The cost of living crisis is causing a large proportion of people to worry about their financial future, a new survey has found.
According to research carried out by askpaul.ie, 83 per cent of adults are worried about their financial future, with children’s education costs, starting a family and getting out of debt cited as areas of concern.
Meanwhile, 23 per cent of survey respondents said that household bills and costs are a source of worry.
It comes as inflation in Ireland reached an almost 22-year high of seven per cent in April.
They survey found that almost one in four people were struggling to meet mortgage or rent costs at present, while 18 per cent said they were finding difficulty meeting the costs of socialising. This was followed closely by transport and electricity costs at 12 per cent.
When asked what living costs people were considering cutting, socialising was the area 43 per cent said they would cut back on.
Some 10 per cent said mortgage or rent costs were something they have been reviewing as a way to cut costs.
Increasing mortgage rates
Commenting on the survey findings, Paul Merriman, CEO of askpaul & Pax Financial, said the cost of living crisis looks set to continue.
“I think the mortgage interest rates are going to start going up, as the European Central Bank is going to increase the mortgage interest rate by at least 0.25 per cent in the next quarter, if not by the end of this year.
“This is going to put massive pressure on homeowners as this will be followed by four to five other interest rate increases, which means by the end of 2023, we’re expecting interest rates to be increased by approximately 1–1.5 per cent”.
According to Mr Merriman, this means that variable and tracker rate mortgage holders will see their payments going up, on top of the increased energy cost and carbon tax, and on top of the cost of living increase.
“It is vitally important that if you have income coming into the household that you have a personal budget to understand where your money is going,” he said.
“I recommend doing these at least once a year, but with the cost of living going up so rapidly, you will probably want to be doing these on a monthly or a quarterly basis to make sure you’re making the necessary savings and cutbacks where you can.”
