Southampton Ranked UK’s Most Financially Confident City as Cambridge and Birmingham Rise

Brits are feeling increasingly confident about their finances compared to two years ago, despite continued economic headwinds, according to the latest Moneybox Financial Confidence Index* (FCI).

Now in its third year, the Index shows that financial confidence has strengthened across every area since 2024. Confidence in planning for a comfortable retirement has seen the biggest increase, rising eight percentage points from 46% in 2024 to 54% in 2026, while investing confidence has increased from 33% to 40% over the same period – representing an increase of more than a fifth overall.

While confidence growth has been more modest over the past 12 months, with savings dipping slightly from 84% to 83% and retirement planning easing from 57% to 54%, investing still sits well behind saving overall. These findings suggest that, despite encouraging progress, many people are still finding it harder to manage their longer-term finances than their day-to-day money or cash savings.

Confidence across the UK – Southampton goes from joint-bottom to the top 

The latest Index also reveals a significant shift in financial confidence across the UK.

Southampton has recorded the biggest increase of any city, rising seven percentage points from 62% in 2025 to 69% in 2026. The city has consequently moved from joint-bottom in last year’s rankings to become the UK’s most financially confident city.

Cambridge and Birmingham have both climbed four points, to 68% and 66% respectively, with Edinburgh, Leicester and Plymouth also seeing modest increases of +1%. At the other end of the scale, Belfast has recorded the biggest fall, down nine points to 65%, followed by Brighton and Hove (-6%), Glasgow (-4%), Bristol (-3%) and Norwich (-3%).

The confidence-building habits

Moneybox’s modelling shows how financial confidence is closely linked to the habits people build around money. Financially confident Brits are more likely to set long-term goals than those who lack confidence (85% vs 67%), research financial products (88% vs 71%) and make specific plans to achieve their goals and save or invest accordingly (86% vs 70%).

It also revealed how financially confident Brits draw their confidence from a broad mix of support, with 51% turning to personal sources such as friends, family or a partner, 40% using financial advice websites and 23% looking to news or social media. This suggests confidence is built not from one source alone, but a combination of trusted support, and taking the time to understand their finances.

For those who still lack confidence, the findings show there isn’t one single barrier holding people back. However, affordability is the biggest challenge when it comes to saving, while fear of losing money tops the list for investing. For retirement, almost half (46%) point to the rising cost of living, while 31% simply don’t know how much they need to save to retire comfortably. 

This is seeing a substantial difference in estimated net worth between the two groups, with financially confident Brits having an estimated net worth of £228,000, more than three times the £74,000 among those who lack confidence.

Brian Byrnes, Director of Personal Finance at Moneybox said: “While it’s encouraging to see financial confidence improving in the UK, we strongly believe there is a lot more work to be done to truly boost the nation’s financial wellbeing. Confidence can have a transformative impact on your life, but with progress slowing over the past 12 months – including dips in saving and retirement planning – it’s clear that feeling comfortable in one area doesn’t mean feeling secure across all of them.

“The next big challenge is helping people turn growing financial awareness into lasting habits. We all know knowledge is power, but confidence is what actually turns that knowledge into action, whether that’s starting to save, investing for the first time, or engaging with your pension earlier in life.

“Building this financial confidence isn’t about becoming an expert overnight. It’s about understanding your own habits and behaviours so you feel empowered to take control. The more people understand how they interact with money, the better placed they are to make decisions that work for them and stay on track towards their long-term goals.”