By Mark Insley, Managing Director - Consulo Wealth Solutions
When ‘Lockdown Version 1’ began on 23 March, many Britons recorded higher levels of anxiety. Those working in hospitals, retail, and hospitality had most on their minds of course, but none of us were untainted by the general doom and gloom.
There were a range of brand new issues to consider: the health of family and friends, the future of our jobs, how on earth to juggle working from home while looking after young ones, and worst of all, revealing our true hair colour due to months without a hairdresser.
No wonder that half of us, according to the Office for National Statistics, say we’ve spent the year so far in a state of high anxiety.
Thankfully it seems there is one way to chase the blues away.
The answer is to take some concrete steps to sort out our money
A new study by Royal London based on 4,007 UK adults shows that working with a financial adviser will make you better off than if you take care of things yourself – to the tune of £47,000*. Long-term advised customers saw an average £31,000 uplift to their pension wealth, and a £16,000 increase to the value of savings and other assets.*
However, the real uplift was emotional.
Those surveyed said the main benefits of financial advice were that it gives you greater confidence in your financial plans, and helps you feel in control of your finances. These benefits significantly increased when the client had regular, ongoing contact with their adviser.
However, simply making contact with an adviser and having one-off advice can also be a great relief: a third of those who did it said it gave them peace of mind.
People who managed to stave off anxiety most effectively were those whose adviser took a more holistic approach to their planning, advising them on a variety of areas including pensions, savings and investments, rather than focussing on just one.
Respondents to the survey also singled out one particular area that provided them with feelings of wellbeing right away: it’s looking after your family and loved ones, covering them against all eventualities with ‘family protection insurances’.
Putting insurance in place gives you the knowledge that your loved ones are protected, no matter what. Life insurance protects them from hardship if they suddenly lost you (and your income), while critical illness insurance protects them if you have to give up work due to a major health setback, such as cancer, heart attack or stroke.
Not exactly bright and cheery topics, admittedly – but what is bright and cheery is the feelgood factor that comes after you’ve got them sorted.
Ancojada Limited trading as Prosperitas Consult is not authorised or regulated to provide financial advice.
All financial advice is provided by other regulated businesses.