The latest Bank of Ireland/ESRI Savings and Investment Index was released this week. The index is produced monthly from a minimum sample of 800 consumers aged 15 years and above. It tracks household attitudes towards savings and investment as well as monitoring their perspectives on the current and future savings and investment environment. 

The index finds that peoples’ views of the savings environment darkened noticeably in June with the Savings Environment Index hitting a nine month low of 94 in June compared with 100 a month earlier. In recent months, older savers have turned more negative on the savings environment and we saw further evidence of this in June.

Forty two percent of over 50s felt it was a bad time to save in June – this was the highest response for the question since it was first asked in October 2017.

Forty nine percent of people were regular savers in June, down from 51% in May with weaker regular saving patterns visible for both younger and older savers. Bank of Ireland says it is likely that summer holiday spending cramped saving patterns in the month.

Nearly one-third (31%) of respondents invested regularly in June, up from 30% in May. Sixty seven percent of people also felt they were investing the right amount, the highest response since the question was first asked in October 2017.

Commenting on the June results for the Bank of Ireland/ESRI Savings and Investment Index, Bank of Ireland Investment Markets, Tom McCabe said, "The most interesting aspect of June’s results for the Savings and Investment Index is that for the first time in the index’ history, sentiment towards investing topped that of saving. Delving deeper, the more intriguing move came with the decline in the Savings Index. Although regular saving habits remain strong, greater numbers of older savers in particular are indicating that it is a bad time to save. To us this is clear evidence that lump sum savers are growing more disenchanted with the low deposit rate environment."

Source: www.businessworld.ie