The findings revealed the top five financial concerns to be the rising cost of living, insufficient funds for reasonable standard of living, lack of preparation for retirement, level of debt and keeping on top of financial repayments.
Rising cost of living
Half (50%) of those questioned are concerned about the rising cost of living in the UK. Women (54%) are much more concerned than men (34%). This may be due to women feeling the pinch more as they have traditionally taken charge of the household shop. East Anglia is the region that finds rising costs their biggest financial headache, 55% say that this is a worry.
Standard of living
A third (34%) of all of those questioned are concerned that they will have insufficient funds to enjoy an ongoing reasonable standard of living. Again women are slightly more concerned about their standard of living than men (36% compared to 27%). Inability to afford a reasonable standard of living is a major concern for younger Britons – more than half (51%) of those aged 18-25 worry that they will not be able to enjoy good standards in future. The region most concerned about living standards is the West Midlands (43%).
Preparation for retirement
Given the current pensions crisis, a quarter (25%) of all Britons are worried about their lack of preparation for retirement. This rises to 28% amongst women, but just 19% for men. Those aged 36-55 are most concerned of all age groups (27%), as they start to worry about approaching 60. The Welsh feel least prepared for retirement – 40% worry about the lack of finances for their golden years.
Level of debt
Despite recent media coverage, just one in five of those questioned (20%) are scared by their level of debt. 21% of women and 16% of men are concerned about the amount of debt they are in. However, this figure rises dramatically at the younger end of the population – 37% of adults aged under 25 are worried about their level of debt. People in Yorkshire are most likely to fret about the amount they owe (32%).
Financial repayments
15% of respondents were worried about keeping on top of their financial repayments. Men and women are almost equally as worried (14% and 15%) about paying their financial commitments on time. Unsurprisingly, it is younger Britons who are most worried of all age groups about meeting their financial repayments, almost a quarter (23%) of 18-25 year olds said this was a major concern. People in London and Yorkshire (24%) were equally concerned about keeping up the repayments on their borrowing.
Paul Chafer, sales and marketing director at Stroud & Swindon, commented: “Financial matters can be confusing and often we can be fearful of matters we do not fully understand. It is of utmost importance that Britons fully comprehend all aspects of their finances and feel comfortable making sound decisions about their money.
“The recent government announcement that personal finances will form a greater part of the education syllabus is therefore very welcome and will help with the UK’s financial literacy problems. However, it is important that providers are also involved in educating Britons further about money matters.
“At Stroud & Swindon, we take this responsibility seriously and are currently working with the FSA to train employees to offer useful financial advice. We call for more providers to follow suit and actively work to improve their customers understanding of financial matters.”
