Nearly one in five people who made pre-Budget panic financial decisions fuelled by high levels of speculation now regret their decisions, according to a survey.

Overall, nearly one in four adults (23%) said they made changes to their finances due to Budget speculation, according to the survey for wealth manager St James’s Place.

However one in five people (20%) say they now regret at least one of the actions they took.

Feverish speculation in the run up to the Budget saw jittery consumers make knee-jerk decisions with their finances over concerns, for example, that the 25% tax free pension cash lump sum benefit would be axed or severely curtailed.

At one point the FCA was forced to issue guidance saying that once the lump sum was withdrawn it could not be reinvested into a pension and retain its tax benefits.

SJP’s survey found that among those who had regrets, many were long-term, “harder-to-reverse financial decisions” - particularly changes to pensions (19%) and investments (15%). Some consumers also changed their investment portfolios or adjusted pension plans or gifts of money.

The survey confirms anecdotal evidence that millions of savers were very worried about the potential impact of the Budget on their finances and either rushed for advice or sought to make DIY changes to their financial plans to protect themselves from tax rises or the loss of pension benefits.

Investment portfolios and pensions saw the biggest pre-Budget changes, according to SJP. The most common response was to adjust investment portfolios, with almost half (48%) altering how their money was invested. These changes ranged from  moving investments into cash or delaying new investments. Some also reallocated funds into “safe-haven assets" such as gold or premium bonds or, in some cases, riskier options such as cryptocurrencies. 

A further third (34%) changed their savings habits, while three in ten (30%) altered their pension arrangements. Pension-related actions included amending contribution levels, shifting risk profiles, and, for some, taking their pension tax-free lump sum early.   

Around one in five (21%) made adjustments to their ISAs, while 12% gifted money to children or grandchildren during the speculative period. 

Once the Chancellor’s Budget plans were confirmed, many individuals reassessed their decisions, the study found. One in six (15%) of those who adjusted their portfolios ahead of the Budget regretted doing so, while one in ten (10%) who modified their ISA arrangements felt they had acted too soon. Some 7% of people who gifted money to family members said they later wished they had held off. 

Claire Trott, head of advice at St James’s Place, said: “In the lead up to the Autumn Budget, months of speculation created a sense of urgency for many people, prompting individuals to take action before any policies were confirmed – and our latest research shows that some now regret doing so. That is why reducing unnecessary speculation around fiscal events is so important.

“Greater clarity and stability around tax and pension policy would go a long way in helping individuals make informed choices.”

• Opinium surveyed 2,050 UK adults between 3 and 5 December. Quotas and post-weighting were applied to the sample to make the dataset politically and nationally representative.