THE NUMBER of people saving continues to grow, with those under 50 working hardest to put money aside for unforeseen circumstances, according to a survey published yesterday.

The latest Nationwide UK (Ireland)/ESRI Savings Index found an increasing number of people have a positive attitude to savings, with the proportion who believe now is a good time to put money aside going up seven percentage points to 35 per cent in May.

The biggest month-on-month shift was among under-50s. The numbers in that category who said they were putting money aside regularly rose seven percentage points to 40 per cent compared to April. In the over-50s category there was a three percentage point increase in the numbers saving.

The research recorded motivations for saving and the average amount being saved each month, and found the single biggest reason why people were saving was to cover unexpected expenses, with some 44 per cent anxious to put rainy day cash aside.

Education/training and holidays were the next most popular reasons for saving, at 12 per cent, while 10 per cent said they were saving in case income dropped.

Of those consumers able to save occasionally or regularly, 30 per cent said they were putting aside €51 to €100 a month. The research, carried out on a monthly basis, showed 40 per cent believed they were saving as much as they thought they should, up two percentage points on the April figure.

“The savings index is now at its highest level since we launched in January 2010,” said Nationwide UK (Ireland) managing director Brendan Synnott. “This month’s data suggest recent economic events have influenced consumers into adopting new, more conservative behaviours towards spending and saving.” He said a greater emphasis was being placed on saving for unexpected expenses, while discretionary spending was being postponed. “This trend is more apparent in the under-50s, who are more likely to have larger household expenses including mortgages, education and indeed fear of their income falling.”