The financial diaries revealed useful insights into young people's savings, spending and income behavior

A generation of savers
Young people engage in a broad variety of economic activities, ranging from hairdressing and welding to working in the music industry. They also save, mostly to smooth fluctuations in their living costs, buy more expensive items, or ensure they have money to cover unforeseen emergencies. As young adults, they may save to buy a car, a home, or to pay bride price.

Earning money
Diary respondents’ net daily incomes ranged from US$1.05 among mid-teens to US$3.75 among young adults in Morocco, US$0.52 among mid-teens to US$8.58 among young adults in Nigeria and from US$0.19 among mid-teens to US$1.64 for young adults in Senegal.

The more young people earn, the more they save
Many young people are regular savers. In Nigeria and Senegal about a third of weekly diary observations saw some sort of saving by young people. This suggests that more than half of diary participants in the two countries engaged in saving during the survey period. Savings activity was much less evident in Morocco – barely one-in-six survey responses indicated a saving event – but even this is compatible with up to half the survey group saving at some point during the survey period. Overall, there is a positive correlation between economic activity and saving. Furthermore, young people generally become less financially dependent upon their parents as they move through life stages.

Many want to become entrepreneurs
One of the most striking findings from both our diary and our qualitative research was the desire among many young people in each of the countries we studied to become entrepreneurs. Among our diary respondents, just 6% of those in our Moroccan sample operated a microenterprise, whilst 43% had a full-time job. In Nigeria, 13% were entrepreneurs and 30% employed, while in Senegal 5% were entrepreneurs and 13% employed. Yet when asked about their ambitions, in Morocco, 66% declared an aspiration to self-employment, 81% did so in Nigeria and 64% in Senegal. At national level, Gallup World Poll data for 2018 shows actual employment among 15-24 year olds in Morocco balanced fairly evenly between waged and self-employed. In Nigeria more than three times as many people were self-employed (52%) as in employment (17%), whilst in Senegal 28% were self-employed, compared to 20% in employment.

Social expectations and gender influence behaviour and financial inclusion
Social expectations introduce gender-related issues that influence financial inclusion. Patterns vary. In Nigeria, both young women and young men are expected to marry around the age of 25. In Senegal and Morocco, it may be acceptable for young women to work, but they are often expected to end formal employment when they marry. Social expectations based on gender influence financial behaviours.