Frances Cook

Well, yeah, I thought it was very interesting some of the things that came out in the budget.

Right.

So there was a little bit of grim news in there again when they were pointing out that inflation is going to keep going up, that the fuel crisis is going to stick around.

They've been using very soft language on the fuel crisis, but having this contingency fund suddenly pop up.

to keep things going, that's such a clear sign.

And looking at things like the house prices, that means interest rates are going to go up.

So I do think there's some very clear warning signs of at least not before the end of this year.

Unfortunately, I don't think people should expect things to get better.

Yes, yes, exactly.

And I think there's also, there can be a bit of a danger if we put our heads in the sand of just don't acknowledge it.

Then people don't take some of the preparation that can help a little bit.

And there's only a certain amount you can do, right?

It's hard when times are quite tough and have been tough for a while.

There's not much left.

But I think it's one of those things where unfortunately it's a bit like when you're dealing with stress or when you're having a health problem and they say, go for a walk and drink more water and get more sleep.

And you say, those are too simple to work.

And then you do it and it does help at least a little bit.

So I think it's about bringing it back in on those financial foundations and saying, okay, what can I control?

What can I do at this point?

And even if it's small, some of those little changes can help at this point, even for just getting that sense of control back.