Low

The 'low knowledge' group had a higher proportion of the following:

• Females
• 18-24 year old olds, 75-plus
• People with English as a second language
• Maori and Pacific people
• Not in paid employment
• Semi-skilled and occupations such as labourers or domestic workers
• Only primary or basic secondary school education
• Low household income - $20,000 or less
• Tenants, rather than homeowners
• Savings/investments less than $5000
• Negative net wealth or net wealth of less than $100,000
• Low ownership of financial products such as credit cards and insurance

Medium

This group is similar to the population of all respondents on most measures, except that there was a higher incidence of European ethnicity.

• Even split between male and female
• A quarter had secondary school without school certificate as their highest education level
• Just over a third had tertiary education, a quarter graduates
• Just over two thirds were in paid employment
• 15% had household incomes of $20,000 or less, 31% of $20,000 to $50,000, 32% $50,000 to $100,000 and 16% had incomes of more than $100,000
• Half said they were regular savers
• Half kept a fairly close eye on expenses without written records
• Slightly less likely to say they had no difficulties managing money than those in the low group but just as likely as those in low and high groups to suffer from impulse control

High

This group was significantly more likely than average to be:

• Males
• 40-45 years
• European
• Tertiary educated
• White collar
• Home-owners
• Household income $100,000 or more
• Savings/investments of $50,000 or more
• High net worth - $300,000 or more
• Higher ownership of financial products
• Many were regular savers and watched expenses

Advanced Investors 

Those who scored highly on the advanced knowledge questions were classified as advanced investors. They tended to be:

• Male
• 35-54 years
• University educated
• In professional or senior government jobs
• Household income $100,000 or more
• Savings/investments of $125,000 or more
• Net wealth $600,000 or more
• European
• Home-owners
• In households with no children or none at home

The survey has shown a strong correlation between financial knowledge and socio-economic status.

This table shows how a selection of key demographic groups are spread across the financial knowledge groups. For example, 40% of females are in the low knowledge group, 32% in the medium and 29% in the high.