More than 70 per cent of Australians say they’ve been left no worse off financially by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, 14 per cent of those surveyed say they’re in a better financial position.

1500 people took part in the Newspoll survey.

57 per cent of respondents said they were in “about the same position” financially as they were pre-pandemic.

Tom Elliott admits he found the figure slightly surprising, given the loss of jobs and collapse of many small businesses.

Matt Hale, Director and Senior Financial Planner at Rising Tide Financial Services, told 3AW Drive many respondents had possibly answered with a short-term view.

“First and foremost, many Australians think about the now and I think a lot of people in the now are potentially in a better financial situation because of a raft of reasons like the stimulus mortgage freeze and potentially less discretionary spend,” he explained.

But the removal of JobKeeper, JobSeeker and resumption of repayments could quickly change the trend of that survey.

“Their bank balance might look good right now, but there’s going to be an inevitable trade off down the track,” he said.

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