ARE you too busy to think about money? Between work, children, maintaining a house, perhaps caring for parents, and social commitments, you may feel too pressed for time (or just plain exhausted!) to find the time to get your finances into proper shape.
Even if you can see the benefits of working out a long-term financial plan, you just never get around to asking a financial adviser to help you ‘get your financial act together’.
It’s such an easy thing to do – it just takes a phone call – but if you don’t make that call, you may be losing out more than you think.
New research from financial advisers Hargreaves Lansdown, in conjunction with Oxford Economics, shows that those with very busy working lives do have more left at the end of the month, but they fail to make the most of their money.
By not seeking financial advice, they fail to put their money to work for them.
In the short term, they are less likely to have enough cash put away to deal with an unexpected emergency.
For the medium term, they’re more likely to have a heavy burden of debt to carry.
And in the long term, they’re less likely to be saving enough for a comfortable retirement.
In other words, they probably don’t achieve that goal that is now more important than ever: the golden grail of ‘financial resilience’.
In fact, less than half of them are financially resilient, compared to more than half of those who say they have more time in their working lives – even though they have less surplus cash.
Another characteristic behaviour of busy people is taking on more debt than their counterparts, because they feel more able to pay larger loans back.
However, due to leading a life of ‘all work, no time for financial advice’, only 57 per cent of them are savers, or have money put away that would cover them for three months of outgoings. This compares to 62 per cent of those who say they have enough time.
Those who are busy are also less well protected against unexpected events: over a third of them (36 per cent) have enough life insurance cover, compared to the national average of 43 per cent.
In addition, only 43 per cent of them are on track for a comfortable lifestyle in retirement, compared to over 50 per cent of those who are less busy and may have taken time to make a financial plan.
All of this indicates that, in terms of organising their finances, busy people need to take steps to delegate – in this case, delegate to a financial adviser.
Do you think this could be the year when you pause, take a deep breath, and get your financial act together?
Give us a call! We can help.
: Michael Kennedy is an independent financial adviser and pensions specialist and can be contacted on 028 71886005. Further information on Facebook at Kennedy Independent Financial Advice or at www.mkennedyfinancial.com
