Helping young stay in the black

George Frazis. Photo / Dean Purcell

A new centre plans to track 300 young people over the next 20 years in an initiative that hopes to understand and improve the financial habits of New Zealanders.

The study will follow a group of 18- to 20-year-olds and survey them every five years to learn what information they need when deciding what to do with their money.

The research will be undertaken by Massey University's personal financial education centre, which was launched in Wellington on Thursday.

The centre is a joint venture with Westpac and will be based at the university's Albany campus.

It aims to help New Zealanders make better decisions by spreading rudimentary financial information, says Massey University's vice-chancellor Steve Maharey.

"It's about giving people the day-to-day knowledge they need to have to operate in a world where you need to sort yourself out financially from a young age," he said.

Westpac chief executive George Frazis says the initiatives are essential to the country's benefit, as many New Zealanders still do not know the basics of saving and spending.

"[The skills needed] are the basics of understanding how you budget what you're going to spend one paycheck to the next," he said.

The ventures were also about making sure the country's ageing population could support itself, as in 20-30 years there would be fewer workers than retirees, he said.

Finance Minister Bill English said improving knowledge of these sorts of issues would help contribute to a healthier economy.