One in six (17%) UK adults don’t know how much money they have in their current account, and a further fifth (19%) couldn’t say how much they’d spent at the end of each calendar month, a new study reveals.
The research1, conducted by mobile money app Monese, found that 55-64s were the least financially aware, while millennials (25-34s) were the most money-minded.

Residents of Blackpool (44%), Swansea (38%) and Manchester (37%), were the most likely to be clueless about the contents of their bank balance. Comparatively, residents of Belfast, Preston, Liverpool, Dundee, and Cambridge were the most clued up.

At the beginning of the year, more than eight in ten (83%) adults said they were looking to improve their money management in 2021 and had set themselves at least one financial goal.

Saving money for a rainy day (37%), hitting a savings milestone (26%), and putting cash aside for travel/a dream holiday (25%) were the nation’s top financial goals for the year ahead.
A fifth (20%) of Brits said they were also striving to reduce their outgoings this year.

With 80% of New Year’s resolutions failing by the second week of February2, and these latest stats showing how many people are struggling to manage their money, the experts at Monese have prepared five top tips to help people get back on-track with their financial goals:
Review your income and essential outgoings so you know what you’ll have leftover each month. Keep checking this, especially if your income varies, to ensure you’re not accidentally over-spending.

Use this insight to give yourself a weekly or monthly non-essential spending budget, and to gauge what you can afford to regularly save.

Make use of all the available money management account features that your bank or money app offers, to help you stay on top of your spending and saving.

If you can, set up detailed transactional alerts every time you make a purchase. Seeing these alerts can really remind you what you’re spending.

If you can, set savings aside in ‘Pots’. Give each savings Pot a clear name such as ‘holiday’, and transfer money automatically as soon as you get paid so you don’t forget and aren’t tempted to spend it.
Sarah Holt, Head Partnerships at Monese added: “It’s all too easy to lose track of what we’ve spent, but keeping an eye on our expenditure is really important if we want to hit a specific financial goal, such as saving money for a holiday, a wedding, a new car or even just making sure we’re covered to the next payday, to avoid missing bills.

“Many banks and mobile money apps now offer accounts with budgeting tools, that can help you to stay on track. At Monese, we have a handy ‘Spending Overview’ feature, which helps with weekly and monthly budgeting and offers instant notifications whenever you make a purchase. We also have a ‘Saving Pots’ feature, so you can set money aside until you need it. You can save money in up to ten different Pots and even send spare change here automatically too.

“Do make use of all the helpful features that are available to you – they’re there to assist you and take the hassle out of budgeting and tracking what you’ve spent.”