A new study has found that one in six (17%) UK adults do not know how much money they have in their current account, and a further 19 per cent are unable to say how much they have spent at the end of every month.
The survey of 1,000 British adults in January was conducted by mobile money app Monese and found that 55 to 64-year-olds were the least financially aware, while millennials (25-34) were the most money-minded.
Residents of Blackpool, Swansea and Manchester, were the most likely to be clueless about the contents of their bank balance.
While people in Dundee, Belfast, Preston, Liverpool and Cambridge were the most clued up.
At the beginning of the year, more than eight in ten (83%) adults said they were looking to improve their money management this year and had set themselves at least one financial goal.
Saving money for a rainy day (37%), hitting a savings milestone (26%), and putting cash aside for travel or a dream holiday (25%) were the nation’s top financial goals for 2021.
A fifth (20%) of Brits said they were also striving to reduce their outgoings this year.
With 80 per cent of New Year’s resolutions failing by the second week of February, and these latest statistics showing that many people are still struggling to manage their money, the experts at Monese have shared five top tips to help people get back on track with their financial goals.
Review your income and essential outgoings so you know what you’ll have leftover each month. Keep checking this, especially if your income varies, to ensure you’re not accidentally over-spending.
Use this insight to give yourself a weekly or monthly non-essential spending budget, and to gauge what you can afford to regularly save.
Make use of all the available money management account features that your bank or money app offers, to help you stay on top of your spending and saving.
If you can, set up detailed transactional alerts every time you make a purchase. Seeing these alerts can really remind you what you’re spending.
If you can, set savings aside in ‘Pots’. Give each savings Pot a clear name such as ‘holiday’, and transfer money automatically as soon as you get paid so you don’t forget and aren’t tempted to spend it.
Sarah Holt, Head Partnerships at Monese, said: “It’s all too easy to lose track of what we’ve spent, but keeping an eye on our expenditure is really important if we want to hit a specific financial goal, such as saving money for a holiday, a wedding, a new car or even just making sure we’re covered to the next payday, to avoid missing bills.
“Many banks and mobile money apps now offer accounts with budgeting tools that can help you to stay on track. At Monese, we have a handy ‘Spending Overview’ feature, which helps with weekly and monthly budgeting and offers instant notifications whenever you make a purchase. We also have a ‘Saving Pots’ feature, so you can set money aside until you need it. You can save money in up to ten different Pots and even send spare change here automatically too.”
For more tips and advice on using saving Pots to help you put more away for a rainy day, visit the monese website here.
