58 percent of British adults over 50 manage their finances online - study

A recent study conducted in the UK shows that a large percentage of adults over 50 rely on the Internet to perform a wide variety of financial tasks, from money transfers to family members to online bill payments. Thus, 58 percent of British over 50s manage their finances online, with a further 41 percent also engage in e-commerce activities such as booking their holidays online.

Despite the popularity of the Internet in this age sector, security is nevertheless seen as an important issue. As a result, while 59 percent of survey respondents have no problem with making online purchases, 51 percent stress they will only shop from websites they regard as secure while 27 percent of interviewees declare they only choose to shop from British websites.

Location is also an important factor when it comes to using the Internet for personal finances management. 64 percent of adults over 50 report they feel safe accessing their online accounts and engaging in financial transactions at home, however only 5 percent of respondents are willing to check their bank balance from their computer at work and an ever lower percentage (2%) would feel safe accessing their online banking account from a public or shared computer.

When it comes to people over 70, the situation is somewhat different, as 31 percent of them admit to having “no confidence” in online banking, compared with 21 percent of those aged between 50 and 59 who share their opinion. What is more, a larger percentage of people over 70 are willing to pay online only with a credit card – 35 percent compared to 27 percent of people aged 50 to 59 who would do the same.

Finally, the survey also points towards the existence of an age divide when it comes to online banking and online shopping. Thus, 30 percent of women over 50 believe online banking is unsafe, while 70 percent of men do not share their opinion and feel comfortable banking online from home.

Also, only 29 percent of women over 50 are confident enough to input their credit/debit card details when making online purchases.

The data was gathered and centralized by UK financial service provider Alliance & Leicester.