60% worry about effects of unexpected bills

New research from Moneyboat has found that six in ten (60%) of adults are worried about the effects an unexpected cost would have on their savings, with 23% of adults stating that they aren’t confident that they currently have enough saved to pay for one should it arise.

The research also showed that nearly a quarter of adults (23%) don’t have any friends or family members who would be able to lend them a helping hand if an unexpected cost were to come about.

The cost-of-living crisis is causing many people to tighten their budgets and leaving many people living on the edge of financial security, with recent data showing that 46% of people have less than £1,000 in savings and 25% have £200 or less. This indicates that if an unexpected cost such as a car repair or expensive dental treatment were to come around, many would not have enough saved to cover it.

With this in mind, Moneyboat carried out a survey in order to shed some light on the confidence levels of adults in being able to cover such a cost, how worried they are about the impact it would have on their finances, if they have anyone they can ask for help in such a situation and how much, on average, they have had to spend on certain unexpected costs recently:

The results show that whilst 73% of people are either very or fairly confident that they have enough money saved to cover an unexpected cost arising, 23% of adults stated that they aren’t confident that they have enough money saved with 1 in 10 people (9%) stating that they aren’t confident at all.

When it comes to how worried people are about the effects an unexpected cost would have on their finances, 60% of people stated that they are either very or fairly worried about the effect an unexpected cost would have on their savings, with just 10% of people claiming that they aren’t worried at all.

The survey results revealed that Parents (35%) are the most likely source of financial help in the event of an unexpected cost, followed by Partner/spouse (33%), Friend(s) (15%) and lastly Grandparent(s) (9%), with almost a quarter of adults (23%) stating that they don’t have anyone to ask for helping hand in the event of an unexpected cost.

How confident they are that they currently have enough money saved to pay if an unexpected cost arose:

Very confident	29%
Fairly confident	44%
Not very confident	14%
Not confident at all	9%
Not sure	3%