Women and 50-somethings ‘less likely than average to feel upbeat about finances’

Women and people aged in their 50s are less likely to be feeling positive about their finances for 2025 than the wider population, research suggests.

Three-fifths (60%) of people are feeling positive overall about their finances in 2025, up from just over half (52%) who felt this way going into 2024, according to a survey commissioned by pensions and investments business Aegon.

But within the survey, women (54%) and those aged 50 to 59 (47%) were less likely to be feeling positive about their finances.

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of men surveyed are feeling positive about their finances.

When asked for the top three financial priorities, enjoying life was the most common answer selected.

This was followed jointly by building up emergency savings and paying for basic living expenses.

Unexpected expenses was selected as the top financial concern.

The research also found that people in Wales were particularly likely to say they feel “extremely positive” about their finances for 2025, with nearly a fifth (19%) agreeing, as did 17% in London.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland, around one in 10 feel extremely positive about their finances, with 10% and 9% respectively feeling this way.

The average across the survey was 10%.

At the other end of the spectrum, only 5% of people in the South West of England said they feel extremely positive about their finances.

Just just over a third (35%) of people across the survey were feeling negative about their finances for 2025, with the remaining 5% preferring not to say.

Steven Cameron, director of pensions at Aegon, said: “As we enter 2025, it’s encouraging that positivity on personal finances has jumped, with 60% of individuals feeling positive overall about their finances, up from 52% who felt this way going into 2024.”

He added: “But beneath the surface of these positive headline findings, lurk challenging and persistent realities.

“Women across the age spectrum and people aged 50 to 59 are less likely to feel positive about their finances over 2025.”

He said that, among some 50-somethings, there could perhaps be a “growing realisation” that they have not managed to save enough for the retirement they want.

Mr Cameron said: “Undoubtedly there will be challenges for the year ahead – both in terms of individual and family household budgets, business confidence and wider economic factors that impact us all.”

Some 2,000 people were surveyed across the UK for the research by Opinium in December 2024.