Facts behind reduced public spending

Find out what you need behind-the-scenes to overcome reduced benefits.

10:53 04 May 2013

In recent news, Mr. Darling has urged caution when dealing with public spending. Currently the government is attempting to eliminate a total of £80billion from the public spending sector alone. This could have a significant impact on financial instruments.

 

What are financial instruments?

 

Assets which can be traded:

 

• Bonds
• Loans
• Stocks
• Bond futures
• T-Bills
• Equity futures
• Stock options
• Currency futures
• Spot foreign exchange
• Bank accounts

 

What potential impacts can consumers expect from the public spending reduction in relation to financial instruments?

 

• Capped unemployment benefits
• Reduced child benefits
• Fewer social programmes
• Less money for the Social Fund

 

All of these potential impacts mean that people may need to come up with alternate plans to make their budgets work. For some families, even a £10 per month could mean further stress and financial burden.

 

The government has a lot to juggle; their choice may be to make the cuts or risk losing all forms of public assistance by the year 2020. It is not the best of scenarios either way, so it’s important to find out what you can do to make your financial instruments work for you so you can overcome financial obstacles.

 

Make financial instruments work for you:

 

• Reduce monthly expenses—if you are already having difficulty meeting monthly expenses, there may not be much you can do to reduce further, but it doesn’t hurt to take another look at the budget. Freeing up cash is essential to weather financial storms, forgo the special coffee and put the savings in a jar instead.

 

• Consider relocation—people don’t often want to leave their familiar haunts and strike out into a different territory, but if a minor move means you’ll free up a lot of cash per month, it would be worth it as long as you’re still in a safe area.

 

• Invest—if you don’t already have financial instruments, invest in a savings account at the very least so you can earn interest on your money.