Youth saving more for a rainy day

Young Pinoys want to save more than their elders

Penny-pinching Filipino yuppies are poised to outdo their older counterparts—even their parents—in saving more for the proverbial rainy day.

According to the MasterCard survey on consumer purchasing priorities, 89 percent of the 400 Filipino respondents aged 18 to 30 plan to save more in the second half than they have in the last six months, while their older counterparts expect to put their money somewhere else.

For older respondents, only 42 percent of those aged 31 to 45 years old plan to save more, and just 41 percent among the 46-to-55-year-old bracket, and 37 percent of those 56 years old and above feel they have to save more than they used to.

Female power

The survey’s demographic breakdown also showed that more female consumers (48 percent) plan to save more in the next six months compared to the male consumers (43 percent).

The international survey indicated that the trend to save more was shared by 20 other countries.

Vietnam leads the way with 52 percent of their respondents expressing such intent, followed by India, United Arab Emirates and South Africa with 47 percent, New Zealand with 46 percent, Philippines by 45 percent and then Qatar with 44 percent.

Among the surveyed countries that involved 9,211 consumers, 27 percent of the consumers save between 1-10 percent of their income.

For Filipinos, close to half of the respondents intend to save at the same level.

“Our latest survey shows that the percentage of households saving for precautionary reasons has gone up. While the increase is slight, we are still seeing an uptrend and this has implications in terms of consumption in the region,” said Dr. Yuwa Hedrick Wong, Asia-Pacific economic advisor for MasterCard Worldwide.

Fear of economic uncertainty

Economic uncertainty prompted 83 percent of the Filipinos to be financially prepared, while the most apprehensive in the surveyed group is Thailand with 95 percent of respondents seen as most concerned.

China, however, appears to be the least worried with just 48 percent saying they need to be financially prepared.

Not all savers, however, are tightening their belts solely for emergencies.

Filipino consumers are also saving for investments (60 percent), retirement (57 percent) and consumer electronics (38 percent).

“Saving levels are a leading indicator of consumers’ future spending patterns,” said Wong.

Differentiating savings for emergencies and stashing away personal funds for future expenses, Wong said that a lot of households save so that they can spend later on the purchase of large ticket items.

“From this perspective, such savings are merely indicators of future consumption. Precautionary savings are qualitatively different. They represent a net subtraction of total spending because funds are put aside and untouched when people worry about the future,” Wong added.

‘Not earning enough’ to save

On the flipside of the consumers’ willingness to save, Egypt has the biggest percentage of consumers planning to save less than they have in the last six months at 63 percent, followed by Taiwan at 39 percent.

Across the region, the top reasons for consumers saving less are not earning enough to save (61 percent), high inflation (34 percent) and the belief in enjoying life now (29 percent).

Among Egyptian respondents, 82 percent of the respondents feel they do not earn enough to save, followed by Thai consumers and South African consumers, both with 81 percent.

While the majority of consumers in the rest of the markets intend to maintain their level of savings, 9 percent of the region’s consumers do not intend to save any of their income at all.

Markets surveyed include Australia, China, Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, United Arab Emirates and Vietnam. –Penelope Endozo, Philippine Daily Inquirer