A study on examining the personal finance attitudes behaviours and knowledge level among private and public sector bank employees in Coimbatore city

Abstract

Personal Finance is a global concern. Complicated financial products, low level of awareness and lack of knowledge about financial matters makes the want of personal finance significant. Personal finance is very important and everyone should take the way regardless of their education, their career, their life style, and their ages. A comprehensive personal financial arrangement makes people mindful when managing financial issues and acts as a guide when settling on financial decisions, underlying the consequences of those decisions on other financial areas. In near future a legitimate financial planning has required to put cash in a wide range of monetary items for each investor because there is great potential in market to contribute money to accomplish their goals. The importance of personal finance in banking industry has great significance. A single minded focus on financial knowledge would result in better financial decision making in terms of financial products and economically better retirement life. Several researchers have developed the framework on the financial knowledge, attitude and behaviour but have not considered how it influences the financial decision making. Bank Employees, with high level of financial knowledge are likely to build a strong relationship with customers by recommending the right financial plans and products. Besides, the influence of personal financial management tools has not been studied earlier. Financial management tools play a key role in influencing the performance of employees, especially in the banking industry. In addition to financial knowledge, attitude and behavior, an attempt has been made to study the influence of awareness on financial management tools on financial decision making in the present research. iv Financial Knowledge alludes to the understanding one has of imperative personal finance ideas, such as planning and sparing. Financial attitudes implies to one's convictions and qualities identified with various personal finance concepts, such as whether one believes it is important to save money. The study endeavours to comprehend the financial behaviour of the respondents as reflected in the way they manage cash in their everyday lives. It is likely that the distinctive dimensions of the personal finance could be identified with each other. These connections are analyzed to acquire bits of knowledge about how the different aspects of personal finance impact each other. Banking Industry is selected for the study because of the importance and benefits of financial knowledge, attitude and behaviour in financial decision making. The present study is descriptive in nature and attempt to understand the relationship between financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behaviour on financial decision making of the bank employees. The research concentrates on personal finance attitudes, behaviours and knowledge level among private and public sector bank employees in Coimbatore city and to examine how well-equipped they are to make financial decisions. The study was conducted during 2016-2018 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Coimbatore, being a metropolitan city situated in the southern territory of Tamilnadu is the home of various multinational financial organizations and nationalized banks. Data was collected from bank employees of private and public sectors. A total sample of 280 employees from private sectors and 280 employees from public sectors were covered in the study. It was found that financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behaviour have significant influence on the financial decision making of the bank employees. The study also proves that awareness on v financial management tools places an influencing role on the financial decision making of the bank employees. Further, the study explores impact of financial knowledge on financial attitude and financial behaviour of the employees. The study recommends the best financial knowledge, financial attitude and financial behaviour practices to be followed for better financial decision making. Key words: Financial Knowledge, Financial Attitude, Financial Behaviour, Financial Decision Making, Bank Employees, Coimbatore City.