Covid-19 and financial wellbeing – Looking back on 2020 and what it means for ‘the new normal’
16 December 2020
Louise Foxton, Natalie Ogden, Zoe Sadler and Katie Sutton from First Actuarial’s financial wellbeing team look back at a challenging year for personal finance, with a video that offers tips for managing money in the new normal.
At the start of the pandemic, we recorded a webinar, which offered six top tips for managing personal finances during these challenging times. We made this available to all UK employers, and the take-up was considerable, with a number of HR and wellbeing teams asking us to record a bespoke version for their staff.
Our latest video, a financial wellbeing review of 2020, offers a chance to revisit those six top tips:
- Review spending – While outgoings in some households skyrocketed, others spent less. But in the face of ongoing uncertainty, it always makes sense to save.
- Get Covid refunds – From parking season tickets to flights and holidays, our checklist of refundable items remains useful.
- Save for a rainy day – Putting money aside now can generate even more savings later on, helping pay annual insurance premiums in one go, for example.
- Follow the golden rules of investment – The world of investment can intimidate many of us. To help people invest with confidence, we offer some basic rules to follow.
- Do those boring jobs – Whether it’s reviewing a utility provider or writing a will, there’s no better time to get around to doing those tasks most of us put off.
- Beware of scams – We look at a number of scams doing the rounds in the pandemic. Our pointers keep people one step ahead of the most sophisticated scammers.
A key tool for managing wellbeing, financial or otherwise, is to separate what we can’t control from the areas of life we can control. The rule of six; the three tiers; circuit breakers – these are just a few of the uncontrollable factors in our lives right now.
Our video focuses on some of the areas we can control, helping people think positively about how to use their time with some concrete suggestions on keeping on top of personal finances. These include two areas which we get asked about a lot in the financial wellbeing workplace programmes we run – the housing market and student loans.
Take a look at the video, which we’ve produced to help people adjust to the new normal.
Although people’s fortunes have varied considerably during the pandemic – depending on the sector they work in, for example, or the area of the country they live in – it’s surprising how many experiences we’ve all shared, even in isolation this year.
Just like the financial wellbeing programmes we run in UK workplaces, our video is designed to help people in a range of circumstances. With limited avenues of enjoyment and fun, it’s so easy to be despondent. But as we head into 2021, there are things we can do to promote wellbeing.
If you’ve enjoyed our end of year review, then you can still access our original Covid-19 financial wellbeing recording. The messages are still relevant as we look towards 2021 and the new normal. You can distribute the recording freely across your workplace if you’re a UK-based employer. Our useful tips are designed to take some of the pandemic strain off your workforce.
In case you’re unaware of First Actuarial’s financial wellbeing services, we provide impartial guidance. We don’t sell financial products and we’re not financial advisers. We’re here to help people understand money and think about their personal finances.
We wish you and your colleagues all the best for 2021.