Money Nut

It's an all too familiar concept at the moment - so many people are losing their jobs due to redundancies, because so many firms are falling into administration. But are you prepared for if you lose yours? According to moneyexpert.com, a large proportion of us don't have any contingency plan in place at all, in case they were to lose their employment.

30% were found to be in serious difficulty with their essential needs within two months of being made redundant. 15% were found to be in trouble within a month.

The jobless total has now risen to an 8 year high of 1.86 million.

Almost two thirds of Brits end up runnin gout of cash before their next pay day - a bit of an alrming figure, when you think of it. The disposable income available to people now has dropped by 29% in the past two years - the reason why many people are struggling to remain within a budget.

It would also seem to prove useful for people who haven't made a budget for a while, to do one. If families are living their lives with a budget that doesn't apply anymore due to disposable income falling, then it would explain why so many people are struggling to last 'til payday. By re-doing a budget, to fit with current conditions, it may help people to stay afloat and not rely on overdrafts etc. until their next pay cheque gets cashed.

It's been claimed that forcing a sale in today's market, or inflicting repossession onto homeowners, doesn't achieve a thing. Instead, mortgage lenders have been recommended to offer more support to their borrowers, by offering reduced repayment plans instead, for example.

If this sort of method was implemented by banks, people who are struggling with debts would be ablt to increase their repayments as and when they can, or even sell their property to repay their lender - rather than being issued with a repossession notice etc.

Have you ever lied about what secured loans, personal loans, credit cards and debt you have? Apparently, a lot of Brits are getting into the habit of telling a few porkies about their debts, espcially to their partner, friends and family members.

According to a study by Axa, 44% of people aged 25-44 have lied about money. Overall, one in 3 people have lied to their significant other or a relative and the situation is likely to get worse as the crunch continues.

People may be tempted to keep schtum about just how much debt they have, but is it really the sensible thing to do? With bankruptcy levels increasing by 12% over the last few months, and news of 275 people declaring themselves bankrupt or insolvent every day, I would have thought that burying your head in the sand and not telling people the truth about your situation could only make things worse?

Over half of the UK population have taken action to clear debts. A new survey from Lloyds TSB has found that 55% of people have made steps towards becoming debt free over the past 6 months.

32% have increase repayments and 19% have focussed on repaying debts with higher interest rates such as store cards. 34% have also said that they have been forced to change their spending habits. However, 37% are neglecting their savings - 1 in 5 have less than £500 stashed away - not much in this day and age really.

The Government have revealed that a large number of uni leavers have been in debt for a decade, and many more could be facing the same problem in the future.

According to recent figures, one-third of uni leavers, since student loans were introduced in 1998, have not made repayments on the money they borrowed. This is because 400,000 students haven't earned the minimum salary of £15,000, which is needed to repay student loans. The number of students expected to earn under this amount is expected to increase, as employers are limiting their graduate positions.

Approximately half of all Brits who are approaching retirement age fear that they have not saved up enough money to live comfortably in old age. According to Hartford Life, 54% of women aged 45 to 54 either feel somewhat, or very, concerned about this issue. 45% of men of the same age felt the same.

the crunch was cited as a possible reason for these concerns, with about 55% of the age group saying that they are thinking more about their present finances, rather than saving for retirement.