The Rise & Rise of Financial Wellbeing 

The Rise & Rise of Financial Wellbeing 

The Growing Need for Financial Wellbeing

What is Financial Wellbeing?

Financial health is already a prevailing force in society. However, in a society fetishized by health and its burgeoning sense of meaning, financial wellbeing is no longer some ‘Goop-ified’ ideal, it’s a new norm

With people looking to gain greater control of their health, their careers, their social interactions, and even their love life, many now look to financial wellbeing as the catch-all solution. If consumers are able to obtain, nurture and consolidate their financial health, this gives them license to feel greater control, feel more secure, and ultimately lead happier lives

“As such, we believe financial services have the capacity to become educators of the financially illiterate, facilitators of positive financial outcomes, and enablers of positive human futures.”

Stealing a Piece of the Wellness Pie

Spending on wellness is rising as people place greater importance on their wellbeing, with British consumers forecast to spend £487 per head annually on wellness by 2022 (GlobalData, 2018)

For consumers, wellness and wellbeing is no longer restricted to what we eat and drink but stretches across dimensions, from social wellbeing to the spiritual, environmental to financial. A survey of 4,000 UK consumers by First Direct and YouGov revealed that people believe money is more important to their overall wellbeing than other areas of wellness e.g. diet and exercise (LSN Global, 2019)

Just like their mental and physical wellbeing, consumers are looking to improve their money wellbeing. They seek advice, products and services focused on long-term wellbeing, signalling a new direction for the wellness sector

Why Money Matters, Now More Than Even

Across generations and lifestyles, money is a major source of anxiety, stress, and social inequality. As we look to take care of ourselves and others in a complex socio-economic landscape, the role of money in defining our future happiness will only continue to rise

Following a period of such immense uncertainty, financial wellbeing will provide consumers with a greater sense of security and control, and ultimately provide them with the financial freedom they require to enjoy their day-to-day

“Though eventually, consumers will look for financial services to move from reactive to proactive, life in a post-Covid world will be about providing coping mechanisms, greater financial optionality, enhanced security measures, and a clear path to a brighter financial future”

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Why the Smart Money is on Financial Wellbeing

Reassessing and Reprioritising

The global lockdown and related economic shock changed the way that many people think about their money.  Research carried out by Brand Genetics in 8 countries around the world revealed some of these emerging thoughts

5 Post-Pandemic Financial Trends

01

Heightened Awareness of Spending

Lockdown drove awareness of previous spending patterns. Many people have started questioning how much of their money is spent wisely and how they might develop “healthy” spending habits
02

Increasing Recessionary Woes

Media coverage of the impending global recession is causing money stress for many households. They are looking for help, reassurance and guidance during these uncertain times
03

Feeling Lost in the Middle

People’s focus is split between the needs of the immediate term (e.g. putting food on the table), and the longer-term goals (e.g. planning a family). The middle-term (20/21) is written off by many people as being too uncertain to plan anything
04

Money-stretching is the New Normal

People are using the time to find ways to make their money work harder (e.g. switching utility providers to get better deals). This is especially true for internet, water and electricity, but is also disrupting people’s perception of what constitutes ‘a necessity’
05

Greater Care for Those Around Us

People are taking notice of how companies are behaving during the pandemic and, in particular, how they treat their staff. This will influence where consumers spend their money in the future

Families

Raising a family is a demanding and expensive responsibility. We all want what is best for our kids and there is real pressure on parents to give their children the best start in life. Financial Wellbeing for Families is about being able to deliver on the short-term needs without worrying excessively about saving and planning for the future. It's about having the necessary financial flexibility to cope with the inevitable unexpected challenges that come along. Because everyone has a unique story it's extremely important that people feel listened to and understood as individual families rather than lumped together in some faceless, one-size-fits-all designation

The Under 25s

Even before the pandemic, it was widely reported that young people would face a more challenging economic environment than their parents did. This is a generation whose relationship with money is markedly different from that of previous generations. For example, contactless transactions make paying for everyday goods more frictionless, but there is an argument that the decrease in the use of physical money has impacted spending and the perceived value of goods. Financial Wellbeing for the under 25s is, at least in part, about building good financial habits as well as actively addressing in a human way) some of the implicit barriers that people have banks, investing and financial planning.

Retirees

Everyone dreams of retiring with financial independence and no longer having to worry about mortgages or other significant bills. The people who tend to have these types of retirement are those who planned early and got their affairs in order. But, this is not the case for everyone and many people approach retirement nervous about their financial future and what sort of life they'll be able to afford once they stop working. As the age of retirement increases globally in response to people living longer, the need for Financial Wellbeing for these people has never been more important. Financial Institutions can play a huge role here, but to do this effectively they need to connect with people at a human level, recognise and empathise with their concerns and address these challenges in an appropriately sensitive way, using inclusive not alienating language.

Thinking Human-First is key to Financial Wellbing

Whilst technologies change, industries change and individual circumstances change, the one constant is human nature.  Our core psychological needs, the things that are innately important to us – feeling loved, feeling safe, feeling useful – have barely changed since we took our first faltering steps off the African savannah

Why is this important?  Jeff Bezos perhaps said it best:

‘I frequently get the question, “what’s going to change in the next 10 years?” That’s a very interesting question and a very common one. I almost never get the question: “what’s NOT going to change in the next 10 years?” And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time.’

To truly deliver Financial Wellbeing, we have to think Human-First

Whatever terms are used – consumer, customer, user, client, colleague – the fact is that we are always human first. Only by zooming out to see the wider context of people’s lives can we truly understand their behaviour and deconstruct them.  This allows us to better design products and services that meet truly human needs

 

 

Thinking Human-First means being

01

Empathy Experts

Empathy is the ability to see and feel things from someone else’s perspective. It is a critical component for building trust, reassurance and connecting with people. At Brand Genetics, we use a series of scientifically validated empathy-based research techniques to truly understand people from different walks of life
02

Positive Pioneers

We believe in “positive innovation”, this means innovating with people’s happiness and wellbeing in mind. By making human happiness the ultimate goal of innovation, we develop solutions that have a meaningful impact and deliver a competitive advantage
03

Plucking Insights out of Data

The world runs, not on data, but on the insights that can be gleaned from it. Motivational drivers and behavioural nuances cannot easily be discerned from an analytics dashboard. Brand Genetics’ specialist human-first approach compliments ‘Big Data’ and allows you to quickly get to the humans behind the numbers
04

Using Anticipatory Thinking

We have always sought to help our clients go beyond the “what” and “so what” of their challenges and move to the “what next”. Our human-first approach to scenario planning allows us to explore possible futures for a business or industry and devise relevant strategic responses in line with these

Global clients trust our human-first approach

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