AXA - Be Life Confident

- Where real people, real lives and real money issues meet -

Residents of 20 households are today putting their finances and lives under the microscope for a year with the launch of a ground-breaking social experiment from financial services giant AXA.

The ambitious project - dubbed 'AXA Avenue' - aims to use financial education and planning to help to try to tackle the UK's chronic money problem by offering half the households access to expert advice while the others, who will act as a control group, are left to their own devices.

AXA believes the experiment will help combat the UK's widespread financial apathy and inform the debate about how financial planning or the lack of it impacts on all aspects of our lives from day-to-day living to health and personal relationships.

Participants live in the same community in Brighton and are drawn from all walks of life - from driving instructors to film directors and from greenkeepers to graphic designers - and their financial positions range from comfortable to precarious.

The group assembled for AXA Avenue are representative of the UK as a whole and the results of the study, which will involve regular comparisons of their financial well-being over the year, will provide insights into how we, as a nation, handle our finances.

Kim Clemo of AXA comments: "There can be no doubt that the UK consumer faces a complex range of financial issues from high levels of personal debt to lack of planning for retirement.

"But, while we know these issues exist, there's no agreement on what the solutions should be. We're confident that some of the answers will emerge from AXA Avenue and we hope it will kick-start a serious debate about financial planning in much the same way Jamie Oliver did with school dinners."

Throughout the year-long experiment, there will be regular comparisons between both sets of households by Independent Financial Adviser (IFA) Saran Allott-Davey, Female IFA of the Year 2005. The experiment will also look at how access to expert advice affects our wealth but also our health and happiness. It comes at a time when there is a growing interest in personal finance with shows such as Bank of Mum and Dad and Spendaholics replacing DIY and gardening shows on the TV schedules. It is also hard on the heels of efforts to tackle other social issues such as obesity which have shown that innovative approaches to an issue are more effective than traditional 'shock tactics' and lecturing.

In preparation for the commencement of the experiment, Saran Allott-Davey conducted a thorough review of the personal and combined finances of all participating households. Saran assessed their total debt, how much general insurance and protection cover they have, how much they have in long-term savings and pensions and how much are they saving on a monthly basis - if at all. This review provides the starting benchmark from which the IFA and AXA will monitor any changes in the participants' attitude to money and their overall financial well-being.

"The experiment involves people at various life stages with different family situations, priorities and attitudes towards money," says Saran Allott-Davey. "Many regard finance matters as dull and boring and never talk about money even to their partners. For most people getting professional financial advice simply hasn't been on the radar. I'm looking forward to working with the AXA Avenue households and seeing attitudes change."

One of the participants, Kay Doherty, who works as a customer relations manager, said: "My main goal is to get my finances in order. I want to feel more in control. I am very keen to move house but before I can do that I need to get a clear idea of my current and future outgoings. Working with a professional financial adviser is going to give me an insight into managing my money that I would never have been able to access normally. I'm looking forward to feeling less anxious about my financial responsibilities."

'AXA Avenue' residents - some key facts:

• The average AXA Avenue property value is £201,111
• Only half of all the households contribute to a pension
• Average household income is £30,000 p.a.
• 60% of households are in debt (excluding mortgages) with credit cards, overdrafts, personal loans the largest contributors
• Of those in debt, the average amount owed is £14,327 (excluding mortgages)
• The average age of an AXA Avenue resident is 37 years, 5 months

The experiment

The 'AXA Avenue' social experiment will roll-out over 12 months with the first report and comparisons available at the end of January 2006.

- Ends -