Inflation is having an effect on the mental health as well as the financial health of Atlantic Canadians, a new survey suggests.
According to the poll, conducted by Ipsos on behalf of the national accounting firm MNP LTD, higher costs and interest rates appear to be causing something called “inflation isolation.” More than half of Atlantic Canadians who were surveyed — 55 per cent of respondents — say they are staying home more often to save money, while two in five say they are spending less time socializing to cut spending.
Other findings:
- Atlantic Canadians are the most likely to be experiencing a sense of social isolation (32 per cent) compared to people in other provinces. One in five feels a sense of loneliness.
- Atlantic Canadians are the most likely to be feeling increased anxiety as a result of inflation and high interest rates, compared to the other provinces (55 per cent).
- More than half (52 per cent) don’t believe they will be able to cover all of their living and family expenses in the next 12 months without going further into debt, up a staggering 11 points from the previous quarter.
Tina Powell, a licensed insolvency trustee with MNP LTD, said people who are burdened by debt will also withdraw from social engagements and relationships because they are worried they will be judged, or feel a sense of shame about the debt they are carrying.
Powell said many Atlantic Canadians are feeling pessimistic about their finances.
“Significantly more are feeling less confident about their ability to deal with unexpected expenses like a car repair, an income disruption, health issues, relationship status change, so there’s many different variables,” she said in an interview with CBC News: Compass host Louise Martin.
A third of Atlantic Canadians have reported paying more in their monthly debt payments compared to a year ago. Eleven per cent are paying more than $200 in additional debt payments each month compared to a year ago, and 52 per cent don’t believe they will be able to cover all of their living and family expenses in the next 12 months without going further into debt, up 11 points from the previous quarter.
“We see that people are carrying massive amounts of debt and many are feeling financially pressured because they don’t understand the complexity of personal finances and debt and that leaves them making ill-informed decisions about their ability to deal with their debt,” Powell said.
Her advice to people feeling anxiety about debt is to make a budget, listing all forms of income and expenses.
It’s critical that people know they are not alone.— Tina Powell
Debt consolidation, consumer proposals or even bankruptcy are other options, she said.
“It’s critical that people know they are not alone. Help is available and there is a way to resolve their financial difficulties.”
For the survey, 2,000 Canadians aged 18 years and over were interviewed between Sept. 5 and 8. Weighting was then employed to balance demographics to ensure the sample’s composition reflects that of the adult population according to census data and to provide results intended to approximate the sample universe.
The precision of Ipsos online polls is measured using a credibility interval. In this case, the poll is accurate to within 2.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20, had all Canadian adults been polled. The credibility interval will be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys and polls may be subject to other sources of error, including, but not limited to, coverage error and measurement error.