Financial wellbeing cares more about thoughtful spending and not salary

Three key findings

• Deliberate spending was the top choice, ahead of salary, when asked about top three things influencing financial well-being.

• Savings, investing, and budgeting all ranked high.

• Financial literacy mattered less than everyday money habits.

A lot of stress, that is caused by money, starts in ordinary moments. Standing in a supermarket after work. Ordering something online late in the evening. Renewing a subscription because checking it feels annoying. None of these decisions looks serious on its own. Together, they shape whether the month feels manageable or tense.

That came through clearly in our questionnaire with 152 respondents. People were asked to choose up to three factors that affect their financial wellbeing the most. The most selected answer was deliberate purchasing behavior at 50%. After that came higher salary at 41.4%, savings at 40.1%, ability to invest at 38.2%, and budgeting at 34.9%. The general economic situation also ranked high at 31.6%.

There is a useful signal in that pattern. People do care about income. They also care about what happens after the money arrives. The top answers sit close to daily behavior: how purchases are made, whether money is set aside, whether there is enough structure to plan ahead, and whether there is room to make longer-term decisions like investing.

This also helps explain why financial literacy alone does not solve much. In the questionnaire, financial literacy was selected by 15.8%. That does not mean knowledge is unimportant. It means many people already understand the basics and still struggle in the moment when a decision needs to be made. The gap is often between intention and action. People know they should save, but still postpone it. They know they should think before buying, but still click through the purchasing pages quickly when tired or distracted.

That is where generic nudges lose force. A reminder, a prompt, or a budgeting tip can be useful, but only in a limited way. The same message will not work equally well for someone who spends impulsively, someone who avoids looking at their account, and someone who wants to save but keeps delaying the setup.

IRIS-X is useful here because it starts earlier. It first builds an understanding of the individual by looking at factors such as existing saving behavior, future orientation, impulsivity, and decision patterns. From there, it can tailor support to the barrier that is actually present. It does not rely on generic reminders or one-size-fits-all nudges. It works from the way the person already makes decisions.

Better behavioral design needs to meet people there.

Source: “Relationships between financial behavior and internal and external factors”, Claricy OÜ