Back in June we published a blog titled Cost-of-Living Crisis Still Causing Employees Significant Levels of Financial Stress! In this blog we discussed how people were dealing with the financial strain of the cost-of-living crisis. Now the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has released a report on financial wellbeing in Ireland.
Using data from 1,505 interviews representing a sample of the Irish population the report presents an overview of Irish financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviour. This report has some interesting findings.
A summary of some of the findings
- 58% people are satisfied with the current financial situation
- 1 in 7 reports too much debt
- 1 in 3 reports that they are “just getting by,”
- Most people believe they can sustain their living expenses for three months or more in the case of a financial shock such as the loss of income, but 1 in 8 say they would just be able to cover their costs for a month or less.
- 86% of households save, with most using deposit or savings accounts.
- 77% of participants said they had access to the State pension with a similar percentage saying that they planned to use a private or occupational pension to fund their retirement
- Around a quarter of respondents said they did not shop around before purchasing a financial product
- There are significant differences between age groups, with those over 60 showing greater financial resilience than those under 30
Kevin O’Brien, a Member of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, said about the report. ” It shows a population making sound financial decisions, saving, budgeting, and drawing on information from a range of sources before choosing a mortgage or loan,”
We could take from this that having knowledge of where to look for information, what information to look for and from whom contributes to better financial decisions being made.
Financial education can make a real difference for people when looking to make better financial decisions now and for the future.
Our financial education programmes are designed to educate employees so that they can be in a position to make good financial decisions, see how we do this here.
A full copy of the report can be found on the CCPC website https://www.ccpc.ie/business/
For more information on how our Financial Education Programmes can help your employees contact us here.
Source: https://www.ccpc.ie/business/ccpc-issues-landmark-report-on-financial-wellbeing-in-ireland/, https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2023/0706/1393000-1-in-3-struggling-to-survive-financially-ccpc-report/
