Interestingly, the move into full-time work is not a complete financial reset. Socialisation and disposition tend to reinforce existing financial behaviours. \u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our research gives financial advisers, policymakers, and consumer advocates a real opportunity to meet young people where they are.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Instead of treating all young people the same, the research suggests more tailored approaches could better support different groups. For example:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul type=\"disc\">\n<li>help <b>Financial Explorers<\/b> better assess risk and navigate information sources.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>support <b>Habitual Savers<\/b> to build long-term wealth through appropriate investing.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>provide <b>The Disengaged<\/b> with simple, low-effort tools and support to reduce financial stress and build basic habits.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The research has been published in Pacific-Basin Finance Journal and can be accessed here: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0927538X26000132\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Unpacking financial (Dis)engagement of young adults transitioning into the workforce: An investigation of financial habit clusters &#8211;\u00a0ScienceDirect<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><b>What&#8217;s your money type?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>To bring the findings to life, Southern Cross University has launched an interactive tool that reveals which &#8216;money type&#8217; best matches your behaviour and some action steps related to that group. <a href=\"https:\/\/scuau.qualtrics.com\/jfe\/form\/SV_bIosY9getrvtfim\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The quiz is available here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/wp:html --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cision-pr-newswire","category-cision-pr-newswire-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thaipropertynews.com\/feeds\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}