Number of people saving regularly declines in June

The number of people who are putting money aside for a rainy day declined last month with those aged under 50 feeling that now is a bad time to save.

The latest Nationwide UK (Ireland)/ ESRI Savings Index, which measures overall sentiment towards saving, fell from 123 index points in May to 116 in June. The latest rating is however, still the second highest in more than a year.

The index recorded a low of 94 in October 2014 while the highest rating achieved since April 2014 was in March when the index hit 117.

The three-month moving average remains unchanged at 118 in June.

The Savings Environment index, one of two sub-indices that make up the main index, also decreased. The index, which asks if people believe that now is a good time to put money aside, was down to 105 last month, compared to 112 index points in May. The Savings Attitude index, which asks people about their saving behaviour and how they feel about the money they save, fell to 127, from 134 in the previous month.

While older people expressed concern about the about of money they were putting away, the latest index shows that younger respondents don’t feel that now is a good time to save. According to the survey, the percentage of respondents over the age of 50 who believe they are saving less than they hoped increased to 26 per cent from 19 per cent in May. At the same time, 30 per cent of under 50s’ said now is a bad time to put money aside, compared to just 18 per cent a month earlier.

The share of respondents who said they would allocate surplus money to pay off debts, including mortgages, increased to 42.4 per cent from 40 per cent in May. A further 12 per cent said they would spend any excess funds, while 6.7 per cent said they would invest it. The proportion of respondents who would choose to save the money remains largely unchanged at 39 per cent.

Separately, a new Visa Europe study shows consumer spending rose by 5.6 per cent year-on-year in June with expenditure on online goods and services particularly pronounced.

The survey shows total online spending rose by 13.6 per cent last month, compared to just 6 per cent in May. Offline spending was up 2.5 per cent for the same period.