Australians reveal their financial New Year’s resolutions

Australians want to save more, be less impulsive and budget better, a NAB survey of the nation’s top financial New Year’s resolutions has revealed.

Being financially responsible was a common theme, with 31% of respondents saying they wanted to save more money, 24% wanting to make fewer impulse purchases, and 18% wanting to develop their financial planning skills by writing and sticking to a realistic budget.

More than 1,000 people participated in the survey, which was designed to provide a snapshot of how Australians intend to use their money in 2015.

While financial responsibility was the most common resolution, NAB chief economist Alan Oster said that the age, location, and gender of respondents also influenced their responses.

“In addition to saving, more 30-49 year olds are resolving to pay off their mortgage and loans and change or improve their work situation, while younger Australians are most keen to invest more,” he said.

“Older generations are focused on reducing impulse spending in 2015.”

More women say they want to change jobs or their work situation in the next year, and almost twice as many women (19%) will be setting up an emergency savings fund compared to men (10%).

Understandably, families with kids are more likely to focus on the mortgage and other loans in 2015, while more Australian singles wanted to develop a will or estate plan and change their job or work situation.

West Australians are the most impulsive across the nation with 22% saying they had no financial resolutions and would simply ‘live for today’ - more than double the number in other states.