Three years ago, ERSTE Foundation, Erste Group and the University of Tartu decided to try out something new: changing perspective to explore financial well-being through a human lens. At ERSTE Foundation, we aim to understand what prosperity means to individuals and our societies and how our activities can help foster it. Back then, there were so many things we did not comprehend about how people define their financial well-being, what influences it, how they make financial decisions and experience shifts in their levels of financial well-being.

The fundamental research explored in this study is also one of the starting points for the Open Future Lab, a collaborative lab working on entirely new ways to improve people’s financial well-being. Fresh ideas are about to blossom—as they do wherever we provide the necessary space, time and freedom for creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration.