Policy/Action

Borrowing over the Lifecycle Research Findings

Borrowing Through the Life-Cycle research by the Personal Finance Research Centre at the University of Bristol, sponsored by Standard Life examining trends in debt and borrowing within the UK looking in particular at the propensity to borrow at different stages of the life cycle.

This research, which is attached together with a summary of the key findings, brings into sharp focus some of the current key pressure points:

• High levels of reliance on borrowing among the 20 – 50 age group
• Borrowing, particularly among younger people, is increasingly used to finance lifestyles rather than to reflect need
• There is a direct correlation between levels of borrowing and its availability and cheapness
• Housing equity is seen as the solution to all future financial needs
• Young people increasingly use insolvency and debt consolidation as ways of dealing with debt problems and see no stigma in bankruptcy

Debate - PA Newsletter

Debate is the recently launched Standard Life Public Affairs newsletter issued quarterly by email to a wide range of external contacts, including politicians (Westminster and Holyrood), the media, think tanks, the European Commission, European Parliament and opinion formers. It reflects the wide range of public policy issues in which Standard Life, as a business, is engaged.

• Debate - April 2008
• Debate - November 2007
• Debate - July 2007