Yet nearly half (49%) say that they do not feel in control of their long term finances, according to new ICM research commissioned by Interactive Investor ( www.iii.co.uk) - the totally independent personal finance portal, which today launches its new website, enabling people to solve all their financial needs throughout their lives.
4 in 5 lose sleep over money yet spend less than 1 hr/ week looking after finances
The research also reveals that four in five who say that money keeps them awake at night only spend an hour or less a week actually looking after their finances. Over half of these insomniacs (51%) spend less than five minutes a day. More people lose sleep over job or money worries (43%) than those who sleep soundly or worry instead about family (39%), sex (13%), weight problems (10%) or their favourite sports team (7%).
Lack of trust in banks, life companies and Government over financial decisions
When it comes to trust, an overwhelming 81% of Britons say they prefer to trust friends and family, themselves or no one over the experts at banks, life companies and government to help them with personal finance decisions. Only 15% said that they would trust the experts at banks, and far less said that they would trust life companies (2%) or even Government (less than 1%), revealing a real need for trustworthy and independent information that people can use themselves to make better decisions about money.
Interactive Investor has listened to feedback from its users to offer a new and unrivalled range of tools, information and services in addition to its investment facilities. A key feature of the site is the attention given to community, allowing people to share information about personal finance, rate providers and reveal the most popular shares held by other users in a secure and trusted environment.
The site also offers an advanced portfolio, that gives users the opportunity to summarise their share holdings, funds and other assets such as property with debt information giving users a snapshot of their overall ‘wealth health’. Product wizards, which make competitive comparisons across up to 4,000 products, allow consumers to make entirely independent decisions on savings, loans, credit cards and mortgages and pick the best products to suit their personal criteria.
Commenting on the research, Tomas Carruthers, Chief Executive of Interactive Investor, said,
“People tend to think that investing in property is the only way to prepare for their future security but this in itself poses its own risks. Being a sensible investor means balancing your exposure to risk and having a diverse portfolio of investments.
“However, people are also less trusting of the ‘experts’ and more willing to take decisions about money into their own hands. Our research indicates that they want the honest information and transparent tools to be able to do this confidently and effectively.
“Interactive Investor is back at an opportune time, and has been designed with feedback from our 1.4 million user community to serve this growing appetite for informed and independent personal wealth management.
“We want to provide people with a real picture about everything that affects their wealth portfolio from loans, mortgages and credit cards to tax, shares, pensions and ISAs. Our next generation of portfolio tools will be the first to offer users a valuable assessment of their total net worth.”
