Third of Irish people 'cannot afford to save'

A third of people claim not to have any savings at all, saying they cannot afford to save, according to research by Irish Life.

Third of Irish people 'cannot afford to save'

A third of people claim not to have any savings at all, saying they cannot afford to save, according to research by Irish Life.

The survey highlighted that saving levels were higher among women (67%) than men (59%), and people over 55 years were saving the most.

Of those that are saving, 43% of people are saving over €100 a month.

People living in Dublin were found to be saving more overall.

Some 18% of people claimed to be saving between €20 and €50 a month, with another 18% saving between €51 and €100 a month.

The research also found that a third of Irish employees have a company pension fund set up for when they retire, and a quarter of Irish employees have their own private pension in place.

It also found that of those people who intend to start saving, and haven’t started yet, the majority of these people (42%) said they could afford to save between €80 and €100 per month.

A quarter of consumers said they could afford to save between €20 and €80 a month, and 14% said they could put away over €100 a month if they started saving.

Commenting on the research findings, Tony Lawless, Managing Director, Irish Life Corporate Business, said: “It’s positive to see that people are saving. However, we are helping people to understand that they can significantly enhance their financial position in retirement by starting to save into a pension, or by even increasing the amount they save in addition to any employer pension contributions they may receive.”

“To help companies promote their workplace pension as a smart way to save, we introduced Irish Life EMPOWER. This is a company pension plan that gives people more control to help them achieve better outcomes at retirement.

“We have successfully transformed pension scheme membership and savings levels for a number of our corporate clients, through innovative and simple measures such as auto opt-in to the company pension plan for new employees, registering employees to auto-increase their savings levels, and implementing a range of online tools to show employees whether they are on track with their retirement savings. We have seen some great results with our clients.”

The research was conducted by iReach on behalf of Irish Life in March 2017. The total sample of 1,001 adults surveyed is representative of the national population in Ireland.

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