Financial wellbeing; a crucial building block for general wellbeing

As a financial services provider we know that financial security is central to a person’s overall wellbeing, and that positive contributing factors include building up and making savings and avoiding and managing debt. We also know that being out of your depth in any area of your life can have a serious knock-on effect on how you feel, and that it is knowledge, understanding and experience that give us a sense of control and comfort. These in turn support positive wellbeing.

One of the outcomes is Police Mutual’s delivery of free financial education courses. Last year we helped around 20,000 members of the Police family with their finances, and 92% of course attendees said they felt better equipped to make financial decisions for their future. Building up and making savings and avoiding and managing debt are central to our financial education courses.

Building up and making savings

Since Police Mutual was established in 1866 to help and support Police Officers and their families in times of hardship a lot has changed, but one thing has remained the same: encouraging and enabling members to save regularly. In 2016, more than 3,800 new Police Mutual members started the savings habit, and in total we paid out £63.7m on maturing plans.

While these statistics are impressive in their own right, it is the personal stories of what using a Police Mutual Regular Savings Plan (RSP) has enabled the member to do that really bring the statistics to life. So, I would like to share a story that I came across recently:

Jason Leng is a serving officer with Northumbria Police and has been with the force for almost 25 years. Shortly after starting as a new recruit, he took out a RSP to make sure some money was put aside for the future and the possibility of a family. Since then, he and his wife, also a police officer, have used RSPs to save for their family holidays.

Jason says: “Over the years, the pay-outs have been fantastic and because it’s all taken by salary sacrifice, from my payslip, I don’t even notice that the money has gone. My next pay-out will be around £6,500. I can’t believe it. I find myself thinking ‘how have I saved that much?’. The money will pay for next year’s family summer holiday with my wife and our children, and we can’t wait.”

Avoiding and managing debt

We know that many members of the Police Family owe money on more than one credit card or have several different credit agreements or loans in place. We appreciate that it can be tricky and stressful to keep track of them all, especially if you are making repayments on different days during the month and being charged different interest rates. This is why, together with our trusted loans partner, Neyber, we offer debt consolidation loans that could combine your debt into one monthly repayment that can help you take control of your finances.

Again, it is the individual stories that really bring to life the impact that a debt consolidation loan can make.

Pepe is a 43 year old officer originally from Italy, now living in Epsom. He says, “I had two credit cards and a small personal loan that I was paying off. Before I took the loan out, the interest that I was paying on the credit cards in particular was so high I just had the feeling that I was never going to clear it. I thought it was just going to go on and on and on… The application [for the loan I took out with Neyber through Police Mutual] was really easy… It’s a weight off my shoulders; I can see light at the end of the tunnel.”

Find out more about a Police Mutual Regular Savings Plan at https://www.policemutual.co.uk/savings-investments/. You can also find out more about personal loans from our trusted partner Neyber at https://www.policemutual.co.uk/personal-loans/.