Thousands tackle their finances on Christmas Day

New data from Hargreaves Lansdown has found thousands tackle their finances on Christmas Day, with the company finding that more than 100,000 of their clients logged into the financial planning app on Christmas Day last year.

The busiest time was 8am – an hour earlier than previous Christmases. Last year, Christmas Eve saw almost three times as many client account top-ups as Boxing Day.

Separately, HMRC says 4,409 people did their tax return on Christmas Day, and 40,072 during the Christmas break, with 3pm being the most popular time to submit a tax return on Christmas Day – although just 368 people did it during that hour. Christmas Eve was more popular, with 3,458 submitting their return between 11am and 12pm.

Sarah Coles, Head of Personal Finance at Hargreaves Lansdown said “When you think of fun Christmas activities, tax returns, checking your portfolio and paying into ISAs and pensions don’t tend to spring to mind. However, last year, over the festive period, tens of thousands of people took advantage of the break to sort their finances.

“When it comes to checking in with their portfolio, HL clients got stuck in early, and the peak time on Christmas Day was 8am. This was even earlier than the previous couple of Christmases, where they waited until 9am. If you have very young children, this may be a chance to take a break when they fall asleep, after hours of opening presents and getting over-excited. Those with older families might find the time while they’re waiting for everyone else to wake up.

“The peak time for a tax return on the day was 3pm, when most of the family might be sleeping off their Christmas lunch. Given it’s a much longer and more involved job than quickly checking an investment app, people are likely to wait until the morning festivities have died down.

“Christmas Eve proved busier than Boxing Day for tax returns, checking finances and topping up accounts over the Christmas period last year – both were more popular than the big day itself. This will include some people making last-minute Junior ISA contributions as a Christmas gift that will be appreciated by the family long after the memory of this Christmas fades. Others will have been meaning to get around to topping up for a while, and a day off work gives them time to get around to it.”