18/08/03

British women are in control of their cash, according to a new survey by NatWest Internet Banking which found that over a third of women know the balance on their current account to the nearest £1. Men however have a much more laissez–faire attitude about their finances, with 35% only knowing their balance to the nearest £50 and 10% not knowing it at all.

A quarter of respondents in the north west know their balance to the nearest penny, whereas 38% of Londoners and East Anglians only know their balance to the nearest £50. A quarter of the Welsh did not know how much money they had in their account.

Despite these figures, 35% of respondents stated that they like to keep an eye on their spending and 26% made sure that they never went overdrawn and kept a tight control of their spending. Nearly 30% of men however said that they were fairly relaxed about their finances and didn’t let money worry them. Surprisingly, only 6% of respondents admitted to spending their money quickly and counting the days until pay day.

People in the West Midlands are most likely to keep a close eye on their finances and never go overdrawn, whereas the Scottish are most likely to be counting down the days until their next pay cheque.

British people however are definitely not obsessed with being rich, as three quarters of respondents agree with the statement ‘money can’t buy you happiness’. Men however are slightly more materialistic than women with over a quarter believing that having more money would definitely make them happier.

It is evident that Britons like to keep on top of their finances by the fact that over 1 in 5 people are using the internet to manage their money. Of those, over half check their balance once a week and 13% log on daily to monitor their spending.

David Head, Head of NatWest Internet, said: “More and more Britons are clearly keen to keep track of their finances and it is therefore encouraging to see that 21% of respondents in this survey use internet banking to control their cash flow.

“Although some people are still creatures of habit when it comes to managing their finances, the internet is becoming a very popular way to bank. We have seen a 15% growth in registered users for OnLine Banking in the last year, and at NatWest over one million customers have now applied to use our internet banking service.”

Provided by the NatWest