Irish Savers feeling at their most positive in five years - especially the Under 50s

October 06, 2015

News
Macroeconomics

Nationwide UK (Ireland) Savings Index Rises to 129 Points, Highest Level Since Index Began in 2010

The Nationwide UK (Ireland)/ESRI Savings Index, which measures overall sentiment towards saving, increased to 129 in September from 114 in August, a record since the index began in January 2010.

The main index and the two sub-indices all increased this month.

  • The Savings Environment sub-index, which asks respondents if they feel now is a good time to save, rose to 119 in September from 98 in August.
  • The Savings Attitude sub-index, which asks about saving behaviour, rose to 139 in September from 130 the prior month.

The overall increase in positive sentiment is largely due to the rise in those who feel now is a good time to save, which stood at 129 points in September compared to 114 in August. Significantly those in the under-50 age bracket who felt now was a very bad time to save fell to 6% in September from 12% in August. Overall the number of people who feel now is a very bad time to save fell to 7.7% in September from almost 12% in August.

Some 49.2% of those surveyed in September claimed to be regular savers, the highest level since January 2010, when the survey began. The proportion of people who said they would use surplus money to pay off debts, including their mortgage, fell to 40% from 44% on a monthly basis.

The level of people choosing to save surplus money in September was 33.5%, little changed from August’s figure of 34%.