Financial happiness is at a near two-year high, but uncertainty around the Autumn Budget may see the tide turn, according to Dynamic Planner.
The firm’s Financial Happiness Index showed sentiment rose for a fourth consecutive month in September.
The Index, based on the views of more than 4,000 people every month, recorded a rise of 0.03 to 3.94 in September, with financial happiness at its highest level since November 2024.
The biggest single-day rise came on the 9th September, the day it was announced UK GDP had grown by 0.4%. The Index was lowest on the 25th September, coinciding with a mood of anxiety in the media on topics including a potential war and climbing fuel prices.
However, uncertainty around tax rises could see the bubble burst, warns Dynamic Planner.
Dr Louis Williams, head of psychology and behavioural insights at Dynamic Planner, said: “The calm may not last. On the 30th of September Burnham’s “triple shock” headline landed alongside warnings that energy prices are set to soar in the new year, potentially the steepest rise in four years, a combination that should, if anything, point toward lower sentiment ahead. And the Budget at the end of this month is already being described as the defining early test of Burnham’s premiership.”
Potential changes include tax rises, spending cuts, as well as reform to social care and NHS funding.
Williams continued: “This is exactly the kind of pre-Budget uncertainty that has weighed on financial happiness before. Whether October repeats that pattern may depend less on what the Budget contains than on how much is leaked or speculated on beforehand.”
The Dynamic Planner Financial Happiness Index is based on a 12-question survey developed from the firm’s Financial Wellbeing Questionnaire. It measures three pillars; financial resilience, emotional resilience and financial knowledge and confidence.
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