How Brexit Will Affect Your Money And Savings

Are you still trying to work out how much you'll lose if we leave? Or do you wonder what we'll gain if we go?

What would a Brexit mean for your bank account, your budget, your savings, your retirement plans? 

In the run up to the referendum, there have warnings about the FTSE100 falling, the pound plunging, and investors abandoning UK assets.

But financial markets are meant to move around, and they move most when the future is uncertain.

So if we wake up to a Leave win on 24 June, expect financial markets to do just that - move dramatically for a few days, maybe even a few weeks.

Those of us that could avoid big financial transactions in the month immediately after a Brexit result - should.

Frank Brehany, a consumer champion from Holiday Travel Watch, says: "What we are going to experience on the 24th of June will be a bit of a phoney war.

"If we do vote to exit it is probably going to be perhaps six months, or 12 months before we start to see the repercussions."

The lesson? Wait out any market wobbles for a few weeks.

But after that? Well, for most people (certainly I know this is true for me) planning household budgets, savings pots or retirement provisions - are all longer term projects.

It's the slow and steady saving, the savvy shopping, the patient investing that makes for a financially secure future.

A vote for Brexit cannot and will not undo a lifetime of responsible choices on that front.

Consumers should be more prepared for potential curbs on travel to the continent - and what it could cost to phone home once they get there.

Budget airlines have ballooned over the past 20 years.

That's partly due to an EU push to remove restrictions on air service agreements and improve competition on routes between countries.

This travel boom has cut ticket prices for consumers in the UK and across Europe.

But if no-frills operators face new charges and costs once outside the club, they will undoubtedly pas these on to customers.

And as holidaymakers are well aware, many mobile phone companies charge extra to use your device abroad.

But, after long clampdown on excessive charges, the European Union brokered a deal to finally scrap roaming fees across the 28 member states from July next year.

If the UK were to leave the Union, there's no reason it would share in those savings.

Finally, my worst fear when I am on holiday abroad is falling ill.

Currently, the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) affords UK citizens free or cheaper treatment in other EU countries because those countries can claim back the cost from the government here.

In the event of a Brexit, this type of reciprocal deal would have to be renegotiated.

It would be one of millions in the deal queue, and consumers should expect to foot the bill in the meantime.

Pack accordingly...

:: Time To Decide: A special programme on the eve of the EU Referendum with Dermot Murnaghan on Wednesday from 10pm

:: In or Out: Get all the results and reaction from the EU Referendum from 9.30pm on Thursday