FINANCIAL BEHAVIOR OF HOUSEHOLDS: NATURE AND FEATURES

Abstract

Introduction. Boosting the investment activity and research of households as an institutional unit is quite essential for qualitative socio-economic development and high economic growth paces in current conditions. The households, along with the state and real economy sector, are important participants of economic activity and play an essential role in securing the economic growth in the country. The purpose of the study is to outline the economic content of interpretation of households’ financial behavior and features of financial behavior of domestic households. Results. The paper examines the nature of the households’ financial behavior concept based on a generalization of scientific-theoretical approaches to its interpretation. The features of financial behavior of households are specified based on the process approach, including consumer behavior, saving behavior, investment behavior, and credit behavior through the determination of their revenues, expenditures, and borrowed funds. Moreover, the list of factors impacting the investment and saving behavior of households is defined. The paper substantiates the author’s definition of the households’ financial behavior. The major problems of forming the households’ financial behavior in Ukraine are revealed. Conclusions. When choosing the most relevant and optimal financial behavior, the households adapt to crises and unstable conditions. Yet, it is worth mentioning that the households sometimes fail to make the right decision due to the lack of financial knowledge or insufficient financial education or experience, and the complex nature of financial information. Since access to financial information is limited and requires material inputs, domestic households do not have enough knowledge and cannot independently analyze the processes related to the generation of investment and saving behavior to conduct investment activity on the financial market. Keywords: households, financial behavior, saving behavior of households, investment behavior, savings.