Over 45 million people have less than one month’s salary in savings

15th August 2017

A recent UK wide survey conducted by Paymentsense has revealed that 45.5 million UK residents have less than one months salary set aside in savings. In addition to this, the study also found that 30% of us don’t in fact have any money set aside in a savings account, to protect us from unforeseen circumstances.

It also seems that many of us may in fact be leaning on credit cards to keep us in the black, with over 66% of survey respondents admitting that they owned one or more credit cards and a staggering 79% of those credit card owners confirming that they use these cards as a means to backup expenses.

So those with savings, what are they saving for? The new findings show that 21% make a holiday their top priority. The percentages were lower when it came to long-term saving goals – like buying a house (10%) and retirement (17%). Just 9% of people save for their children’s’ futures, which might include education fees or deposit for a first home.

Top things people save for:

  1. Holidays (21%)
  2. Retirement (17%)
  3. Personal expenses (15%)
  4. Family reasons (14%)
  5. To buy a house (10%)
  6. For my childrens’ future (9%)
  7. To buy a car (8%)
  8. Other (6%)

Paymentsense also asked respondents a little more about their relationship with money from childhood through to adults, to find out whether parental advice and guidance had affected their attitudes and management of money today. Interestingly they found that as children, 32% of us were always taught never to spend more that we earn and a further 23% of us were taught to first take care of our commitments and bills. Only 12% of us were taught to save a small portion of our earnings.

It would also seem that as a nation we are actually fairly relaxed about money despite the impact that rising interest rates may have on us. Only 55% of respondents felt concerned about how these increases may affect our monthly outgoings and of the 60% of us who do have any savings, 21% admitted to spending these hard earned investments on annual holidays.

A spokesperson frim Paymentsense said “There’s no denying it – it’s harder to save now than it’s ever been and as a result many of us are falling back on credit cards and loans to keep ourselves in the black. With many of us reflecting on our childhoods and wishing we had taken heed more around advice to budget more, refrain from buying things we can’t afford and save more, maybe it’s time to reflect on the size of our rainy day fund and top it up a little.”