As of June 2022, 1 in 6 households (4.4 million) are in ‘serious financial difficulties’, compared to the 1 in 10 (2.8 million) in October 2021, and this only continues to rise.
14.3 million households now consider their overall financial situation to be ‘worse’ than at the start of the pandemic. More broadly, households have seen their quality of life negatively affected by the rising cost of living crisis as people are not able to afford gym memberships, leisure activities or other forms of ‘escaping’ which can really take a toll on mental health.
As many as 24 million adults don’t feel confident managing their money. Yet, taking control of your money management is key to helping you feel more empowered financially. This is causing many to suffer from financial stress and anxiety, which can lead to insomnia and depression.
Wellity have put together some financial tips to help individuals manage their money better throughout these difficult times:
Exercise Outside – Cancel that gym membership and do a workout at home or in nature, using YouTube for videos is also a useful way to learn new routines instead of paying hundreds for a personal trainer.
Buy in Bulk – Shopping in bulk is almost always cheaper per unit, which means you can save money on each item you buy. A Costco membership can save you 25% a year on shopping!
Cancel Subscriptions – See how much money you waste on unused subscriptions. If you don’t use it, don’t pay for it! Through taking a look at your bank statements you can check if a certain subscription is something you regularly use, and if not, it could be worth cutting back.
Cash Back Websites – Cashback websites give you certain percentage cashback whenever you spend online at a selected retailer by going through them first
Get a handle on debt – Pay off your high-interest cards first this allows you to reduce the amount of interest you will pay throughout the life of your credit cards. Prioritise your payments, if you owe money on more than one credit card, you’ll need to work out which one to pay off first.
Put a Spending Limit on your Card - Set a limit to how much you can spend on your credit or debit cards. This stops you from overspending and encourages you to reassess your daily expenditures in advance - Many banks offer this service.
The cost-of-living crisis is a huge topic of stress for many of our client organisations and their people, so we have expanded our financial training series to help give tangible and specific guidance on the key issues people are facing right now.
The ten training titles are:
- Mastering Your Money in a Changing World
- Money On My Mind: Dealing with Anxiety
- Eat Well, Spend Less
- Financial Insomnia and Investing in Sleep
- Raising Children in a Recession
- Festive Times and Finances
- The Money Smart Home Worker
- Financial Detoxing and Debt
- Climbing The Ladder in a Crisis
- Future Proofing in a Financial Crisis
To find out how you can better support your team around this topic, Contact our Wellity team on hello@wellityglobal.com