Från budgetrådgivare till börsexperter

Finansialisering och finansiell läskunnighet i privatekonomisk rådgivning, 1987–2017

Abstract

Since the 1980s, financial deregulation and welfare cuts have driven an economic risk shift, requiring individuals to take greater financial responsibility through private savings in stocks and mutual funds. An unexplored aspect of this “financialization of everyday life” is the personal finance advice provided by experts employed by banks and other market-oriented actors. This study examines financial savings advice provided by these advisors in Sweden’s four largest newspapers from 1987 to 2017. The study identifies three eras: the family economists (1987–1997), the private economists (1997–2012), and the savings economists (2012–2017). The findings suggest that, following the economic turmoil of the early 1990s, personal finance advice became increasingly decontextualized and focused on developing generic financial skills and risk-embracing subjectivities. This risk shift, in turn, raises important questions about the role of consumer journalism in paving way for and reinforcing the market-oriented notion of financial literacy that has become prevalent in the 2000s.