ILCU's Final 2011 ‘Whats Left’ Disposable Income Tracker Results
Media Release: 09 January 2012
70% feel that the amount they have left over each month after paying essential bills has fallen during the past year
55% now struggling to pay household bills on time
83% fear that 2012 will be an even more difficult financial year
Increase in energy and fuel costs have negatively impacted 86% of Irish consumers
9% likely to give up private health insurance in 2012 and a further 31% likely to give it up if there is a further fee increase
Tesco most popular option for weekly grocery shop followed by Dunnes and the low cost German retailers Lidl and Aldi
The Irish League of Credit Unions has today announced the results of the final 2011 ‘What’s Left’ disposable income tracker index. Throughout 2011, the tracker index recorded how much disposable income Irish people had, where they were spending their money and the financial hardships they were facing. The final set of results look at comparative trends throughout 2011 and outlook for 2012.
Disposable Income
The study shows that overall disposable income remains under pressure for the majority of Irish people. 70% feel that the amount that they have left over after paying the essential bills each month has fallen during the last 12 months with working adults in particular finding that their disposable income is decreasing.
Saving
48% of Irish adults continue to find it difficult to save money in the current environment, this figure remains on par with findings throughout 2011. The numbers of those who have the ability to save (33%) has fallen slightly by 3% from September (36%). The average person can now save €192, a 9% fall from September figures.
Impact of Energy Cost Increases
The increase in energy and fuel costs have negatively impacted the spending ability of 86% of Irish consumers. A typical consumer spends €145 on fuel each month. (Fuel includes petrol, diesel, coal, turf, peat, oil and gas.)
Private Health Insurance
A huge concern at the moment is the increasing costs of private health insurance. When questioned about private health insurance, of those that have - 9% stated that they will have to give it up in 2012 because they can no longer afford it. A further 31% say they will be forced to give it up if there are any further price increases.
Groceries / Shopping
The largest bulk of grocery shopping tends to take place in Tesco (38%) followed by Dunnes (20%), Aldi (11%), Lidl (10%) and Supervalu (8%), Superquinn (6%)
Household Bills
As expected, mortgage and rent continue to be the most expensive bills for the majority of Irish adults (75%). There has been a slight shift in the second and third categories with groceries / shopping now the second most expensive bill (62%) followed by utility bills (59%). This is the first time in 2011 that groceries were considered the second most expensive household bill. Loan repayments and credit cards have dropped in the ranking of essentials bills and insurance has increased slightly which may be due to the recent premium increases.
Delayed Household Bill Payments
55% of consumers now struggle to pay their bills on time. This is a marked increase from the 42% in the September tracker. TV license, bin charges and TV / Telecoms are the most likely bills to be put off by consumers.
Impact of Budget
67% believe that the 2% increase in VAT announced in Budget 2012 will have the most impact on them and possibly discourage spending throughout 2012. After the VAT increase, respondents ranked the increased student registration fees, public transport costs increases and fuel allowance cut as having the most impact on them.
Looking to 2012
83% fear that 2012 will be an even more difficult year financially to 2011. 24% of respondents stated that are very worried about how they are going to manage in 2012 with 6% stating that they will not be able to cope at all and they don’t know what to do. 52% state that they should be ok but they will need to watch their household budgets very closely.
Sentiment
There has been little change in sentiment among those who have less than 5% of their income left after they pay essential bills – 82% worry how they will cope with unforeseen expenses, 71% worry how they will cope with any further changes to social welfare, 59% believe they are living to work as opposed to working to live. 41% do not see a future for themselves in this country and 33% feel that they would be better off not working if there is a further change to the minimum wage.
My BudgetBuddy
It is clear that budgeting will go some way in helping many to manage their money this year. To help people do this, the Irish League of Credit Unions has launched My BudgetBuddy, an easy to use personal money management smart phone app. It allows people to keep track of what they are spending and helps make maximum use of their income. The new app is not only mobile - budget information to a PC. My BudgetBuddy is fully integrated with Facebook and Twitter, enabling people to stay up to date on credit union and other relevant news. My BudgetBuddy is compatible with iPhone and android handsets. It’s simple, it’s effective and it’s free to download from the Apple App Store and Android Market. For more information visit www.creditunion.ie
Commenting on the final ‘What’s Left’ Disposable Income Tracker ILCU CEO Kieron Brennan said: “ This is our final 2011 disposable income tracker and as we look to the new financial year it is interesting to see how Irish people have been managing their finances in the face of increasing costs and austerity measures.
