Research Article

INDIVIDUAL MANAGEMENT OF THE FINANCIAL RESOURCES (THE CASE OF NORTH MACEDONIA)

ABSTRACT

People behave financially in a different manner. Some people like to behave as risk lovers and to “live for today” by spending money today rather than saving or investing it. Others are risk averse. Save or invest in financial assets and think more about the future. With the ongoing process of worldwide digitalization (continued development of peer-to-peer technologies: cryptocurrency, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs)) new financial services and payment methods are available and offered to companies and households. The world is becoming a more complex place to live, offering a lot of different financial opportunities. Decisions that people make regarding their money ultimately affect their financial well-being, as well as the well-being of the whole society. Therefore, it is crucial to assess the financial literacy of the people consisting of financial behavior, financial attitude, and financial knowledge. The study analyzes the financial behavior of individuals in North Macedonia through five financial behavior concepts. It examines people’s financial behavior and finds out whether gender, age, occupation, and monthly income have an impact on different financial behavior. Both secondary and primary data are used. The primary data are gathered through a self-administered questionnaire method, consisting of closed-ended questions and JASP (a statistical software). The findings ascertain that in general, respondents exhibited lower-than-average financial behavior. Results show differences in terms of gender, age, occupation, and monthly income.

Keywords

financial literacy financial behavior households income