Whether as a “nest egg” or a financial cushion – older people in Germany in particular are currently holding on to their money to prepare for bad times.
Many people are currently saving money for times of crisis. In a representative online survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of Postbank, 41 percent of those surveyed said that this was one of their most important savings goals. Only the “emergency fund”, i.e. a reserve for unforeseeable expenses, was even more important to those surveyed, with 48.2 percent agreeing.
Almost a third of people (29.7 percent) can currently afford more than they could a year ago thanks to increased wages and pensions. However, another 63.5 percent saw no improvement in their financial situation in the survey compared to the previous year.
Ulrich Stephan, chief investment strategist for private and corporate customers at Postbank, pointed to an overall increase in the savings rate in Germany. In addition to the increased interest rates, the reasons for this are the increased caution among consumers with regard to economic weakness and uncertainties in the labor market. According to the autumn report from the leading economic research institutes, the savings rate in Germany was most recently 11.3 percent.
When it came to saving purposes, 35.6 percent of those surveyed cited retirement provision and 22.9 percent cited “a special expense for me,” such as a trip. Another 16.4 percent want to build up reserves for children and other relatives, for example for training. In sixth place were the renovation or modernization of a house or apartment (13.5 percent), buying a car (11.5 percent), purchasing home furnishings (10.6 percent) and purchasing home ownership (8.6 percent).
The older the respondents are, the more likely they are to save to prepare for times of crisis. Young survey participants, on the other hand, are more likely than average to put money aside to treat themselves to a special expense.
According to the survey, 79.9 percent of participants are currently creating reserves, almost as many people as in the survey in September last year (80.6 percent). The proportion of respondents who stated that they were currently unable to save anything was 13.2 percent (previous year: 14.8 percent).
When it comes to savings, the current account lost some of its favor with savers due to the rise in interest rates, but securities became more popular. However, 40.8 percent of those surveyed are still saving on their current account, compared to 47.6 percent in the previous survey. 34.7 percent use a current account (previous year: 33.2 percent). 21.5 percent of respondents also relied on the classic savings account, fewer than in the previous survey (27 percent). On the other hand, 30.2 percent more people chose securities than in the previous year (26.7 percent). 12.8 percent of those surveyed also said they kept money at home (previous year: 15.4 percent).
Source: Stern
