NS&I: 6 Million Without Savings
Published: 1 July 2011 By Julian Stone Leave a Comment
13% of the population has no savings, and we’re getting less likely to put money away. How can you reverse the trend?
6 million adults – 13% of the UK population – have no money put away for a rainy day.
That’s the shocking finding of NS&I’s Savings Survey, which also found that Britons were increasingly less likely to save – probably due to the increasing pressures of inflation, low wage rises, rising energy costs and household bills.
In addition to those without any savings, 36% of people polled said they didn’t have enough money put by to cope with an emergency.
Twenty-five per cent said they were now less likely to save over the next quarter and only 26% set themselves a savings goal.
However, those with savings goals provided valuable insights into Britons’ saving habits. Among the reasons they cited for saving were:
- Saving for a home deposit (35%)
- Saving in case of emergency (32%)
- Saving for retirement (21%)
- Saving for a car (21%)
- Saving for their children’s future (19%).
Interestingly, savers in the 16-24 year age bracket were much more likely to set themselves savings goals (40%) than those in the 35-44 age group (25%). This may reflect the typically larger outgoings of the older group, including mortgages, family costs and car costs.
Tim Mack, savings spokesman at NS&I urged Britons to start saving more: “See what you save and set up a direct debit putting that amount directly into a savings account. These simple changes will ensure savings quickly mount up, and before long you can have a savings pot growing steadily month on month.”
Moneyhighstreet comments: “It’s quite understandable why people are putting less or no money in savings accounts, particularly given the present economic squeeze.
“But it’s important to have more of a financial cushion than just credit cards – so if you can make savings on energy costs, fuel or other regular expenditure, be sure to put the money away for a rainy day. If you are able to ride out emergencies, there’s less chance you’ll have to resort to drastic measures like remortgaging your home.”
