The Financial Practices, Financial Well-Being and Health of Filipino Cooperative Members

Abstract

To achieve good and competent financial well-being and health, one must set his financial goals, keeps the money for future emergencies, spends smart and with control, manages well his debts, and diversifies his assets. The study aimed to determine the financial practices andfinancial well-being and health of the Southern Luzon State University (SLSU) Development Cooperative members. The descriptive-correlational research design was applied. The statistical tool used in the study was Chi-square to test the significant relationship between financial practices and financial well-being and health. Structured questionnaires by Wong (2013) and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2015) were used as the main instrument in gathering data. The study revealed that among the 144 respondents, the majority are 55 to 64 years old married female earning P15,780 to P31,560 per month. The weighted mean of money, savings, expenditures, liabilities/debt, and investment management practices were 3.947, 3.634, 3.987, 4.244 and 3.294, respectively. The results indicated that they have competent financial practices as well as competent financial well-being and health. Moreover, there is a highly significant relationship between financial practices and financial well-being and health (0.01<0.05 level of significance). The major problem of the respondents revealed to be a financial problem. Specifically, having no spending limit and savings plan, and debt financing. Thus, it is recommended that the respondents should have a smart financial plan and work on it, in the long run, to live financially healthy. “Steps to Competent Financial Well-Being and Health”, “How to Prevent Financial Problem”, and “How to Improve Personal Behavior” were proposed to address the problems experienced by the respondents relative to financial practices.