{"id":245574,"date":"2026-01-15T06:25:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T06:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/245574\/"},"modified":"2026-01-15T06:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T06:25:07","slug":"how-young-aussies-are-navigating-money-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/245574\/","title":{"rendered":"how young Aussies are navigating money in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The poll, run\u00a0by\u00a0The Daily Aus<\/a>\u00a0in partnership with CommBank Newsroom, shows housing was the\u00a0most commonly cited\u00a0savings priority. Travel and holidays followed closely behind, with other answers pointing to major life events,\u00a0cars\u00a0and day-to-day costs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The results\u00a0of the\u00a0poll\u00a0conducted on\u00a0Instagram\u00a0highlight\u00a0how many financial priorities young Australians are trying to manage in 2026, as they balance long-term goals with still wanting to enjoy life, at a time when cost-of-living pressures affect\u00a0nearly every\u00a0financial decision.\u00a0
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That pressure also shows\u00a0up\u00a0in separate research from\u00a0The Daily Aus, in\u00a0The Future According to Us<\/a>. This\u00a0report\u00a0found cost of living\u00a0to be\u00a0the single biggest concern for young Australians, ranking above every other issue they were asked about.\u00a0
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Aligning\u00a0with those findings,\u00a0separate\u00a0CommBank\u00a0research**\u00a0shows financial resilience is\u00a0front of mind\u00a0for many young Australians. Among CommBank customers aged 18\u201334, 69% say building an emergency fund is one of the most important savings goals,\u00a0reflecting a growing desire for buffers to manage rising living costs and unexpected expenses.<\/p>\n

Housing tops the list\u00a0<\/p>\n

In\u00a0The Daily Aus Instagram poll,\u00a0housing\u00a0came up more than any other topic,\u00a0accounting for\u00a0nearly half\u00a0of\u00a0all\u00a0responses.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many said they are saving for a house or apartment deposit, working towards buying their first home or managing the cost of an existing mortgage. Others pointed to rent, moving out of home or\u00a0relocating\u00a0interstate.<\/p>\n

For people who already own a place, saving was less about getting in and more about staying on top of ongoing costs. Offset accounts, mortgage repayments and renovations,\u00a0including kitchen and bathroom upgrades,\u00a0all featured.<\/p>\n

The poll suggests housing\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0a one-off goal.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a constant financial focus, no matter where people sit on the renting-to-owning\u00a0spectrum.<\/p>\n

Travel is a close second<\/p>\n

Very close\u00a0behind after housing, travel and holidays were the next most\u00a0mentioned\u00a0savings goal.<\/p>\n

Responses included\u00a0overseas trips, gap years and long-delayed holidays, with destinations like Europe, Japan and South-East Asia coming up\u00a0again and again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CommBank economist Harry Ottley said the poll reflects the ongoing pull of both stability and experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cTravel is still a rite of passage, and the dream of owning a home is still there but housing has become far more expensive relative to income, which means it now dominates how young Australians think about saving,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Life milestones also feature<\/p>\n

Savings tied to major life moments\u00a0was\u00a0another strong theme.<\/p>\n

Weddings, having kids and parental leave were all mentioned, with around a quarter of people who took part pointing to upcoming life milestones shaping how they think about money in 2026.<\/p>\n

While fewer people in the poll mentioned retirement or superannuation, broader research suggests long-term aspirations\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0disappeared. The Future According to Us report found\u00a0the vast majority of\u00a0young Australians still expect or intend to have children, even as financial pressure pushes those milestones later in life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cars,\u00a0debt\u00a0and everyday costs<\/p>\n

Beyond housing, travel and life events,\u00a0some\u00a0people pointed to more\u00a0immediate financial pressures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Saving for a car, managing car\u00a0loans\u00a0and covering petrol costs all featured. Others said their focus was on paying down debt, or simply keeping up with groceries, rent and bills.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some people said they\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0saving at all, instead directing what money they had towards covering day-to-day expenses.\u00a0Others said\u00a0their\u00a0focus was on creating a small emergency buffer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A snapshot of priorities in 2026<\/p>\n

Overall, the poll\u00a0and supporting research\u00a0offer a snapshot of how young Australians are thinking about money in 2026.<\/p>\n

Young Australians are navigating a packed financial landscape where long-term plans, life milestones and day-to-day costs all collide.<\/p>\n

Young Aussies turn to digital tools to stay on top of\u00a0their\u00a0money<\/p>\n

As\u00a0young Australians work toward goals like an emergency buffer, a first home or a major trip, CommBank data shows many\u00a0use\u00a0digital tools\u00a0that\u00a0help manage their money, with usage\u00a0of features such as Money Plan, Cash Flow, Goal Tracker, Category Budgets, Bill Sense and Smart Savings\u00a0continuing to grow.<\/p>\n

It\u00a0points to\u00a0how people are looking for practical ways to manage their money, and that growing\u00a0value of\u00a0digital tools is reflected in how widely\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0being used.\u00a0More than nine million customers\u00a0are\u00a0using\u00a0the CommBank app regularly and over 3.4 million\u00a0are\u00a0engaging with CommBank money management tools each month.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among young adults,\u00a0that\u00a0engagement is even stronger.\u00a0Cash Flow is especially popular among\u00a018-25\u00a0year\u00a0olds, helping them break down their spending\u00a0into categories\u00a0and\u00a0better\u00a0understand their habits. Bill Sense and Cash Flow now support around 1.6 million and 1.97 million customers each month, highlighting\u00a0just how much customers are\u00a0embracing\u00a0CommBank money management tools\u00a0as part of their\u00a0financial lives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

*Results are based on\u00a0between 210 and 230\u00a0responses to an Instagram Stories poll conducted by The Daily Aus.<\/p>\n

**CommBank\u00a0and Mastercard\u00a0Everyday Transaction Banking Research\u00a02025\u00a0(insights from\u00a0275 CommBank\u00a0customers)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The poll, run\u00a0by\u00a0The Daily Aus\u00a0in partnership with CommBank Newsroom, shows housing was the\u00a0most commonly cited\u00a0savings priority. Travel and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,113,176,61,13390,60,174,175],"class_list":{"0":"post-245574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-insights","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}