Ernst van financiële problemen

Abstract Severity of financial problems: The role of financial knowledge and competences, financial behaviour, financial self-efficacy and motivation of ‘Thuisadministratie’ clientsIn this study we examine if and how self-evaluated financial knowledge and competences, financial behaviour, financial self-efficacy, and motivation are associated with the severity of financial problems of clients in ‘financial self-management projects’ (Dutch: Thuisadministratie). These projects involve support provided by volunteers. Our data included 249 respondents who filled out a questionnaire at the start of the support. The results indicate that particularly unhealthy financial behaviour and lower levels of financial self-efficacy relate to more serious financial problems. Volunteers support people with serious financial problems in getting access to formal debt counselling. Besides this, volunteers should not only focus on improving financial knowledge and competences, but also on contributing to higher levels of financial self-efficacy and healthier financial behaviour of their clients.