Worrying about finances is nothing new. But as inflation has taken hold, and the cost of living has spiked without wages keeping pace, more and more people are starting to panic about their money. Financial anxiety has set in for billions of people – including some who haven’t felt the acute pressure before.

The term may not be familiar, but you might know the feeling: “the stress, worry or unease people experience due to their financial situation, including concerns about money, debt, expenses and financial stability”, says Jenna Vyas-Lee, a clinical psychologist and co-founder of mental-health clinic Kove. Financial anxiety can affect anyone from those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale living paycheque to paycheque, to those considered more traditionally ‘well-off’.

“Unemployment has been remarkably low since the pandemic, so most of the economic pressure comes from incomes not keeping pace with inflation, rather than people losing their jobs”, says Kerry Papps, a professor of economics at the University of Bradford, School of Management UK. So, while many people are still employed, they find that their salaries are stretched.

The ripple effects are manifesting around the world, but the UK is bearing the brunt of this problem, with prices set to rise faster in Britain than any other advanced economy in 2023, at 7.2%. As the Bank of England uses interest rates to fight inflation, mortgage rates have ticked up, with many people seeing huge increases to their monthly outgoings. In the US, in comparison, inflation is falling faster, but Papps says financial anxiety is rampant in America as well, particularly among peo