Money worries can have a devastating impact on a person’s life, causing untold stress and heartache day after day.
So it’s really important that you’re not left feeling as if your finances are like a runaway juggernaut: out of control.
Otherwise, you leave yourself vulnerable to a host of further financial problems, from growing debt and a worsening credit score, to struggling to put food on the table.
Worryingly, this is becoming more common as many people appear to be resorting to ever-more desperate means to make ends meet. For example, a recent study by Citizens Advice found that one in three adults in the UK have had to dip into their savings in the last three months to cover their living costs.
Meanwhile, figures from the Bank of England show that consumer net borrowing went up from £0.7bn in November to £1.5bn in December 2022. This was driven largely by an additional £1.2bn of credit card borrowing, which rose to its highest monthly level in nearly 20 years.
According to debt charity StepChange, the cost of living crisis was, unsurprisingly, the main reason why new clients got in touch during November 2022. But interestingly, the second most common reason given for contacting the charity was “a lack of control over finances”.
This lack of control is, of course, inextricably linked with wider cost of living pressures, as many of the factors behind rising costs, such as the inflation rate and the war in Ukraine, are clearly issues that most of us can’t do anything about.
But that’s precisely why it’s so important to get to grips with those areas that we can control. For example, do you know how much money you have coming in and are you budgeting accordingly for essentials and non-essentials?
Are you actively getting on top of your debts, paying them down where possible and prioritising higher interest loans?
While we cannot promise that steps such as these can solve all your financial problems, especially as inflation remains at a 40-year high, it can still make a big difference, not least to your mental health.
Getting to grips with your finances can be daunting at first and we understand that, but rest assured that advice and specialist support is out there.
A professional financial adviser, for instance, will take a holistic look at your finances, and give you expert guidance on what steps you can take to navigate this difficult environment.
That, in turn, can give you that feeling of being in control, as you’ll be across the detail and have a specialist on hand who can answer your questions and point you in the right direction.
If you have any questions or concerns about managing your finances, please don’t hesitate to get in touch, and we’ll be happy to speak with you.