38% of Latvian residents believe the year 2024 will be financially better than 2023, according to results of a survey by Luminor Bank.
The bank’s financial expert Jekaterina Ziniča lends advise how residents can improve their financial well-being.
In a survey held last year, more than one-third of Latvian residents said they expect the new year to be financially better to them than 2023 was. 9% of respondents completely agreed with this and 29% leaned towards agreeing with it. According to results of the survey, young people are optimistic the most about 2024 – half of Latvia’s residents aged 18 to 29 years expect their financial situation to improve this year.
37% of Latvian residents think the year won’t be financially better than 2023.
Pensioners are more pessimistic than other residents about this.
A quarter of residents said it is hard for them to predict their financial situation this year.
“We can see in results of our survey that youngsters are more optimistic about their finances than older people. This is understandable, because younger people are more economically active, their ability to work is at its peak. This is why they can be more optimistic about their financial well-being and income growth. Older people, on the other hand, have a difficult time finding ways to increase their income – especially when retired. But everyone has the opportunity to slightly improve their financial situation by following several simple principles of financial literacy,” says Luminor Bank Financial Expert Jekaterina Ziniča.
Her recommendations on improving financial well-being this year:
Start making and growing savings. Making savings is one of the cornerstones of financial well-being – open a deposit account to which you can later start transferring money from your wage or other income, as little as EUR 10 at a time. This will help generate a “security pillow” for emergencies. On top of that, there is the interest rate. The bigger this “pillow” the safer you will be when you face various emergencies. If you already have a habit of making savings, it is possible to review expenses and, potentially, find more money to divert towards savings.
Plan your budget. Even if a person survives from wage to wage, it is still recommended to plan the budget. Try writing down all expenses (even the smallest purchases) in some budget-planning app or a piece of paper or a computer. This will help keep track of spontaneous purchases and decide which purchases to reduce. It’s also recommended to plan the budget in advance: how much money to spend on mandatory purchases, food, transport, etc., and how much money to spend on entertainment and the like.
Review expenses and reduce where possible. It is recommended to review payment history using internet banking services. Perhaps residents may find some subscription service they no longer use or forgot to cancel. Or maybe residents could notice opportunities to reduce expenses – eat our less often, use public transport instead of private transport or go by foot, or even find a different and cheaper service provider.
Luminor Bank survey was performed in December 2023 in cooperation with Norstat agency. 1 000 Latvian residents aged 18 to 74 years were interviewed.
Also read: Average electricity price up by 20% in Latvia
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