We wanted to check in with kiwis to see how the current economic environment was impacting their finances, their emotions and their investing strategy.
Read on to see what we found...
In 2023 the economy has been a lot like the weather; tumultuous, volatile, and difficult to experience.
For many kiwi families these economic times have forced them to make changes big and small to the way they live their lives, personal and financially.
At kōura we wanted to see how this cost-of-living crisis was impacting individual behaviors.
In particular we wanted to see if every day Kiwi’s have been brave enough to continue investing through these difficult times, and how they were reacting emotionally and
In April 2023, we surveyed 1000 New Zealanders across the country about how the cost of living is impacting their lives.
Our key findings
Kiwi’s investing habits have changed, but we are nervous that this trend might not be sustainable.
Kiwi’s have finally become investors.
- New online platforms have driven everyday kiwis to become investors.
- New platforms like Hatch, Sharesies and InvestNow have made investing accessible for everyday investors.
But the behaviours we see from investors give us reason to worry about whether they will remain investors.
- We are concerned that many investors have suffered losses (18.5%) or are unaware of their returns (21.5%).
- For investors that have lost money, they will take longer to come back, and not being aware of returns is a worrying sign around lack of engagement.
The current cost of living crisis is impacting people’s mental health.
- Unsurprisingly people are most concerned about the things we would have expected, mortgages and food costs.
- Though we were surprised at the impact that the current state is having on people’s mental health with 42.3% talking about increased stress levels.
Read the full survey HERE.
If you want to see the numbers behind out findings follow this link HERE.
