A valuable recession lesson

As G20 leaders voted for a new era of economic change, 78% of consumers are planning to follow suit, committing to change the way they manage their personal finances through increased saving, spending within their limits and reviewing their finances more often. In fact, almost 2 million consumers are so shaken by the economic climate that they are planning to spend more time educating their children on the birds and bees of finance.

Of those who are committed to changing their relationship with their personal finances, 9.1 million consumers will review their finances more regularly and almost one in five (19%) pledge to stop spending on non-essentials. The good news is that 15% of consumers intend to save more and spend less. In addition 14% of people have resolved to place greater emphasis on the ‘simpler things in life' rather than all things financial and 3.4 million vow that they will not stretch themselves beyond their means for the sake of owning a property.

Against all odds, 4.3 million consumers already feel they have been positively impacted by the recession with over a third (35%) seeing their mortgage repayments decrease and over half (54%) enjoying bargain purchases as retailers compete to cut prices. On the job front, 13% of consumers' state they work in recession-proof industries and have never been busier, whilst 3% of respondents even feel that redundancy was the best thing that happened to them having embarked on a new business venture or change of career.

Due to a cautious financial approach 44% of consumers are confident that they will survive the recession and one in ten (9%) are bullish enough to predict they will emerge in an even stronger financial position, come the economic upturn. Other consumers are more prudently optimistic about their chances of emerging from the recession with their financial health intact, with 28% stating that survival will only be realised by making significant cutbacks.

Louise Bond concludes: "For many consumers, the recession is undoubtedly taking its toll with many making significant cutbacks in the ongoing struggle to meet their monthly outgoings in the face of rising bills and the depreciating value of their assets. Despite the doom and gloom many consumers are seemingly exhibiting a ‘British Bulldog' spirit amidst the financial crisis and finding ways to accentuate the positives. With world leaders taking unprecedented measures to instigate the beginning of the end of the global recession, it is encouraging that consumers are also taking their financial future into their own hands by committing to changing their financial behaviours for the better.

"This emergence of a financially savvy, empowered consumer group, inspired by the current recessionary climate, will hopefully motivate financial services providers to raise the bar in terms of the quality of products and services they provide in the future."