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The purpose of this paper is to study how subjective and objective knowledge of finance, behaviour in managing personal finances and socio-economic status affect financial well-being.

The financial well-being score is constructed in quantitative financial literacy survey data from Estonia as the arithmetic mean of four statements on a five-point scale. Four hypotheses are tested in multiple regression analysis.

Subjective knowledge has a stronger relation with financial well-being than objective knowledge. Financial behaviour score and income level correlate with financial well-being.

The paper contributes to literature on financial literacy, subjective financial knowledge and financial well-being. In future research, psychological factors and future orientated financial well-being should be included, and their relationship to subjective well-being could be analysed further.

The results highlight the importance of subjective knowledge and sound behaviour for improving financial well-being. Providers of financial services should address these more in the design of their services and communication.

Policymakers developing national strategies for financial education need to address subjective financial knowledge for increasing financial well-being in society.

Knowledge, behaviour and subjective knowledge have not been used simultaneously in the analysis of financial well-being in Europe before.

Financial well-being has gained increased attention in research, policy and the financial sector. The authors contribute to this emerging field by drawing attention to the bottlenecks in financial well-being research and proposing ways for transforming and advancing it.

The authors conducted a semi-systematic review of the latest 120 financial well-being studies from both academic and grey literature and analyse the current issues in defining, conceptualising and measuring it.

The authors identify the need for a more human-centred approach across content and methodology, conceptualisation and operationalisation, research and practice, that focusses on how individuals experience, interpret and assess financial well-being. The authors highlight the lack of evidence-based interventions for improving financial well-being.

The authors propose applying design science approach for redefining the problems that individuals need help in solving and for developing and testing interventions that improve financial well-being and are in line with individuals’ needs and aspirations. The authors also call for international qualitative research into the human perspective of financial well-being.

Financial well-being has a significant role in mental health and well-being; therefore, it affects the lives of individuals and societies far beyond financial affairs. Change of perspective can lead to evidence-based interventions that better the lives of many, reduce inequality and develop more balanced communities.

The authors argue that the human dimension has been assumed in financial well-being research, practice and police, rather than confirmed, based on flawed assumptions that what people experience is already known.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-11-2022-0741

This study aims to investigate which messaging strategies employed in personalised newsletters could be used for improving the propensity of individuals to save or invest and secure their financial well-being.

The authors conducted a field experiment with 4,782 clients at an Estonian retail bank. For three months (after measuring baseline levels for a month), the participants received personalised monthly newsletters with either a praising or a scolding message based on comparing their recent investment decisions to their past decisions.

Their results suggest that newsletters could serve as an encouragement for those who already invest significant amounts each month and a reminder for those who have stopped regular investing for a month. The newsletters robustly increased investments in securities accounts for these groups.

The authors contribute to the marketing literature by examining praise and scolding messaging strategies within the same channel and company, focussing on the individual's past behaviour. They raise several hypotheses to be tested in future randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

The authors’ results show the importance of investor behaviour analysis as the effectiveness of the newsletter intervention largely depended on the type of customer it was served to. This highlights the importance of personalisation.

The results show that a given message tends to influence only specific groups of investors. Identifying these groups is valuable information for messaging strategies.

Consumer culture is promoting immediate gratification, and the rise of digital financial services is increasing the risk of indebtedness while debt reduces well-being and affects mental health. The authors assess the effects of consumer information provision, debt literacy, chronic debt and attitudes toward debt on the intent to purchase on credit.

An online survey including an experiment with a credit offer vignette was conducted in a representative sample of Estonia (n = 1204). Treatment conditions depicted either the total cost and duration of the credit agreement or the annual percentage rate.

Receiving modified information resulted in a 26 to 30 percentage points decrease in propensity to purchase on credit. Purchasing on credit was associated with attitudes towards credit and chronic debt, but not with debt literacy.

The findings reveal large effects of information provision and highlight the limited effects of debt literacy on credit decisions. Limitations may emerge from differences in financial regulation across countries.

The authors' results highlight the importance of applying behavioural insights in consumer credit information provision, both in the financial sector and policy. Testing the messages allows having evidence-based solutions that promote responsible purchasing on credit.

The findings call for changes in credit information provision requirements. Their effect is significantly larger compared to the literature, emphasizing the role of credit information provision in less regulated online markets.