Nearly half of 18 to 34-year-olds ‘paying more attention to long-term finances’

People aged 18 to 34 are nearly twice as likely as the population generally to say they are now doing more long-term financial planning than before the coronavirus crisis took hold, a survey suggests.

Nearly half (46%) of 18 to 34-year-olds said they are now paying more attention to their long-term finances – nearly twice as many as the 27% of people across all age groups who said this.

The survey, from credit scoring company Credit Karma, found evidence that many people’s spending habits may have changed for good, even as lockdown restrictions are eased.

Nearly half (48%) of people across the survey of more than 2,000 people across the UK said that, in future, they will be less frivolous about their spending and 44% said they will be less spontaneous than they were before the pandemic.

Nearly a third (32%) said that in future they will go out less often than they did before the pandemic – rising to 40% of 18 to 34-year-olds.

Akansha Nath, a senior director at Credit Karma, said: “As we spend more time at home, many of us are pausing to reflect and re-evaluate our social lives – as well as our finances.”

She said for many people the crisis “means watching the pennies more closely and learning new ways to make our money go further as well as protecting our finances from future shocks”.