Nationwide - Saving considered "less important"

15 July 2008

A quarter of consumers believe saving money is very important, compared with nearly half of people in May.

Nationwide Building Society has released figures showing people are becoming less eager to save for the future, with 46 per cent of those questioned in April saying saving was very important, 49 per cent agreeing in May and a drop to 26 per cent recorded for June.

The survey, carried out by TNS, also showed 59 per cent of consumers considered saving to be personally important to them in June – a decrease of 12 per cent of the previous month.

A fifth of British people are not saving at all, while a third are saving occasionally and less than half (46 per cent) said they save regularly.
Nationwide`s director for saving, Matthew Carter, said the findings were "concerning".

"A sharp decrease has been seen in the store people put on saving and, if this decline continues, there will be trouble ahead if consumers do not put money aside," he said, suggesting people may face debt problems in the future.

Last week Fool.co.uk urged people to prepare for future financial difficulties after a recession was predicted for the UK.

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Gregory Pennington is a member of DEMSA whose code of conduct is approved by the Office of Fair Trading.