Money News
Despite unspent dreams of travelling, career breaks and entrepreneurship consuming the minds of the UK's over 35 year olds, new research by Bradford and Bingley reveals that it's never too late to make life changes and fulfil those unresolved ambitions.
The study, which coincides with the launch of the mortgage bank's What if? savings account, questioned UK consumers aged 35 and above to ascertain what, if any, part of their lives they would change if they were given the opportunity to, ranging from education and travel, to work, marriage and money. It revealed that many over 35s would relish the opportunity to change their lives for the better in some way, whether starting their own business or improving their health.
With the average person making several career changes throughout their lifetime, it's no surprise that 30% of respondents expressed the desire for a different career, and an ambitious 25% of those surveyed would like to have started their own business.
Money remained one of the hottest topics throughout the findings. Encouragingly, 47% of respondents admitted to saving regularly every month, with holidays (27%) being the last biggest expense that they saved up for.
Cars proved to be the biggest unexpected expense, accounting for 24% of recent emergency costs, highlighting the importance of having savings in place to cover any such costs. Unforeseen home repairs (18%) also resulted in respondents having to dip into their savings.
Even though the majority of over 35s save regularly, 37% wished that they'd started saving earlier in life, even though it's never too late to start. 30% admitted that they don't save at all.
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Singletons fared the worst at saving, with 38% of single people not saving at all, compared to only 25% of those in their first marriage. Worryingly, 16% of divorcees wish they had not relied on their partner to organise the finances during their marriage.
20 August 2007 © Moneyextra.com
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