Fifth of Britons lack budgeting know-how

MORE than a fifth of people in the UK do not formally budget, admitting to having only a ‘rough idea’ or no idea at all about the state of our own finances, according to new research from SunLife.

A fifth of Britons struggle to budget properly, new research suggests. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

The study, which asked more than 3,000 people about their budgeting habits, discovered that only 44 per cent of use either an app, online tool, spreadsheet or a notebook to budget. More than a third (35 per cent) said they don’t budget formally, but do always have a clear idea of their incoming and outgoings, 16 per cent said they had a ‘rough idea’ (16 per cent) while the remaining 6 per cent said they don’t budget at all.

Sunlife found that younger people are much more likely to budget than older people, with 57 per cent of 18-24 year olds saying they budget formally compared to just 32 per cent of over 65s. Younger people are also more likely to make use of technology to budget, with 18 per cent of 18-25a using an app or online tool compared to the UK average of 7 per cent and the over 65s figure of 1 per cent.

Dean Lamble, Managing Director of SunLife said: “There could be lots of reasons why younger people are budgeting more formally than their parents and grandparents generations. But, living through seven years of recession – starting at around the time many of this generation started to become responsible for their own finances – has probably had a huge effect on how they view money. The continuing rise in the cost of attending university and buying your first home could also be forcing more young people to keep a very close eye on their finances.”