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While January is the traditional time to plan the years family holiday or sort out a new health regime, it appears that the over 50s are just as likely to spend January giving themselves a financial work out. Research by Saga Investment Services shows that just under half of people over 50 say they will spend time planning their finances in January.

With the ISA season upon us, this could be the reason why almost half of over 50s say they will spend around six and a half hours focussed on reviewing their finances in January, this rises to just over five hours for people in their 50s, many of whom maybe taking advantage of the pensions freedoms for the first time. Men are clearly the ones who lead on finances as they spend over 7 hours looking at their finances compared to almost six hours for women.

Apart from sorting out their finances, the biggest focus for the older generations in January is less surprising: to plan their holiday, with a little over four and a half hours devoted to this. A quarter of health conscious people say they will spend almost four hours planning for a healthier lifestyle and one in seven say they spend January focussing on a new hobby or interest to take up in 2017.

Sally Merritt, Head of Product, Saga Investment Services, commented: “While it's heartening that people put as much thought into their finances as their holiday, we know majority feel unprepared in the run up to retirement and sometimes daunted by the prospect of getting to grips with their finances.

“When we think about retirement most of us simply hope to continue to do the things we love after we stop working and one of the best ways to make that happen is to review your personal finances to make sure you’re on track to reach your goals. But it’s all too easy to put it off until a later date.

“It sometimes helps to look at your finances in bite size chunks and we’ve tried to make it easier with our Look Ahead tool, which enables you to put in some simple information about your pensions and savings and the sort of retirement you want and then lets you know if you are on track to achieve this.

“The new year is the perfect time to think about the things you’ve been looking forward to doing – like planning your holidays or taking up a new hobby – but it can also be a great time to do the things you’ve been putting off, like getting in shape, or reviewing your personal finances.”

Ends

Notes to editors

*Populus interviewed 9,128 people aged 50 over, online between 13^th and 19^th December2016. Populus is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.

About Saga Investment Services

Saga Investment Services has been developed to open up the world of investing and financial planning to the UK’s over 50s in the run up to and throughout retirement, and to make the process as simple and stress-free as possible. Customers can invest from just £100, and have access to investment advice and financial planning services. Saga Investment Services champions a straight forward and transparent approach to investing, and is a proud member of the Plain English Campaign. It is a joint venture between Saga, the leading provider of services to the nation’s over 50s, and Tilney Bestinvest, the expert investment and financial planning group.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

The value of investments, and the income derived from them, can go down as well as up and you can get back less than you originally invested. This press release does not constitute personal advice. If you are in doubt as to the suitability of an investment please contact one of our advisers. Past performance is not a guide to future performance