The latest Bank of Ireland/ESRI Savings and Investment Index has been released today. The Bank of Ireland/ESRI Savings and Investment Index tracks household attitudes towards savings and investment as well as monitoring their perspectives on the current and future savings and investment environment. It is produced monthly from a minimum sample of 800 consumers aged 15 years and above.
The index shows that more respondents felt they were financially prepared for retirement – 58% of people felt they had some financial preparation in place, up from 54% in January. In addition, the results showed a slight fall in the number of people that would find it difficult to live comfortably in retirement from 38% to 36%.
The percentage of people investing regularly rose to 37% in March, the highest response since the question was first asked in September 2017. The percentage of people comfortable with the amounts they were investing also rose slightly to 61% from 58%.
However, the big driver of the improved investor sentiment in March was the rise in the Investment Environment Index which climbed sharply from 85 to 94, having plummeted in recent months in the midst of rising market volatility and geopolitical concerns.
The percentage of people that felt it was a good time to invest in March rose from 25% to 30% while those who felt it was a bad time fell marginally from 31% to 29%. The improvement was driven by the rebound in many investment markets from December lows - since the turn of the year world stock markets have generated strong returns of 14.2% for Irish investors.
The percentage of people that felt it was a good time to invest in March rose from 25% to 30% while those who felt it was a bad time fell marginally from 31% to 29%. Bank of Ireland say the improvement was driven by the rebound in many investment markets from December lows - since the turn of the year world stock markets have generated strong returns of 14.2% for Irish investors.
Tom McCabe of Bank of Ireland Investment Markets said, "Saving sentiment weakened in March but the foundations for strong saving behaviour remain firmly in place. Irish economic momentum has slowed a touch but improving employment and wages continue to support positive Irish saving trends. On top of this, the ongoing Brexit uncertainty also seems to be bolstering precautionary saving and the responses from savers in the Border hinterland in March again confirmed this."
Source: www.businessworld.ie
