Financial capability research in Australia

Abstract

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) requested that RMIT University provide them with a snapshot of the Australian research landscape relating to financial wellbeing and financial capabilities. This report reveals the topics where the research has concentrated, the knowledge gaps, challenges and where the research opportunities lie. This report includes research published between 2015 and 2019. We found that papers were concentrated around seven topics: financial wellbeing, financial vulnerability and resilience, financial capabilities, financial decision-making, retirement and superannuation, financial education, and financial wellbeing in vulnerable population groups (women, older people, younger people, CALD communities, Indigenous Australians, and people with disability). The strengths of the Australian research are: • it is multi-disciplinary reflecting the multi-faceted views of money in our society • there are several strong collaborative research teams • there is a significant body of work on superannuation and retirement related topics • national databases have been accessed to facilitate a large volume of research output relating to superannuation, retirement and financial literacy.