BOQ Money Matters Survey Reveals Relationships Provide the Best Return on Investment

Wednesday, 26/06/2013

According to a national BOQ survey announced today Australians don’t mind spending their money on ‘lifestyle loves’, with people spending an average of $960 per month on non-essential items. 

The BOQ Money Matters Survey revealed 66% of Australians went out with friends in the past three months and spent an average of $110 per month, and 15% went out on dates spending an average of $128 per month, with these personal relationships being two of the highest spends behind household furnishings and decorations ($142). 

Spending money on personal relationships also had the highest ‘feel-good’ return on investment out of all lifestyle-related expenses, with those who went out with their friends giving a 7.9 out of 10 satisfaction score for the money they spent and those who spent money on dating giving a 7.7 out of 10 spend satisfaction. 

Other non-essentials or ‘lifestyle loves’ people loved spending their money on included clothes, gym memberships, pets, household furnishings, electrical gadgets and personal grooming. 

Interestingly, the interviewed Australians who have pets spent money on their pet in the past three months (44%) invested more than those who spent money on personal grooming (64%), with pets costing an average of $888 per year and $720 spent annually on personal grooming. 

The $960 Australians spend on ‘lifestyle loves’ every month is not far behind the average amount of money spent on rent per month ($1235) and mortgage repayments ($1800). 

Earlier this month BOQ launched their new branding campaign that challenges financial industry norms, employing the tagline “It’s possible to love a bank’”. 

The BOQ Money Matters Survey Key Findings:  

  • Australians spend an average of $960 per month on lifestyle expenses.
  • In the past month Australians spend money on lifestyle expenses that included:
    • Household furnishings and decorations ($142)
    • Dating / going on a date ($128)
    • Electrical Gadgets ($112)
    • Going out with friends ($110)
    • Clothes and shoes ($89)
    • Entertainment outside of the such as movies or concerts ($76)
    • Pet and animal expenses ($74)
    • Fitness / Gym / Sports ($72)
    • Take-away meals ($71)
    • Personal grooming including hair dressing ($60)
    • Magazines, books, newspapers ($27)
  • When it comes to how positively Australians feel about their lifestyle expenses they rated (0 = negative / 10 = positive)
    • Going out with friends 7.85
    • Dating  / going out on a date 7.7
    • Fitness / gym membership / Sports equipment 7.5
    • Pets / Animals expenses 7.5
    • Outside the home entertainment such as movies or concerts 7.5
    • Personal grooming (including hair dresser / barber / cosmetics) 7.2
    • Magazines, books & newspapers 7
    • Clothing and shoes 7
    • Household furnishings and decorations 6.8
    • Electrical gadgets / audio visuals 6.8
    • Take-away meals 6.2 

* The BOQ Money Matters Survey was commissioned by BOQ and conducted by D&M research in June 2013. 1024 respondents took part in the survey resulting in a +-error rate of 5.5 at a 95% confidence level. The sample was randomly selected from the Research Now Permission Panel of over 170,000 panellists.
A boost was conducted among Bank of Queensland Customers (n=34 BoQ as Main Financial Institution)