| Financial advice alone is not enough to save Britons | | | | the financial wilderness. |
| from financial precariousness, it has been revealed. | | | | "So for 12 months the ten households were taken on |
| A spokesperson for AXA, Rachel West, has claimed | | | | a financial journey. If they had debt, we'd look at that |
| that even when afforded access to a financial advisor, | | | | first, then look at short to mid-term savings, moving on |
| Britons' financial difficulties still remain unresolved - | | | | to pensions. Some people had company schemes that |
| because many people are not motivated enough to | | | | they could join but just couldn't be bothered. Those |
| take measures to ensure they remain in the black. | | | | who had access were on average about £5,000 |
| According to Ms West, AXA's summations are based | | | | per household better off than those who were left to |
| on an experiment carried out on 20 households. While | | | | their own devices. Their savings pot, as a group, |
| ten households on one side of a street were made to | | | | dipped." |
| visit a financial advisor once a month for a year, the | | | | However, despite this revelation it was also found that |
| other ten households on the other side of a street | | | | people are reluctant to consult a financial advisor - |
| were allowed to manage their finances as they saw | | | | even when they realise that it could result in cost |
| fit. | | | | savings and improved savings account balances. |
| At the end of the study, the households which visited | | | | "The incredible thing was getting people motivated to |
| financial advisors were found, on average, to have | | | | do it," Ms West said. |
| £5,000 more to put in their UK savings accounts | | | | "You can have advice there, but trying to get people |
| than those who didn't. | | | | to engage and to bother to turn up for meetings... that |
| "For a 12 month period we tested whether if you have | | | | sort of thing is a hurdle. We actually offered the people |
| access to financial advice, it makes you better off, not | | | | on the other side of the street, the chance to spend |
| only financially but also emotionally, if you look at the | | | | time with [a financial advisor], and despite knowing how |
| levels of stress," Ms West confirmed. | | | | well their neighbours did, nobody actually took up the |
| "For 12 months we had 20 households taking part, ten | | | | offer. |
| on one side of the street who had access to an | | | | "Having advice is all very well but it's about how you |
| independent financial advisor and ten who were left in | | | | motivate and engage people," she concluded. |