UK savers and investors’ priorities are shifting from using finances to enjoy life to ‘just getting by’ due to the cost-of-living crisis gripping the nation, according to a new report.

Women are more likely to be prioritising meeting the rising cost of living, according to the report from Aegon.

A third (33%) of men said meeting the rising cost of living was one of their top financial priorities, in comparison to 49% of women.

Older savers were also more likely to be prioritising meeting the rising cost of living. Half (47%) of those over 55 were priorising this compared to only 40% of those between 35 and 54 and 35% of those aged 18 to 34.

For the rest of 2022 the UK adults surveyed said their top financial priorities will be meeting the rising cost of living (41%) and ‘just getting by’ (31%).

This compares with last year when a third of those surveyed (34%) said they were prioritising enjoying their lives with their finances.

Less of those surveyed were prioritising saving. At the beginning of the year, a third (32%) were prioritising building up emergency savings, but this dropped to only one in five (21%) in August.

This drop was bigger for men than it was for women (from 31% to 18% compared to 33% to 23%).

Generation X saw the biggest drop from 38% to 28%, while those aged 18-34 saw a smaller drop of 5% (to 21%).

Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, said: “With inflation at its highest since the 1980s and predictions suggesting it could reach above 18% in January, there’s no doubt now is an incredibly financially challenging time for everyone and as a result financial priorities have changed. The findings are a clear reflection of the nation’s mood and reinforce that cost-of-living will be one of the biggest challenges facing the new prime minister when appointed on 5th September.

“The biggest shift in financial priorities has been amongst women and the over 55s. While it's dangerous to generalise, the gender difference may be because men traditionally tend to take a longer-term approach to finances, whereas women are typically more risk averse and more likely to lead on shorter-term, day-to-day financial priorities, which may make them feel the current crisis more acutely. The over 55s may be particularly concerned at the prospect of retiring on a fixed income in the nearer future.”

Opinium surveyed 2,000 UK nationally representative adults on behalf of Aegon between 29 July and 2 August 2022.