In each of our trackers in 2011, we saw disposable income continue to shrink for the population and we will be looking to see if this trend continues throughout 2012. As expected, fuel and energy price increases have had a significant impact on the spending ability of the Irish population. The increasing costs of private health insurance is a big concern for many families and our results show that a number of people will have to give it up this year because they can no longer afford it.”
He added: “As we look to the year ahead, we once again encourage those who find themselves in a difficult financial situation to know that they are not alone. Remember that if you are in financial difficulty to contact your bank or credit union at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss your situation. In an effort to help those who may want to keep a close eye on their household budgets and manage outgoing expenses, the Irish League of Credit Unions has today launched its new budgeting smart phone app – MY BUDGETBUDDY. The app is available free of charge to download from the App Store and Android Store.”
-Ends-
Notes to Editor
About the Tracker Survey
The survey was conducted by Market Research Company iReach during the period of December 2011 (post Budget) using the iReach Consumer Decisions Research Panel which delivered 1,000 responses from adults in Ireland aged 18+ to 65+ and is nationally representative by Age, Region, Gender and Social Class. This research has a confidence level of 95% and confidence interval of 4%.
About the Irish League of Credit Unions
The Irish League of Credit Unions is the representative body for over 494 Credit Unions on the island of Ireland. It is Ireland’s successful, not-for-profit, financial co-operative run by – and for – its 3 million members.
For further information, please contact Emma Casey, ILCU Communications Department 01 614 6781
Highlights and comparative data from the final 2011 ‘What’s Left’ tracker undertaken by iREACH Market Research on behalf of the Irish League of Credit Unions. Statistics are given with population equivalents where possible.
Tracker 1 = April
Tracker 2 = June
Tracker 3 = September
Tracker 4 =December
Essential Bills
The highlights from the ILCU ‘What’s Left’ tracker found again that as expected respondents stated that mortgage and rent were the largest / most important bills for respondents ( 75%). This is followed by groceries (62%) and utilities (59%). Transport / car (25%), loan repayments (22%), health insurance (21%), credit cards (18%) followed by education fees (8%), telecoms / TV (6%) and childcare (6%)
Of all respondents
8% or 280,000 believe that their disposable income does not even cover their essential bills
10% or 350,000 have nothing left after paying their essential bills
28% or 980,000 now have very little left each month after essential bills are paid
18% or 630,000 have 6-10% of their income left after paying for essentials
20% or 700,000 have 11-20% of their income left after paying for essentials
Those who have enough to enjoy themselves (20% or more of their income left) has reduced to 16% or 560,000, this represents a continuous fall from previous trackers
|
Money Left (ALL): |
Tracker 1 |
Tracker 2 |
Tracker 3 |
Tracker 4 |
|
It doesn’t even cover essentials |
6% |
8% |
8% |
8% |
|
Nothing (0%) |
7% |
7% |
12% |
10% |
|
Very Little (1-5%) |
21% |
23% |
25% |
28% |
|
A small amount (6-10%) |
19% |
19% |
18% |
18% |
|
Just enough (11-20%) |
27% |
23% |
20% |
20% |
|
Enough to enjoy myself (20%) |
20% |
20% |
17% |
16% |
Of those that work
7% or 126,000 workers find their disposable income does not even cover essential bills. A further 7% or have nothing left after they have paid their essential bills.
26% or 468,000 have1-5% of their disposable income left after paying their bills.
18%% or 324,000 have 6 -10% of their disposable income left after paying their bills.
23% or 414,000 have 11-20% of their disposable income left after paying essential bills.
19% or 342,000 have 20+% of their disposable income left after paying essential bills.
|
Money Left (EMPLOYED): |
Tracker 1 |
Tracker 2 |
Tracker 3 |
Tracker 4 |
|
It doesn’t even cover essentials |
5% |
6% |
6% |
7% |
|
Nothing (0%) |
5% |
6% |
11% |
7% |
|
Very Little (1-5%) |
19% |
20% |
25% |
26% |
|
A small amount (6-10%) |
20% |
19% |
18% |
18% |
|
Just enough (11-20%) |
29% |
26% |
20% |
23% |
|
Enough to enjoy myself (20%) |
22% |
23% |
20% |
19% |
Of those that have 5% or less of disposable income left each month:
82% of those that have less than 5% left worry about how they will cope if unforeseen expenses arise
71% of those that have less than 5% left agreed that they are living to work as opposed to working to live
59% of those that have less than 5% left fear that they will not be able to cope if there are any further changes to social welfare / income, an increase from 57% in the September tracker
41% of those that have less than 5% left do not see a future for themselves or their family in this country, an increase from 38% in the September tracker
33% of those that have less than 5% left believe that with changes to the minimum wage they would be better off not working, a significant reduction from 41% in the September tracker
Saving
48% are unlikely to have money to save in the current economic climate, this is on par with the September findings. 33% are able to save in the current environment. The average person able to save money can now save €192 each month, this is down from €210 in September.
