With summer almost in sight, Lemonade Reward reports that for employees, sprucing up the home and garden will take top priority over sorting personal finances this March; a task which it says is as popular as ‘putting out the bins’.
In its ‘spring clean’ online poll*, the employee benefits firm found 73% of staff have set aside a personaltask for spring; their top three chores are sprucing up the garden, de-cluttering the house/window cleaning and re-decorating. Those without a major job in their sights said their most dreaded chores were deep-cleaning the bathroom, ironing and in equal ranking, dusting/sorting out personal finances/putting out the rubbish (marginally ahead of washing-up, vacuuming and gardening).
Spring clean enthusiasts also identified; clearing out the loft, garage and/or shed and painting as key priorities. Washing curtains/blinds/shutters, painting the shed and/or fences, power-hosing the drive and/or patio and sorting out personal finances were equally ranked, ahead of re-seeding the lawn and cleaning out the pond.
Thirty nine per cent of respondents say completing their ‘spring clean’ or ‘dreaded chore’ takes them more than one day while 31% whip through in two to three hours. When it comes to money management however, 36% are sluggish, taking from three months to a year to review their personal finances. Ten per cent never undertake this task.
Over a third of people – 37% – concede they don’t know where to start to put their finances in order, and this says Lemonade Reward managing partner, David Pugh, “is the stumbling block.” Common financial concerns are not having enough savings to fall back on (24%), not having enough in retirement to live on (20%) and not being able to save on a regular basis (18%).
The most popular source of help is financial websites (37%) and family/friends (36%). Fourteen per cent say they wouldn’t know where to go and no one it appears would turn to their employer for advice.
David continues:
“I’m concerned to find sorting out your finances is as much a despised chore as putting out the rubbish, particularly as it’s something that can be addressed with employer support. Our survey** last year found 94% of employees think their bosses should set aside budgets to provide financial education in the workplace, confirming this provision should be a necessity rather than a perk.”
Lemonade Reward’s financial education programme tailors content and delivery for differing life stages, offers employees free financial health checks and signposts to solutions to achieve their goals and support from a Lemonade Hero – a financial fitness mentor whose sole purpose is to help get the finances on track. To find out more visit www.lemonadereward.com