Consumers should take up saving as hobby
Published On 21 February 2007
With Lent fast approaching, consumers should ditch their habit of spending and take up saving as their new hobby instead. This is the verdict of research by moneysupermarket.com, which found that by simply giving up the purchase of non-essential items British consumers could save themselves in the region of £22.6 billion each year.
And according to the company, a simple shift in attitude from spending to saving during one's working life could mean we all retire with an extra £142,000 in the kitty.
Among the non-essential purchases that Brits are frittering their money away on are coffees, teas, soft drinks, magazines and newspapers – all equating to around £15 a week.
Stuart Glendinning, managing director at moneysupermarket.com, said: "Many people think nothing of making the odd purchase throughout the day for coffee, cigarettes or lunch, but restricting these to a bare minimum or cutting them out completely could see you £33,000 better off.
"Better still, if this money was put into one of today's leading savings account people would have saved £142,705 on reaching retirement (over £109,000 of which is interest) – a staggering sum for some small sacrifices."
A saving of £33,000 could equate to enough funds to purchase a brand new BMW Z4 coupe, the survey pointed out.
