Financial News

• Brown dismisses housing crisis fears (09 04 2008 10:15)
• Mortgage hope offered by bank (09 04 2008 10:15)
• Consumer morale 'falls again' (09 04 2008 10:15)
• Bristol & West withdraws deals (09 04 2008 10:15)
• Retirees feel 'unhappy due to no longer working' (09 04 2008 10:15)
• Severn Trent to be fined £36m (08 04 2008 04:15)
• Brown to announce first time buyers help (08 04 2008 04:15)
• UK bank details 'for sale by thieves' (08 04 2008 04:15)
• Last 100% mortgage to disappear (08 04 2008 04:15)
• High earners 'shut out of market' (08 04 2008 04:15)

Subscribe!

Many Britons 'unprepared for recession'

Different attitudes to the slowing economy among different age groups have been detected by Fool.co.uk.

For its Recession Veterans vs Recession Virgins survey, the website questioned two generations: those who had previously lived through an economic downturn and those who had not.

The study's findings will make worrying reading for those worried about the current financial situation in the UK.

Just over one in four 'veterans' said that they had experienced a negative effect on their personal finances.

Among 'virgins', this figure went down just 25 per cent - and a further third of this group had no knowledge that a financial downturn might be approaching.

This could leave many people, used to cheap credit and favourable employment conditions, struggling if a recession hits.

Indeed, one third of 'virgins' also felt that they had "no choice" other than to live in debt.

David Kuo at Fool.co.uk advised: "In an economic downturn there will be opportunities and threats, and we can take steps to maximise the first and minimise the second.

"Simple measures such as reining in spending will ensure that we have a pot of spare money tucked away to see us through a slump."

Send this article to: