Renters among the late-Millennial generation (25-34 years old) are one of the least financially resilient groups in the UK, according to a new study from LV=.
Based on research conducted with over 9,000 people, the first instalment of LV=’s ‘Income Roulette’ research found that more 55% of 25-34 year olds fall short of the Money Advice Service (MAS) recommended amount of savings to be financially resilient.
Resilience can be defined as someone who has 90 days’ worth of outgoings in savings, however the research found that 34% of late-Millennials could only survive for one month or less if they lost their income. These figures are even more pronounced for renters of this age, who make up almost half (45%) of the group.
65% of 25-34 year olds who rent don’t have the level of savings specified by MAS –almost double the national average (37%) – and 45% could only cope for one month or less without their income. In addition, 44% aren’t confident in their ability to handle a personal financial crisis, again far higher than the UK average (33%).
This group of renters among late-Millennials are particularly struggling with debt, leading to LV= dubbing them ‘Generation Debt’. 43% say they can’t save any money at all with student debt being this group’s biggest obstacle to saving (40%), followed by credit card bills (32%). Half (51%) have some form of unsecured debt and one in five (20%) owe more than £5,000. Further to this, double the national average are in their authorised overdraft (21% vs 11%) and this group are three times more likely to have a loan from friends or family (12% vs 4%).
If they were to lose their main source of income, fewer than one in ten (7%) renting 25-34 year olds have a form of income protection insurance to fall back on and cover their outgoings. The main reasons they gave for not considering income protection were that they think it would be too expensive (50%) or not trusting that it would pay out if they needed to make a claim (22%).
Justin Harper, head of policy for protection at LV=, said: “It’s worrying that so many 25-34 year olds have no idea how they would cope in a personal financial crisis, but those who rent are suffering even more. It’s clear that people in ‘Generation Debt’ are at risk of finding themselves struggling to make ends meet if they lost their income.
“With nearly half of older Millennials stuck in the cycle of renting, they’re missing out on the traditional touch-point of considering protection products when buying a home and as a result are more likely to have misconceptions about their real needs, advice and products. It’s vital this generation isn’t overlooked, and industry and government works together to ensure more people are able to increase their resilience to financial shocks both in the short and long term.”