80% of us saving an average of €320 a month

MORE than four out of five people surveyed said they are actively saving with men putting away €2,000 more a year than women. According to research from EBS, 14% of people surveyed said they used to save but can no longer afford to.

Respondents were saving an average of €319 a month or €3,822 a year in the last three months, an increase of 7% on the last quarter.

Men are saving around €2,000 more than their female counterparts a year. The average amount of money saved by men was €4,829 while women save on average €2,859 each year.

According to the EBS there are two types of savers — those that have a regular savings plan, which accounts for 34% of respondents and those that put away a little when they can afford to.

Regular savers put away around €4,400 a year against €3,300 for others. For the first time in almost two years, the number of people saying they save regularly rose from 30% to 34%. Overall, the reason people are dipping into their savings is to fund day-to-day expenditure with one in every four of those polled saying they dipped into their savings in the past month for general living expenses or to pay bills.

The research, which was conducted in late January, found the numbers that dipped into their savings to fund Christmas presents in 2010 had halved on the previous year. In the 16 to 24 age group, 75% said they planned to save more or start saving for the first time this year. Three out of five of those aged 35 to 49 said they have had to start using their savings to compensate for lost income.

Head of marketing with EBS, Aidan Power said: “We see Irish people continue to save what they can, when they can; but it is those who have a savings plan, the regular savers, that are having most success.”