Is it natural to procrastinate?

Brits would rather vacuum than review their pensions

Why should you start planning for your future now? Retirement might seem like a long way off, but the sooner you plan for it financially, the less you are likely to have to put aside. Planning for your financial future early in your working life will allow you to make longer-term and potentially more rewarding investments.

But new insight from Aviva suggests we are masters of the art of procrastination, especially when faced with reviewing our finances. In a recent survey, Britons would rather vacuum (31.5%) or change their bed sheets (23.9%) than review their finances (22.1%) when at a loose end on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

Women would apparently rather vacuum (31.2%), change bed sheets (27.5%), clean their bathroom (23.5%) or even tidy kitchen cupboards (20.3%) before reviewing their finances (19.2%). Men would rather work on their vacuuming (31.9%) than their finances (25.7%)

By age, all those under 45 would rather clean their bathroom than clean their finances. Those under 25 are twice as likely to choose to change their bed sheets (40.2%) than change their finances (19.9%). This may come as news to some student households.

Regionally, the English rank their finances third behind vacuuming and changing bed sheets; the Scottish place it fourth; for the Northern Irish it’s fifth; and in Wales it’s tied fifth with ironing.

It’s natural to procrastinate, but as Abraham Lincoln said, ‘You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.’ This is very true when it comes to planning our retirement. Perhaps, when it comes to our finances, today is the day we should stop waiting and start acting.

Don’t look forward to retirement that disappoints

We all lead busy lives, and we can often find a reason to leave our finances until the next day…or the day after that. But while we may be looking forward to the cleanest houses, we may also be looking forward to retirement that disappoints if we don’t make time to plan. If you want to review your existing retirement plans, please contact Reeves Financial on 01403 333 145 or email areeves@reevesfinancial.co.uk.

Source data:

Survey by Aviva UK of 2,000 people, Britons published 6 September 2016.

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