The study of Household Finance encompasses the topics of (1) how households make financial decisions relating to the functions of saving, consumption, investment, housing, payment, borrowing and risk management, (2) how organizations provide goods and services to satisfy these financial functions, and (3) how interventions by firms, governments and other parties affect the provision of financial services. For example, households who want to save, consume, invest, pay, borrow and manage risk will likely look across a variety of products, various formal and informal institutions as well as the legal frameworks within which contractual relationships can be enforced. A better understanding of household finance can help to improve household decision making through better financial products, supervision and regulation, and avoid problems such as inadequate retirement planning, over-leveraging, uninformative sales tactics and poorly designed products.