Beyond Money: Exploring Financial Well-Being through a Human Lens
Multiple research strands have unearthed valuable insights into the experiences of people across seven European countries.
The findings of this research fundamentally change the end goal for any organisation seeking to improve financial wellbeing.
Professor Adele Atkinson has recently come to the end of a three-year collaboration on a project led by Leonore Riitsalu of the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies at the University of Tartu, in collaboration with Rauno Pello, Estonian Business School, and supported by ERSTE Foundation.
Multiple research strands have unearthed valuable insights into the experiences of people across seven European countries and identified evidence-based strategies to enhance individuals' and societies' financial well-being, applicable across sectors and countries. The project shone a light on human experience of financial well-being, leading to the conclusion that people conceive of financial well-being as a combination of security, freedom, and pleasure in life.
Qualitative research illustrated how people naturally discuss freedom and pleasure as aspects of financial wellbeing that are different from each other and from security, and that the relative importance of these three components varies across individuals. Furthermore, the analysis indicated that some people are apprehensive about changing their level of financial well-being.
Adding to these insights, quantitative analysis showed that assets are essential for financial well-being but that liabilities do not always lower people’s assessment. However, strong gender differences persist across almost all levels of assets and liabilities, with women consistently assessing their security, freedom and pleasure to be lower than men in the same financial situation. Analysis of word associations also indicates that financial concepts are tied closely to a broad tension between self-reliance and the role of institutions.
The findings fundamentally change the end goal for any organisation seeking to improve financial wellbeing. The research shows that people need to time to think about the triad when setting goals or making decisions and may need encouragement to see the benefits of working on their financial well-being. Up to now stakeholders have assumed that a focus on financial security was sufficient, but this clearly isn’t the case.
Building on this improved understanding from the human perspective, the project outputs included the development of a unique, scientifically informed and freely available tool to help people to assess their own financial well-being and better understand the potential factors that influence it: Financial Well-Being | Make the connection between life & money.
The findings have been published in a non-technical book which was formally launched at an event in Vienna in May 2025, and further academic insights were presented at the IAREP event in June.