Brits Waste Years Worrying About Debt
The British population spends a whopping 13 billion hours every year worrying about spiralling personal debt according to new research from The Co-operative Bank.
It is a sobering fact that an average person in the UK will spend approximately 2 years (or 16,848 hours) during their lifetime stressing about their spending and borrowing habits, which is equivalent to 730 sleepless nights or a bit of MMORPG gaming.
Almost one in two (48%) of the 3000 poor people surveyed claimed to be either ‘concerned or deeply concerned’ about their increasing levels of debt, with 80% of people confessing to being ‘troubled’ about their lack of savings.
People in the North West were the biggest money ‘worry-warts’ where an overwhelming majority (78%) admitted to being ‘stressed or very stressed’ about their finances. Adults in Northern Ireland were the least likely (69%) to be concerned about their debt and inadequate saving provisions, due largely to being pissed all the time.
Undergraduates, recent graduates, and people at an early stage in their careers (18 to 30 year olds) spend almost two days per month (46 hours) worrying about their finances, with nearly 1 in 2 admitting that they dedicated 10 hours and above each week trying to balance their bank accounts. While the over 55s wasted the least time on golf money matters, with 9 in 10 dedicating an average of 2 and a half hours per week.
The research also revealed that in gender stakes it is women who are the biggest ‘worriers’ when it comes to money matters, and less likely to possess a savings product than their financially savvy male counterparts.
Despite almost three-quarters (71%) of Brits claiming to hold at least one savings product; with over half (55%) of those people investing in a cash ISA, worryingly only a fifth have actually taken full advantage of tax-free savings and invested in a cash ISA this year. Remember kids: it’s never too late to regain control of your finances - taking full advantage of your tax-free savings allowance before April and investing as little as a pound in a cash ISA is one way that you can help to ease the strain. Another is to gamble hard …