|
Saving Each Month: |
Tracker 1 |
Tracker 2 |
Tracker 3 |
Tracker 4 |
|
<€50 |
n/a |
19% |
14% |
12% |
|
€51-€100 |
n/a |
15% |
13% |
18% |
|
€101-€150 |
n/a |
10% |
10% |
14% |
|
€151-€200 |
n/a |
9% |
11% |
11% |
|
€201-€250 |
n/a |
8% |
11% |
9% |
|
€251-€300 |
n/a |
7% |
6% |
9% |
|
€301+ |
n/a |
32% |
35% |
27% |
|
Average: |
n/a |
€195 |
€210 |
€192 |
Changes from last Year
70% of all adults or 2.45 million adults have less disposable income left after paying their bills than this time last year
|
Money Left (ALL): |
Vs. 1 Year Ago |
|
Decreased |
70% (63%) |
|
Remained the Same |
22% (23%) |
|
Increased |
8% (14%) |
TOP Essential Bills as ranked by survey respondents
|
Top Essential Bills: |
Tracker 1 |
Tracker 2 |
Tracker 3 |
Tracker 4 |
|
1. Mortgage / Rent |
72% |
76% |
75% |
75% |
|
2. Groceries / Shopping |
51% |
51% |
55% |
62% |
|
3. Utility Bills |
55% |
58% |
56% |
59% |
|
4. Transport / Car |
26% |
26% |
26% |
25% |
|
5. Loans / Repayments |
25% |
25% |
28% |
22% |
|
6. Health Insurance |
24% |
19% |
18% |
21% |
|
7. Credit Cards |
25% |
24% |
24% |
18% |
|
8. Education / Fees |
9% |
8% |
11% |
8% |
|
9. Telecoms / TV |
5% |
7% |
5% |
6% |
|
10. Childcare |
5% |
5% |
5% |
6% |
Delayed Bill Payments – 55% do not pay all of their bills on time, a breakdown of this is below
|
Delayed Bill Payments: |
Tracker 1 |
Tracker 2 |
Tracker 3 |
Tracker 4 |
|
TV License |
n/a |
19% |
15% |
21% |
|
Bin Charges |
n/a |
10% |
8% |
12% |
|
TV / Telecoms |
n/a |
9% |
8% |
8% |
|
Electricity |
n/a |
5% |
6% |
5% |
|
Mortgage |
n/a |
2% |
2% |
4% |
|
Gas |
n/a |
1% |
1% |
2% |
|
Other (credit card) |
n/a |
1% |
2% |
3% |
Areas of the Budget that will have the most impact
|
Impact of Key Budget Areas for 2012: |
Tracker 4 - December |
|
1. VAT Increase |
67% |
|
2. 3rd Level Student Registration Fee |
9% |
|
3. Public Transport Cost Increases |
7% |
|
4. Fuel Allowance Cut |
5% |
|
5. Child Benefit Cut for 3rd and Subsequent Children |
4% |
|
6. Part Time Job Seekers Benefit Cut |
3% |
|
7. Disability Allowance Cut |
2% |
|
8. Changes to Lone Parent Benefits |
1% |
|
9. Back to School / Footwear Allowance Cut |
1% |
|
10. School Transport Increase |
1% |
Groceries / Shopping – most popular option for weekly shopping
|
Bulk of Food Shopping Takes Place in: |
Tracker 4 - December |
|
1. Tesco |
38% |
|
2. Dunnes Stores |
20% |
|
3. Aldi |
11% |
|
4. Lidl |
10% |
|
5. SuperValu |
8% |
|
6. Superquinn |
6% |
|
7. Shop in the North |
2% |
|
8. Local Shop |
2% |
|
9. Marks & Spencer |
1% |
|
10. Other (ASDA, Sainsbury’s, Centra) |
2% |