AUSTRALIANS’ SAVING INTENTIONS
AND BEHAVIOURS.
INSIGHTS FROM NATIONAL RESEARCH
This survey provides in-depth insights into Australians’ savings goals, habits and attitudes. The survey was
commissioned in December 2014 and surveyed 1,500 Australian households.
CURRENT
SAVINGS GOALS.
Three out of the top four financial
goals Australians are pursuing
are cautionary or conservative in
nature. Savings for a holiday, car
or other expense other than a home
is the exception.
Different savings priorities were
evident across different generations:
33% of Gen Y identified ‘saving for
a holiday, car or other expense other
than a home’ as their top priority,
43% of Gen X identified ‘paying off
a mortgage’ as their top goal, while
32% of Baby Boomers identified
‘building wealth for retirement’
as their number one focus.
Paying off a mortgage
30%
Paying off debts as fast as you can
29%
Saving for a holiday, car or other expense
other than a home
27%
25%
Building up 'rainy day' savings
20%
Building wealth for retirement
19%
Getting debts under control and manageable
14%
Setting up a budget or a savings plan
10%
Buying an investment property
Investing or trading in shares, bonds, commodities etc
9%
Making changes to your financial arrangements
to minimise the tax you pay
9%
Saving enough to buy a property to live in
9%
GEN X
43%
GEN Y
33%
Changing credit card arrangements to get
a better deal or pay less interest
8%
Maximising the income you earn from cash deposits
8%
Investing in your own business
4%
Consolidating multiple debts into one
4%
BABY
BOOMERS
32%
WHEN WE’LL REACH OUR
CURRENT SAVINGS GOALS.
The top four goals that the majority of Australians believe they will achieve in 2015 are largely administrative and therefore
easier to achieve.
Less Australians expect to reach goals that require significant cash contributions; for instance, only 7% expect to pay off
their mortgage this year.
75%
Setting up a budget or savings plan
Changing credit card arrangements to get
a better deal or pay less interest
70%
Making changes to your financial arrangements
to minimise the tax you pay
67%
64%
Consolidating multiple debts into one
Saving for a holiday, car or other expense
other than a home
62%
55%
Investing or trading in shares, bonds, commodities etc.
49%
Investing in your own business
44%
Maximising the income you earn from cash deposits
41%
Buying an investment property
40%
Getting debts under control and manageable
39%
Building up 'rainy day' savings
32%
Paying off debts as fast as you can
18%
Saving enough to buy a property to live in
17%
Building wealth for retirement
Paying off a mortgage
7%
ONLY 7% OF
AUSTRALIANS
EXPECT TO PAY OFF
THEIR MORTGAGE
THIS YEAR.
41%
18%
PROPERTY INVESTOR
OWNER-OCCUPIER
7%
PROPERTY INVESTORS
HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE
IN REACHING THEIR SAVINGS
GOALS THAN OWNER-OCCUPIERS.
HOW WE’RE SAVING.
Australians are using a range of savings strategies, although a manual savings method was the most popular approach,
more than twice as popular as an automated direct debiting savings approach.
55%
56%
47%
40%
22%
24% 24%
24%
23%
21%
21%
20%
17%
16%
19% 20%
16%
12% 12%
14%
12%
17%
10%
6%
I transfer money to a
savings account when
I have spare funds
I have direct debits
set up to automatically
send money to a
savings account
I put all of my money
into a savings account
and then transfer it to an
everyday account when
I need to
I keep savings in
accounts I can't
withdraw from
(eg term deposits)
All
Gen Y
4%
I add funds to
a home loan
offset account
Gen X
I just accumulate
funds in an
everyday account
5%
1%
4%
I don't use any
bank accounts to save
3% 2% 3%
2%
Other
Baby Boomers
OBSTACLES
TO SAVING.
Effective savings activity is being undermined by a lack of diligence to budgeting. Overall, 62% did not consistently
keep a record of monthly expenses, 59% did not habitually set a budget; 41% did not regularly stick to it, 46% did not
regularly pay off their credit card balances each month, and 19% failed to regularly pay their bills on time.
Younger generations are less likely to follow good habits; for instance, 72% of Gen Y did not consistently keep a record
of monthly expenses, and 67% did not regularly set a weekly or monthly budget.
85%
81%
72%
74%
72%
67%
66%
58%
65%
59%
51% 51%
57%
54%
45%
49%
41%
40%
44%
33%
38%
35%
40%
28%
14% 13%
Paid the bills on time
Comparison shopped
when purchasing a
product or service
Stayed within its
budget or spending
allowance
All
Paid off credit card
balances in full
each month
Gen Y
Gen X
Set a weekly or
monthly budget
Baby Boomers
Kept a written or
electronic record of
monthly expenses
16%
14%
Maxed out the limit
on one or more
credit cards
ABILITY TO DEFER
GRATIFICATION.
Only a small proportion (9%) admit to impulsively buying big-ticket items on credit with no immediate plan for how they
will pay it off, suggesting the majority are capable of deferring gratification until we can afford it.
45%
35%
36%
33% 33%
33%
30%
25%
20%
20%
21%
19%
9% 8%
13%
8%
3%
I used my existing savings
or transaction account to
pay for the item (eg through
cash, PayPal etc.)
I used a credit card
and paid off the
purchase within the
interest free period
All
Don't know / not applicable
Gen Y
3% 4%
Other
Baby Boomers
KET
TIC
BIG
T
KE
TIC
BIG
BI
GT
IC
KE
T
Gen X
I used a credit card
to pay the purchase
off with interest at a
future point
2%
Contact us:
Matthew Read, Head of PR, ME Bank
P 0432 130 338
E [email protected]
Level 28, 360 Elizabeth Street
Melbourne VIC 3000 Australia,
mebank.com.au