Rising cost of living and Brexit are the biggest financial worries for 2018

The increasing cost of living and the impact of Brexit top the Nation’s main financial concerns for 2018, according to new research from GoCompare. 

The research found that 40% of people think that 2018 will be a financially challenging year, with 12% admitting to being ‘seriously worried about their finances’ in the year ahead. 

Just under half (49%) of people said they need to try and reduce their outgoings in 2018, with  one in ten expecting to carry credit card debt for most of 2018 and 7% relying on credit cards simply to make ends meet. 

The rising cost of living was of greatest concern to those aged 65 and over with 73% citing it as their biggest financial worry in 2018, compared with 58% of all UK adults.  Meanwhile, young adults (aged 18 to 24) were significantly more concerned (35%) than the UK adult population as a whole about the ability to find sufficient work. 

Commenting on the research, Georgie Frost, Consumer Advocate for GoCompare, said; “The level to which people are worried about their financial situation and job security in coming year is a real concern. We know that money worries can impact on our relationships, our work and our mental health, causing us to make poorer financial decisions which in turn could make our situation worse. With the rising cost of living and most of us unlikely to see a pay rise any time soon, it’s no surprise many are expecting to have to make sacrifices.

“But while there will be some who simply cannot find areas to make any savings, the vast majority of us could and it doesn’t have to lead to great hardship either. Why pay more than you need to for your utilities or insurance?

“Just twenty minutes on a site like GoCompare, which makes it easy for you to check from a wide range of products and services, could set you on a path to ensure you are thousands of pounds richer by the end of the year. Providers are constantly review their pricing, so even if you think you’re currently getting a good deal on your financial products it’s worth shopping around on a regular basis to find out. It might be the best New Year’s resolution you have made!

GoCompare customers could save up to, £279.43 on their car insurance, £138.51 on their energy bills and £70.82 on their home insurance**.”

-ends-

For further information please contact:

Anders Nilsson or Martyn John at GoCompare on 01633 654 054 / 01633 654 725

Gordon, Jason or Liz at MAW Communications on 01603 505 845

Notes to editors:

*On 29 December 2017, Bilendi conducted an online survey among 2,334 randomly selected British adults who are Maximiles UK panelists.  The margin of error-which measures sampling variability-is +/- 2.2%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and regional data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of United Kingdom. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.

**GoCompare switch and saving figures based on: Car insurance: According to independent research from Consumer Intelligence in September 2017, 51% of customers could save up to £279.42 with GoCompare Car Insurance

Household utilities: 51% of Dual Fuel Energy customers who received a price for switching with Gocompare.com saved £70.82 (01 Jul 2017 to 30 Sept 2017)

Home insurance:  According to independent research from Consumer Intelligence in September 2017, 51% of customers could save up to £70.82 with GoCompare Home Insurance

GoCompare is a comparison website that enables people to compare the costs and features of a wide variety of insurance policies, financial products and energy tariffs.

GoCompare does not charge people to use its services, and it does not accept advertising or sponsored listings, so all product comparisons are unbiased. GoCompare makes its money through fees paid by the providers of products that appear on its various comparison services when a customer buys through the site.

GoCompare does not sell its customers’ data.

When it launched in 2006, it was the first comparison site to focus on displaying policy details rather than just listing prices, with the aim of helping people to make better-informed decisions when buying their insurance. GoCompare has remained dedicated to helping people choose the most appropriate products rather than just the cheapest, and has teamed up with Defaqto, the independent financial researcher, to integrate additional policy information into a number of its insurance comparison services. This allows people to compare up to an extra 30 features of cover.

GoCompare is the only comparison website to be invited to join the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

For more information visit www.gocompare.com and www.gocomparegroup.com