Media Centre

13 December 2011

ME Bank Household Financial Health Dynamics Report Launches

New report set to shed light on Australian household finance


Click here to view the summary Infographic card. Or for a full copy of the report, please click here.

ME Bank will today launch a new report aimed at shedding fresh light on:

  1. The way Australian households feel about their financial comfort;
  2. The actual financial state of Australian households, and;
  3. The relationship between the two.

The first ME Bank Household Financial Health Dynamics Report has found:

  • The single factor most closely aligned to household financial comfort is not income, but rather superannuation holdings
  • Two-thirds of Australians are financial realists, with their comfort level and actual financial situation aligning
  • One in seven Australians feel overly comfortable given their actual financial state, leaving them vulnerable
  • Australian households are feeling reasonably comfortable with their finances overall, however single parent households are the least comfortable and retirees are the most comfortable.

ME Bank CEO Jamie McPhee said the first ME Bank Household Financial Health Dynamics Report provided a range of intriguing findings and would be fascinating to track over time.

"Unlike other financial indexes, ME Bank wanted to use this research to really focus in on the average Australian household," he said.

"We wanted to find out how comfortable households are feeling about their finances and whether that feeling tallied with their actual financial state.

"We found that while a solid majority (66%) are realists, 17 per cent are overly pessimistic. Meanwhile, 17 per cent are dangerously optimistic given their actual financial state, which is a real worry, because it leaves them vulnerable to overextending on their borrowing.

"ME Bank also wanted to drill down and find out what factors are correlated most strongly to financial comfort - and the results may come as a surprise. The new data shows that while rising income tracks rising comfort levels to some degree, it is superannuation holdings and, to a lesser extent, home property value that are the keys to households feeling high levels of financial comfort.

"This is the first of what will be many ME Bank Household Financial Health Dynamics Reports to come. Tracking these key numbers over the months and years will make for fascinating analysis and there is substantial scope to drill into this data further over time."


ME Bank is the only bank in Australia which is 100 percent owned by Australia's leading industry super funds. ME Bank provides industry super fund and union members with a genuinely fairer banking alternative.

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