Biggest financial concerns for 2021

GROCERY costs, job security and energy prices are the biggest financial concerns for Australians heading into 2021.

Financial services firm Canstar’s latest Consumer Pulse report quizzed more than 2000 Australians on their fiscal outlook.

An overwhelming number ( 87 per cent) of people said they were actively trying to use less energy to help minimise rising household expenses, which they identified as groceries ( 12 per cent) and gas ( 9 per cent).

Job security ( 12 per cent) was also cited as a worry in a year where more than 3.5 million Australians registered for JobKeeper payments and a further 1.3 million went on JobSeeker.

Despite the tough times, half of the many Australians forced to work from home during the pandemic said they had managed to tuck away savings.

Canstar’s editor- at- large Effie Zahos said during the pandemic, “people either did really well out of it or you didn’t”.

“Some have done amazingly well and are able to save so much more, but others haven’t been able to do that and one in three had to dip into their savings,” she said.

“Things changed dramatically for us. When you shut down the economy, you close your wallet.”

The number of people living within their means has climbed from 66 per cent last year to 73 per cent this year.

Small business owner Stefanie Reilly, 35, from Brunswick in Melbourne’s inner north, runs a public relations agency and took a significant income hit at the beginning of the pandemic.

She signed up to JobKeeper but quickly took herself off the payments after her business income climbed by 1900 per cent.

“I went from one client and having to be quite frugal and having to tighten my budget to 14 clients during the pandemic,” she said.

“I’ve been able to save money and I’m looking at buying a property down the track.”

The amount of debt Australians are carrying has also fallen by 38 per cent, from $ 48,809 last year to $ 30,188 this year.

Latest Reserve Bank of Australia data showed Australians had smashed down credit card debts accruing interest from $ 27bn in March to just $ 20bn, the lowest level in 16 years.