Sailing through setbacks - what makes personal financial resilience

Syed Shah; Elizabeth Sheedy; Robert E. Wood

doi:10.1111/acfi.70121

Sailing through setbacks - what makes personal financial resilience

Syed Shah, Elizabeth Sheedy^*, Robert E. Wood

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

22 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

We investigate financial adaptation by young adults (18 to 40 years old) during a recent cost-of-living crisis in a developed economy. Interview, financial, demographic and psychographic data are brought together to shed new light on personal financial resilience, or the capacity to adapt to financial shocks. The results of the reported study highlight the importance of operational
flexibility for financial resilience, e.g., willingness to utilise available financial resources and products, to change lifestyle and consumption patterns, to find new sources of income and to change or postpone goals. We also identify personal traits that appear to be associated with financial resilience, notably optimism. Policy implications and an agenda for further research are discussed.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	575-601
Number of pages	27
Journal	Accounting & Finance
Volume	66
Issue number	1
Early online date	10 Oct 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.70121
Publication status	Published - Mar 2026

Bibliographical note

© 2025 The Author(s). Accounting & Finance published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.

Keywords

cost-of-living crisis
financial resilience
household finance
operational flexibility

Access to Document

10.1111/acfi.70121Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Publisher version (open access)Final published version, 399 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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title = "Sailing through setbacks - what makes personal financial resilience",

abstract = "We investigate financial adaptation by young adults (18 to 40 years old) during a recent cost-of-living crisis in a developed economy. Interview, financial, demographic and psychographic data are brought together to shed new light on personal financial resilience, or the capacity to adapt to financial shocks. The results of the reported study highlight the importance of operational flexibility for financial resilience, e.g., willingness to utilise available financial resources and products, to change lifestyle and consumption patterns, to find new sources of income and to change or postpone goals. We also identify personal traits that appear to be associated with financial resilience, notably optimism. Policy implications and an agenda for further research are discussed.",

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note = "{\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s). Accounting \& Finance published by John Wiley \& Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.",

year = "2026",

month = mar,

doi = "10.1111/acfi.70121",

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Sailing through setbacks - what makes personal financial resilience

Abstract

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Keywords

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Financial Resilience: Today and Tomorrow

Sailing Through Setbacks: What Makes Financial Resilience

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Sailing through setbacks - what makes personal financial resilience

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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Other files and links

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Financial Resilience: Today and Tomorrow

Sailing Through Setbacks: What Makes Financial Resilience

Cite this