The processes of financialization have spread financial motivations and calculations of the financial sector into people's everyday life. The financial system's growth has meant that increasing numbers of ordinary people have dealings with the financial sector and are even more deeply involved in many ways. Personal expenditure is increasingly financed through debit and credit cards and online payments (and of declining importance cheques) rather than by the use of bank notes and cash. There have been generally higher and rising levels of household debt and borrowing from financial institutions (as illustrated in Chapter 4). There are much higher levels of financial assets and liabilities (relative to income) than hitherto held directly or indirectly by households, which has involved increased financial risk-taking by people. The promotion of owning your own home means mortgage borrowing for house purchase and later borrowing against the value of the home in the form of equity release.

Insurance is taken against a range of risks and, as more insurance is required, whether on one's life, car, home, etc., the insurance sector expands. Financialization has often involved the growth of private pension provision in place of state pension provision, and the consequent growth of pension funds with large accumulation of ownership of financial assets. Each individual has, in a sense, become financialized – that is, more closely engaged with and dependent on the financial system than previous generations – and it is relevant to investigate the gains and losses for people, individually and collectively, to become more financialized. It is also relevant to consider the economic and social effects of the growth of private provision over social provision, particularly in the area of pensions. Financialization also has effects on provisions of social and public services indirectly, as a result of the financial sector's involvement in such provision. In this chapter I mention the effects of private equity (as an element of financialization) on social care provision and PPP and PFI on public services.

Financial inclusion and exclusion

Financial inclusion and financial exclusion are important aspects of financialization. In a complex financial system, daily monetary transactions are difficult without access to payments technology, and coping with fluctuations in economic circumstances is difficult without good access to savings accounts and to credit and loans.