As we hurtle towards the end of one year and the beginning of yet another year full of good personal and financial intentions, good indication of how ready consumers might be to invest in new products and services is how fundamentally financially secure (or not) they feel. Latest findings from Kantar Media’s TGI consumer data for the Republic of Ireland reveal that 18% of adults claim to be living comfortably on their present household income, whilst 11% claim to be finding it very difficult.
There are some stark differences by Lifestage between these two audiences. Those who feel they are living comfortably on their income are 34% more likely than the average adult to be ‘Empty Nesters’ (aged 55+, married/living as a couple and do not live with son or daughter) and 21% more likely to be ‘Senior Sole Decision Makers’ (aged 55+, not married/living as a couple and live alone).
Conversely, those who are finding things very difficult are 65% more likely to be ‘Secondary School Parents’ (live with son or daughter and youngest child aged 10-15) and 29% more likely to be ‘Primary School Parents’ (live with son or daughter and youngest child aged 5-9) – this is completely understandable as the income of parents with young dependents is likely to be more stretched.
The attitudes that skew towards these two groups are also very telling. Those who claim to be living comfortably on their present income are more likely than the average adult to have a strong focus on managing their money carefully. They are 35% more likely to say they usually consult a professional financial adviser before deciding on financial matters, 31% more likely to agree that they are very good at managing money and 23% more likely to say they only buy products from companies with whose ethics they agree.
Meanwhile, those struggling on their existing income are particularly likely to indicate that they have concerns over their spending. For example, they are 66% more likely to agree that they are no good at saving money, 46% more likely to say they worry a lot about themselves, 43% more likely to agree that when they do the household shopping they budget for every penny and 28% more likely to agree that with a credit card they can buy the sort of things they couldn’t normally afford.
When it comes to the media that engage these groups, those living comfortably on their income are seemingly particularly engaged by long-established media. They are 58% more likely to say they read the financial pages of their newspapers, 33% more likely to say that on television they enjoy the adverts as much as the programmes and 27% more likely to say they would be willing to pay to access content on magazine websites.
Those who really struggle on their income are particularly likely to interact with and respond to particular types of media promotion. They are 42% more likely to agree they tend to buy products from companies who sponsor TV programmes, 32% more likely to say they like to interact with advertising on touch screens in shopping centres, cinemas, airports etc and 32% more likely to say they tend to be influenced by reviews and comments put online by other internet users.
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