Living without protection: piloting a Living Lab approach to investigate the asset protection needs of low-income Australians Roslyn Russell a, Gareth Priday b and Sonja Pedell c a
School of Economics, Finance and Marketing at RMIT University, Melbourne Australia b Action Foresight, Melbourne Australia. c Department of Communication and Digital Media Design at Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Abstract Financial exclusion leaves individuals and communities vulnerable to financial hardship and poverty and an inability to access appropriate insurance and credit contributes to financial exclusion. This research pilots a Living Lab approach to exploring the asset protection needs of low-income individuals and families. Our Living Lab pilot incorporated the use of Scenarios and Cultural probes, supported by focus groups. We found a strong interdependence between insurance, access to credit and savings. For low-income individuals, the ability to protect assets was generally a proxy for protecting income. A lack of insurance commonly led to an over-reliance on expensive credit or small loans that exacerbated financial hardship for the household. The findings identified a need for greater community ‘knowledge’ and resources for individuals to draw upon to develop financial capability and resilience. The Living Lab approach was valuable in facilitating a ‘real-world’ context; strengthening community links and engaging relevant industry stakeholders. We also relate some of the themes from our Living Lab to ENOLL’s strategic priorities. Keywords Financial Resilience; Insurance; Cultural Probes; Living Labs; Financial Exclusion; 1 Introduction Financial exclusion is a serious problem and a growing cause for concern for governments and the community sector in developed as well as developing countries. Financial exclusion refers to a lack of access and / or useability of basic financial products and services such as credit, savings or insurance (DermirgucKunt & Klapper 2012; CSI 2014). Financially excluded individuals and households live precariously, with reduced capacity to participate in the economy and in the
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