MANAGEMENT OF PERSONAL FINANCIAL PRACTICES AMONG SCHOLARS: DO THEY REALLY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND WHAT THEY NEED TO IMPROVE DURING COVID-19?

Purpose: The rising daily expenditure, tough economic conditions and Covid 19 pandemic have made individuals and households more concern of their financial management. The study was carried out to examine major determinates of personal financial managementpracticesamong ICCR sponsored scholars. Design/methodology/approach: The research employed a cross-sectional conclusive research design that included both descriptive and explanatory research. The study used a self-administered questionnaire, and shared the link of Google form to respondents directly through official group social network pages which created and administrated by ICCR Gujarat office. The study employed descriptive statistics and inferential analyses such as correlation between variables and analyzed their effects using multiple regressions. Findings: The result of the study has shown that financial knowledge, financial behavior, financial attitude, financial planning, and financial socialization have positive and significant effect on personal financial management. Covid 19 pandemic has negative impacts on personal financial management practices. Practical implications: The study recommends financial education at a young age in order to acquire knowledge of saving, money management, and investment as early as possible by the new generation. . Training of young minds can help prepare and enable them to face the economic adversities faced by the generation globally. Originality/Value-There has been relatively little theoretically based empirical study on the association between personal financial management and financial practices of scholars in the literature, implying that further empirical research is required