Bank study reveals number of Scots who have enough savings for a rainy day

Research gets under the skin of the issues that really matter to people living in Scotland

One in five (21 per cent) Scots have no savings to fall back on, while a third (33 per cent) admit that they’re not saving enough for the long term, according to the latest ‘How Scotland Lives’ research from Bank of Scotland.

The study, now in its third year, found that a fifth (21 per cent) of Scots have not put any money away for a rainy day – up from 18 per cent a year earlier. Two-fifths (38 per cent) of Scots have savings of less than £2,500. That’s just over a month’s wages for the average Scot and a long way off the three to six month’s wages that is the minimum level of savings recommended by experts.

The Bank of Scotland research polled more than 2,000 people across Scotland to get under the skin of the issues that really matter to people living in Scotland, from housing to happiness and schools to financial security. Of those who don’t have any savings for the longterm, almost half (48 per cent) say they can’t afford to save, while more than one in ten (12 per cent) say there’s always something else to spend the money on and a similar proportion (11 per cent) say their priorities are short-term.

Of those who are saving, more than one in ten (14 per cent) are just saving towards a short-term goal, such as a holiday, while the same proportion (14 per cent) are saving only for the long-term, for example a secure retirement. Over a third (34 per cent) say they are saving for both.

The research also found that people in Glasgow are saving the least, with over a quarter (27 per cent) saying that they do not have any savings to their name. What’s more, almost one in ten (9 per cent) aged between 18 and 34 feel they do not have anything to save for in the long-term.

Mike Moran, Director Bank of Scotland, said: “Our research suggests that many Scots have literally nothing to fall back on if they were to get into financial difficulties.

“It’s recommended that everyone has three to six month’s wages in savings, just as a backup.”

The research was completed by Yougov and the findings are based on 2,007 online interviews with a nationally representative sample of adults aged 18 and over living in Scotland. The interviews were conducted between 1 December 2016 and 9 December 2016.

0 Having enough cash is vital to us all