How busy lifestyles stop us saving
While you're rushing around and living your hectic life, your bank account is almost certainly suffering according to a new study by Nationwide.
Called the Psychology of Saving, it looked at the saving habits of adults across the UK and found that as many as four in 10 do not have any dedicated savings account, with more than a quarter of those who do saying they are “saving for a rainy day” rather than having any plan in mind.
This is particularly relevant after a group of leading financial services companies warned earlier this year of a looming savings crisis, which they said could grip the nation by as early as 2035.
Spend, spend, spend
42 per cent of those over 34 say they are always or often putting in too many hours at work, going out too much or buying more shopping than they actually need. This was even higher for younger adults.
When it comes to putting money away, meanwhile, the numbers were much lower. Just over a fifth say that they save for holidays, 12 per cent that they put money away for retirement and only one in ten that they save for their present or future home.
London the worst
A recent report by Halifax showed that London is the worst in the UK when it comes to saving. It found that in the capital, people put the equivalent of just 22 per cent of their annual salary in savings accounts, compared to a national average of 29 per cent.
Time to step off the hamster wheel
Neuroscientist Jack Lewis thinks that we need to calm down, take a step back and make more time for looking after our savings. “We're a very busy nation and those who are particularly time poor could really benefit from periodically taking time out to recalibrate their internal balance sheets or risk unnecessarily frittering away their hard-earned cash,” he says.
“It's a case of telling ourselves that it's okay to step off the hamster wheel of modern life for long enough to figure out what we really want in the long run. Then set up a savings account dedicated to each specific long term goal.”