Personal Finance
Research
True Potential PUFin’s research, like our personal finance modules, focuses on real-world personal finance issues that affect people in their everyday lives.
The UK’s low level of personal saving has been the subject of a great deal of research and debate – and a great many bad news headlines. There are various reasons why we don’t ‘do the right thing’ when it comes to saving and investing, which mean we end up under-saving, over-borrowing, and making poor investment decisions. Behavioural economics shows that a big part of the underlying problem is how we think and feel about saving and investing – and how firms respond to our attitudes and behaviours. The problem is well-understood and well-evidenced – but we know much less about what actually works to improve consumer outcomes in saving and investing. As a result, the UK remains poorly prepared for unexpected events and for retirement.
The research themes adopted by the Centre can be summarised as follows:
- The role of financial education in financial capability
- Explaining the world of finance
- Comparing personal finance issues across time and across borders
- Personal finance in a socio-economic context.
Please see our Working Papers, our Green Papers and White Papers under Resources & Events.
Current research projects include:
- Understanding the impact of financial education on the Just About Managing, funded by Money Advice Service (Will Brambley)
- Evaluating the impact of targeted financial education on young adults, funded by the Chartered Accountants Livery Company (Martin Upton)
- The role of FinTech in personal finance (Jonquil Lowe)
- The evolution of diversification as a risk management tool from the 19th century to the present day (Janette Rutterford)
Note, the video is from the True Potential PUFin Annual Conference 2015 and features former Centre Chair, Professor Sharon Collard.
People
Learn more about the people involved in this research centre.
©9999.