Yahoo Finance Almost half of Aussies run out of money before payday: ‘Disturbing’
The cost of living has increased the prices of nearly every essential, leaving millions of Aussies out to dry before payday.
New research from Finder found nearly one in two (43 per cent) of Aussies were running out of money before they received their next pay.
Of those, the nationally representative survey of 1,054 Aussies found one in six - around 3.2 million people - completely ran out of money before each payday.
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And almost one in three (28 per cent) Australians were running out of money occasionally before pay day.
Shockingly, women (55 per cent) were almost twice as likely as men (32 per cent) to run out of money between pay cheques.
Where is the money going?
Three quarters of workers (76 per cent) said the cost of living was too high - impacting their ability to make ends meet.
Almost one in five said they spent too much money at the beginning of the month, meaning they couldn’t stretch the rest all the way to payday. While 5 per cent admitted they were just a poor money manager.
Finder money expert Rebecca Pike said soaring prices were straining households across the country.
“Millions of Australians regularly run out of money as it becomes harder to afford necessary expenses,” Pike said.
“Many haven’t got any savings to fall back on, which is particularly problematic for low- to middle-income workers.”
Pike said Aussies were having to devote a bigger share of their budgets to staples like food and energy.
“A disturbing number of Australians are living pay cheque to pay cheque - with many barely scraping by,” she said.
“Between what they earn and what they spend, there’s nothing left over at the end of the month.”
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