Britons making financial New Year’s resolutions

One-third of Britons are looking to sort their finances out in 2014.

New Year's resolutions are a great platform for setting a budget and research from Gocompare.com shows how important money is to people. Aside from having greater control of their finances, individuals are also keen to get fit (54 per cent), eat more healthily (49 per cent) and lose weight (46 per cent). 

Of those planning a fresh start, 46 per cent admitted they genuinely want to change their behaviour, while 21 per cent said in the past they have given up on their pledges before the end of January.

Claire Peate, Gocompare.com's customer insight manager, said: "Resolving to make a change is always a good start, but good intentions on their own aren't sometimes enough. If you really want to sort out your finances and reduce your outgoings you need to start taking action. The good news is there are easy and practical steps you can take to change your finances for the better."

In terms of financial resolutions, reducing outgoings (38 per cent) is the number one concern as people have to be sure they can make ends meet. This is followed by saving more (32 per cent), getting out of debt (21 per cent) and shopping around for a better energy deal (17 per cent).

Caroline Rookes, chief executive officer of the Money Advice Service, thinks there needs to be a greater consideration of financial nous, as she added part of the problem stems from the inability of Britons to keep track of their finances and budget successfully.

She was speaking after the body announced its plans for the 2014-15 financial year, which outline the measures it feels are necessary in order to encourage a change in attitude from consumers. Included within this is a desire for financial advice to be made available to everyone. 

By Joe White