COVID-19: Women struggling with virus financial stress
Baby boomers are the ones mostly feeling the pinch of coronavirus financial anxiety while women are worried about paying for their children’s education and men fear failure, new data shows.
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Baby boomers are the ones mostly feeling the pinch of coronavirus financial anxiety while women are worried about paying for their children’s education and men fear failure, new data shows.
While financial stress rose across most demographic groups it remained higher for women than men and actually declined in the already unemployed, perhaps due to a feeling of “safety in numbers” according to NAB’s Financial Anxiety Index.
“With so many Australians expected to become jobless, those already unemployed may be looking at their financial situation in a slightly different light, perhaps with the feeling that more of their fellow Australians are in the same boat,” NAB’s Head of Behavioural & Industry Economics Dean Pearson said.
The financial worries keeping women awake at night were things like raising money for an emergency, their children’s education and mortgage or rent costs, while unemployed people particularly worried about providing for their family’s future, food and necessities, normal and other monthly household bills, and medical bills.
Because women still earn less than men their financial anxiety tended to be higher, 62.7 points compared to 60 for men, but the report also noted that while women worry about safety and security, “men are more likely to be concerned about issues such as shame and failure”.
Katherine Temple from the National Debt Helpline said they were seeing a spike in the numbers of people “extremely anxious” about their financial situation.
“We are certainly seeing a cohort of people who have not experienced financial hardship like this before,” she said, warning that the rise in vulnerable people was coinciding with an increase in scams. “Business is booming for those predatory payday lenders as they now have a much larger pool of desperate people to target.”
The NAB report dipped into the emotional impact finances have on our state of wellbeing.
“After 29 years of uninterrupted economic growth many Australians have become accustomed to a growing level of prosperity, so we would expect to see an impact on people’s sense of financial wellbeing due to the virus,” Mr Pearson said. “While the government has taken unprecedented action to support the economy, many Australians are likely to feel financially more vulnerable, even those that may have not been directly impacted to date.”
The report showed about one in four people in the lowest income group and aged 18-29 did not have enough for food and necessities and almost one in five unemployed Australians struggled to meet the costs of their medical bills.
It also indicated around a quarter of Australians spent more than they earned over the last three months, with the number significantly higher among lower income earners and by age, Australians aged 30-49 and 18-29 remain the most anxious age groups, however the biggest rise in financial anxiety occurred in the over 65 age group.
NAB have extended their usual internal MyCoach counselling service to all NAB staff and immediate family as well as NAB customers. This support provides customers with access to three independent, professional counselling sessions to help manage challenging issues and enhance emotional wellbeing.
Originally published as COVID-19: Women struggling with virus financial stress