UK Hindus best at money matters

LONDON: Hindus are the best managers of their personal finances and are closely followed by Sikhs says an official government study looking into the financial capabilities of households in Britain.

The largest ever survey of consumer attitudes to money in Britain threw up the unexpected results and puzzled researchers.

The study was carried out by Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol on behalf of the Financial Services Authority, a government body, which was looking predominantly at age and type of households i.e. single parent, two-parent etc. and how they dealt with their finances.

However the small print on those quizzed generated a wealth of fascinating information including that Hindus were far above average at managing their money.  A sample 6,000 people were surveyed from all walks of life and communities throughout Britain and special weighting was given to representation from the ethnic minorities equal to their numbers in society.

The results showed that among Britain’s religious groups Hindus were the best at “making ends meet”, followed very closely by Sikhs, and they were far better than others at managing their money were. Muslims were also better than average and practising Christians were just above average. The poorest at managing their money were non-religious groups particularly those between the ages of 18-40.

The FSA developed a well-defined scoring system for the questionnaire and looked into issues like how good households were at keeping track of their finances, predicting future expenses and attitudes towards the use of credit and spending habits. The survey looked at which households planned ahead, how they chose financial products and their attitudes to financial risks. Cluster analysis were carried out taking into account the fact that some households were of extended families in many South Asian communities, and so the finances were managed by one or two persons for the whole family.

The survey did not break up the faith groups into communities, but Gujaratis and Punjabis are the largest Hindu groups living in Britain.

“My family emphasised that you paid cash and did not borrow – except for the mortgage. I have to be a good money manager for both my business and my two children,: said Rita Patel, who came to Britain 30 years ago. She now owns a newsagent shop and lives in Harrow in northwest London that is home to the UK’s largest Hindu community.  The results reflect the Hindu mentality of being ‘savvy’ with money she said. “I was brought up to save and not waste,” said Patel.

While some believe that Hinduism stresses increasing the family’s wealth is a duty and a blessing from Goddess Lakshmi others argued that Hindus were generally brought up to work hard and not splash out.