Australians are embracing clean eating and upping their step counts to improve their physical health, but a new study shows many should focus on boosting their financial health too. The recently released Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Melbourne Institute Financial Wellbeing Scales found just a third of Australians have high financial wellbeing.

A quarter of respondents said they struggle managing their money. The same amount of Aussies say their poor money management negatively impacts their enjoyment of life. A troubling 37 percent of Australians said they wouldn’t have the necessary funds to handle an unexpected expense. Twenty-nine percent said they never or rarely have any money left over at the end of each month. That’s also the same amount of Australians who feel their finances often or always control their lives.

9Finance editor Ross Greenwood told Nine’s morning program, Today, that he worries about the impact poor financial management has on Australians and their families.

“If you’ve got a situation where people are just not happy, that mental health comes into this, that’s a very significant issue,” he explained. “We’ve always known that people who don’t have control of their finances, other problems happen in their lives. Marriages bust up, there can be substance abuse. So really it is about that control.”

He also said the research showed high incomes were no guarantee of financial success.

“It’s not how much money you’ve got or how much you earn, it’s the way you manage it that determines if you’re happy or not,” he noted. “What they’ve shown is that people … who earn lower incomes but who manage their finances better, have got a budget, feel like they’re saving money, feel like they’re going forward, are actually doing better than people who feel like they’re out of control with their finances even though they might earn even more money.”

Here at Chase Edwards, we believe money shouldn’t control your life; you should. That’s why we offer free, no obligation financial health checks to all Australians. Call us on 1300 854 833 to organise your financial check-up and get on the path to better financial wellbeing today.