Aims of the Strategy

Vision for Australia’s financial capability

For Australians to have the knowledge, skills, attitudes and confidence to engage in positive financial behaviours and make financial decisions appropriate to their individual circumstances throughout their lives.

To achieve this vision, the Government has a set of guiding principles for how to develop initiatives, and that it will consider in undertaking and supporting financial capability initiatives under the Strategy.

Targeted

All individuals engage with their finances in different ways and are faced with numerous choices when it comes to managing their money across various life stages. Initiatives that understand how to communicate and target engagement with Australians relative to their situation and cater for specific circumstances can be the most effective at improving financial capability. Providing information or resources to people at a time when the information isn’t relevant or perceived to be needed makes it less likely to be engaged with. Initiatives that support individuals at the right time or a specific life event – such as when they are considering important financial decisions – are more likely to have a tangible effect on financial capability.

Innovative

The provision of information alone will not always be sufficient to build skills, attitudes, confidence, and to encourage positive financial behaviours. Innovative approaches can help foster new opportunities to better deliver established methods of building financial capability or can identify new or unutilised channels for building financial capability. Innovation in the delivery of financial capability initiatives can be supported by understanding trends in consumer behaviour, how consumers engage with public and private sector services, and how they engage in financial choices and decision making in their lives. For example, the increasing engagement of individuals with their finances through smartphones, access to information on demand, as well as the new opportunities arising from regulatory changes, such as the Consumer Data Right^[3], which can be used by individuals to better understand their overall personal financial situation and allow for more informed financial decision making, can all lead to building greater financial capability.

Measurable and shared

There is a wealth of experience in the financial capability community on how to build Australians’ financial capability. When organisations seek to measure the success of their initiatives and share their lessons learned this will facilitate more successful outcomes across the sector. This Strategy sets priority outcomes and is accompanied by a monitoring and evaluation framework for those delivering initiatives that can help to measure the success of their outcomes, as part of leading a collaborative effort to develop the evidence base on how to build financial capability.

Objectives

Setting clear and measurable outcomes enables efforts to be focused and progress to be measured. These focus areas represent the broad priority outcomes that the Strategy is aiming to encourage and are designed to be applicable for all individuals across different cohorts and life stages. Monitoring our progress towards these will provide an indication of where change is occurring and allow the identification of what types of change in capability are occurring across different cohorts. 

Financial Capability Component		Priority Outcomes: Financial Capability improves when Australians
1	Knowledge and Understanding
		1.1	Know when and where to get information/support
		1.2	Understand financial concepts, products and services
		1.3	Understand their own financial situation
2	Skills
		2.1	Can weigh up risk and opportunity when making decisions
		2.2	Are able to deal with a changing financial landscape
3	Confidence and Attitudes
		3.1	Are engaged with financial decisions
		3.2	Are motivated to achieve financial goals
		3.3	Are willing to seek help
		3.4	Feel more confident to manage money
4	Behaviours
Managing money day to day & planning for the future		4.1	Keep an eye on money going in and out
		4.2	Manage debt and credit use
		4.3	Set and work towards financial goals