"The fact that families and friends are helping each other through the ongoing cost–of-living crisis shows that our community bonds are still strong, but it should concern us all that people are having to withdraw future savings to meet today’s costs. "
- David Hynam, CEO at LV=
Of those surveyed (4,000), 27% of adults in the UK said that paying the utility bills has been a challenge for the last three years, while a third (32%) helped friends and family to make ends meet at the start of 2023.
20m adults said they are worried about money – 6m more than three years ago. Likewise, LV= found that financial stresses are forcing people to use their savings to meet today’s needs, while fewer adults are acquiring protection cover, including Life Insurance or Income Protection (IP).
For the last three years, LV= has built a unique data set spanning thirteen editions. The insurer is now launching its Wellness Tracker which produces a single measure of the nation’s financial resilience over time by comparing the number of people who are financially ‘comfortable’ against those who are ‘struggling’. The Tracker currently stands at +17 (58% comfortable vs 42% struggling), which means the nation’s financial resilience is at its lowest point since the pandemic.
Commenting on these findings, David Hynam, CEO at LV=, has said:
“More and more people face a choice between paying their bills, putting food on the table and saving for the future. The fact that families and friends are helping each other through the ongoing cost–of-living crisis shows that our community bonds are still strong, but it should concern us all that people are having to withdraw future savings to meet today’s costs.”
