A Study on Financial Literacy among Self Employed Women of Guwahati City of Assam

Abstract

newlineABSTRACT newlineTitle of the thesis newlineA Study on Financial Literacy among Self-Employed Women of Guwahati City of Assam newlineFinancial education is considered as one of the key components for financial well-being and financial stability of an individual. Financial literacy helps to realize and apply the various skills of finance including savings, budgeting, investing and personal finance adequately. Therefore people need opportunity to acquire financial literacy. Technically, financial literacy is a set of an individual s traits and abilities that empowers an individual financially and enables one to make informed financial decisions. This in turn exerts positive impact on the family and society. To measure the financial literacy of an individual three dimensions are considered and these include financial knowledge, financial behaviour and financial attitude of an individual. In order to collect international comparable data on financial literacy, OECD/INFE has developed a survey instrument in the form of core questionnaire. In order to collect data from the people belonging to different parts of the world, the questionnaire can be used (Atkinson and Messy, 2012). (Redmond et al 2011) mentioned that self-employed women should understand financial matters better. They mentioned that if the self-employed women are given financial literacy training, it will help them to increase their knowledge and act on that information. Women who work for themselves have a great chance to increase their financial literacy. Financial education will help the self-employed women to shape their business in a better way. It is recommended that Government and institutions in the financial sector should work together to create an environment for the self-employed women so that they educate themselves in financial matters and ensure a better financial future for them and ultimately the country. newlineThe present study was carried out among the self-employed women of Guwahati city. The study was conducted with an objective to measure the level of financial literacy among the self-employed women of Guwahati city and the influence of socio-demographic variables on the financial literacy and business performance of the self-employed women. The present study also evaluated the relationship between the dimensions of financial literacy and business performance of the self-employed women. newlineThe study found that level of financial literacy among the self-employed women is not high. Hence there is a need of improving the financial literacy among the people. The findings of the study suggest that high financial knowledge is not spread among the self-employed women, even though they have score high financial behaviour and financial attitude. As such people should concentrate on the concepts required for financial knowledge. The study also depicted that the respondents financial literacy is influenced by a number of factors. It was found that those who are younger, single and less educated have lower level of financial literacy. A low level of financial literacy was also found among self-employed women with low income, less experience and non-business family background. The study also concluded that respondents business skills have improved with income and experience. Higher income has helped them to improve their business performance. As they gain more knowledge about their business through experience, their performance improved. Respondents having business as a family background was an advantage to the self-employed people. They knew many things related to business which helps them to improve their performance. From the present study one could assert that behaviour of an individual relating to financial matters is much important. A person might have much knowledge on the financial concepts but their negative behaviour and attitude towards financial matters will affect their business performance. newlineThis study will make the people aware of the need and importance of financial literacy which helps them to attend a stable life in terms of financial matters. This study might help the government to upgrade their fund schemes and initiate more steps towards promoting financial literacy among people. Additionally this study will support financial institutions and bank s initiatives. The initiatives which banks can undertake for the improvement of society at large are increasing financial education programs, opening bank account etc. This study will give educators and educational institutions the opportunity to develop courses on finance in order for the students to learn the fundamentals of money management and be prepared for old age and retirement. Numerous women will benefit from this study s information on self- employment and starting their own businesses. The women who are running their own business will be aware of the requirement of literacy in financial matters and also its importance in performance of their business.