In recent years, Brazilians have experienced the appreciation of the national minimum wage and the increase in the average annual income of the working class of the population. In an article published in InfoMoney (2011), the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics shows that the purchasing power of Brazilians increased by 19% between 2003 and 2010. This increase in monthly income allowed citizens to include new objects of desire among items on your consumption list.
For Zocolaro (2013), the new purchasing power has redefined what was previously considered middle class, and along with this adequacy of the economic class profile, the consumption behavior of this class was redefined. Consumers who previously could not afford luxury brands and products can now add them to their spending list.
The market responded to the change in the purchasing behavior of the middle class and expanded the offer of credit and other services for the new consumer. In turn, the State, with the intention of stimulating the economy and reducing social inequality, also created credit and financing programs to provide access to goods that were previously easily obtained only by the segment of society with lower incomes. greater purchasing power.
Dutra (2008) shows us that the result of the offer of credit values made by the media reached an effective increase of 27.9% in 2008 when compared to the values lent in the same period of the previous year. This new purchasing power, which is stimulated by increased income and the offer of easy credit products, combined with irresponsible consumption are some of the reasons that cause indebtedness. In an article published by Agência Brasil, IBGE points out that 27.9% of Brazilian families have large or high debts and the other 71.7% of families have small debts that could be paid off that month.
The relationship that the young Brazilian public establishes with consumption
According to a statement by financial therapist and President of DSOP Reinaldo Domingos, young Brazilians establish an irresponsible relationship with their financial resources. The default rate among young people is a consequence of three reasons cited by the financial educator: a) lack of awareness about their finances to not spend more than what is received, b) the great stimulus to consumption created by advertising campaigns and, c ) the great offer of easy credit.
Gorczeski (2011) complements Domingos’ statements, also citing two factors that stimulate the act of consumption among young people. For the author, the need to make up for the lack of contact with parents and, also, shopping facilitated by the internet are the two great stimuli that young people needed to buy irresponsibly.
Going against the thoughts of Domingos and Gorczeski (2011), Cerbasi (2013) illustrates his statements about reckless consumption using an emotional situation as an example. According to the consultant, when the human being is in moments of low satisfaction, such as lack or sadness, he is also prone to surrender to the temptations of marketing and buy to supply other lacks. The more financially immature the individual is, the easier it will be for him to consume without control.
Data from the Instituto de Economia Gastão Vidigal (2010, apud Gorczeski, 2011) show us that 41% of young people in São Paulo aged between 21 and 30 years old are in default with their debts, and of these, about 60% said they did not have the means to pay off their debts. debts within a month.
Deficiencies in financial management among young people
In a focus group carried out with four participants, young people, aged between 21 and 29, workers and with a monthly income of more than R$ 2,000.00, situations of unplanned consumption were discussed, which tested their discipline and their commitment to managing its financial resources.
All focus group participants claimed to have consumption desires, intimately named by the participants themselves as “dreams and goals”. When asked what the accumulated amount (amount) they had to purchase the product they wanted, one of the members stated that he had an “insignificant” value saved, an amount that did not reach 10% of the price of the desired good. The other participants stated that they did not have any amount exclusively destined to the achievement of the consumption objective.
When talking about the reason that prevents them from starting to reserve the value to achieve their intentions, all the participants claimed that the value of their monthly income was not enough to gather the amount that would provide the realization of their dream.
In contradiction to the problem that was raised by the four guests of the focus group, Cerbasi (2011) states that when one intends to conquer a dream, the reserve of resources destined to the consumption objective must be prioritized. For the author, the mistake in the behavior of most people is to think about investing in their ideals of success only with the financial resources that are left over from monthly expenses, and the correct thing is to reserve the value of commitment to their life goal and , only then, distribute the surplus of income among your expenses, if necessary, adapting them to the amount that remains.
For Macedo Junior (2007) financial planning will serve as a guide and orientation in the individual’s financial life, with it it will be possible to identify what are the necessary steps to obtain the pre-defined success, regardless of what that success is.
When focus group participants were asked which costs do not have a high priority in their lives, they cited entertainment-related costs as superfluous expenses. In a third moment, at the end of the meeting, the four participants stated that, in fact, the values of all areas can suffer a reduction in expenses and not only those of the entertainment area.
Through the analysis of the reports on consumption behavior presented by the participants, and also, on the considerations regarding financial management presented by Cerbasi (2011) and by Macedo Junior (2007), it was noted that there is a need to stimulate control finance among young people. This stimulus must come from the young people’s awareness of their consumption profile, their consumption needs and their desires, so that later it is possible to build a financial management plan based on these objectives.