There’s no fanfare, no certificate of achievement and no sudden transition to a calmer state of mind as everything finally falls into place. Instead, the realisation that you have a handle on your finances creeps up quietly, almost unnoticed.
This might happen when you open your payslip and, finally, everything on it (not just the headline number) makes sense – how your income tax, national insurance and pension contributions interlock, for example, and what significance they’ll hold in your future. Or it might be when a letter from your pension provider arrives and, instead of triggering that familiar pang of anxiety, it prompts you to think about increasing your contributions this year.
These are probably not the milestones that people look to when they’re growing up, but they could be far more significant than many others. For lots of us, financial confidence is about a gradual shift in mindset – from avoidance to engagement, from vague intention to deliberate choice.
Most people are financially active in some way – saving, investing and paying into pensions – but they do so against a backdrop of complexity and uncertainty. The rules are constantly changing, allowances are always shifting, and the cost of getting things wrong can feel overwhelming. As a result, financial confidence tends to build not through mastery, but through familiarity.
Take pensions, for example. Few people would admit to feeling enthusiastic about them at the outset, when pensions can seem abstract, long term and tied up in jargon. However, several years on, there comes a moment when pensions stop feeling like money that’s disappearing and start feeling like money that’s working for you. You understand tax relief and the difference between defined benefit and defined contribution schemes. You realise that small pension increases now can translate to meaningful choices later on, and that being engaged with your pension, its value and the factors that affect it, can create a strong and reassuring sense of empowerment.
Insurance is another point of contention. Over the years, it can feel like money that disappears into the ether; premiums paid for events you’d rather not contemplate, and, at times, it can seem an unnecessary expense. But gradually, as you understand what you’re protecting and why, it becomes a form of resilience. Whether it’s income protection, life cover or home insurance, the question is no longer, “Do I really need this?” but “What would I want covered if things didn’t go to plan?”. Choosing protection with intention, recognising when circumstances change, and understanding what insurance does and doesn’t do is another subtle, yet significant, sign of maturing financial confidence.
And then there’s the ultimate sign of financial maturity – making a will. Although fundamentally a protective measure, estate planning is notorious for making people procrastinate, largely due to the fear of facing mortality or losing control. For some people, the mere prospect of writing a will is scary, but actually doing so brings a kind of peace. It’s a way of saying, “I’ve thought about this, and I don’t want to leave a mess behind.” For many, that moment is not about wealth, but about responsibility; children, property, or simply the recognition that life is unpredictable.
What links these moments is intention. Financial confidence isn’t about perfection or certainty, because in the current economic and political climate, both are illusions. It’s about being informed enough to make choices, and flexible enough to revisit them. It’s about knowing when to seek expert advice, when to pause, and when to act.
There’s also a growing recognition that “having a handle on your finances” doesn’t mean having everything in the right place at all times. People everywhere are juggling what feel like conflicting priorities – saving for retirement while supporting grownup children, for example, or overpaying on a mortgage while caring for ageing parents. Trade-offs are inevitable. Confidence comes not from eliminating them, but from acknowledging them honestly.
This is where trusted institutions can play a role, not as distant authorities, but as long-term partners. Companies such as Aviva, with deep roots in the UK’s financial landscape, increasingly frame their role around support rather than instruction. That means clear information, accessible tools, an understanding that people’s needs change over time, and the recognition that confidence looks different at different life stages.
For someone in their 30s, their “I’ve got this” moment might be consolidating pensions from multiple jobs and realising they’re finally in one place. In midlife, it might be stress-testing finances against future scenarios – including illness, redundancy, longevity – and discovering that, while not everything is controllable, a lot is manageable. Later on, it could be the calm that comes from knowing that your financial affairs are in order and that choices are still available.
This “I’ve got this” moment builds gradually, through small acts of attention and preparation. It’s developing the confidence to open a letter instead of leaving it sitting on the kitchen table, and being secure in the knowledge that you could weather a setback. Finally, you achieve that sense of reassurance that, while the future may be uncertain, you’re not unprepared.
Perhaps the real badge of financial confidence is not ticking off a prescribed list of achievements but developing a relationship with money that is informed and intentional. It’s about recognising that you don’t need to know everything, just enough to keep going, to adapt, and to make choices that align with the life you want to live. And one day, without really noticing, you realise, you’ve got this.
Visit aviva.co.uk for support and guidance on life’s big financial milestones – you’ve got this
