For 8 years the Kronenberg Foundation at Citi Handlowy has examined Poles' knowledge and approaches towards finances. Thanks to several years of observations, we are able to identify certain regularities and changes. According to the research, the issue of finances is present in households of two out of three respondents. What is equally important, the number of saving people has increased from 41 percent to 59 percent since 2008. Within this group, the number of those who save up in an exemplary manner, which means that they put away a certain sum of money every month, has increased from 7 percent to 16 percent. at the same time, the distance between the level of declaration (67 percent of respondents admit that saving up makes sense) and practice (59 percent of respondents actually saves up) is becoming smaller. Taking into consideration the fact that within the last 5 years the number of people declaring no financial surpluses has sank by as much as one third, we gain an image of society with improving financial situation. Given those tendencies, one should note that certain things remain unchanged - for years, the group of Poles for whom saving makes sense has remained at the level of two third of respondents. The group of people who seek professional sources of knowledge increased - the percentage of people seeking information in financial institutions amounted to 17 percent in 2008 and reached 37 percent in 2015.
We can afford more and we manage that better
The number of Poles who live on a shoestring budget is decreasing. In 2013, more than a half of Poles (62 percent) spent all their income, while today this value is considerably lower (43 percent). This situation may be a consequence of the increase of real household income (taking into account inflation), which, according to the data of the Central Statistical Office (GUS), has increased by more than 10 percent within the last five years. This means that we have greater amounts not only for our every-day needs, but we can also start putting away our financial surpluses - remarks Tomasz Daniun, Head, Consumer Bank segment at Citi Handlowy. The change translates also into planning. 8 years ago, every third Pole admitted that they did not plan expenditure, today it is every fifth Pole.
The percentage of Poles who use banking services is also increasing. From the data of the National Bank of Poland (NBP) it follows that within the last three years the number of transactions carried out with debit cards has doubled. This is reflected in declarations of respondents of the survey "Poles' attitudes towards saving": the percentage of people who prefer card payments increased from 31 percent to 42 percent, while the number of those preferring cash sank from 52 percent to 41 percent.
Our commitment to saving is a flash in the pan
Definitely, most of Poles have no doubt that it is worth to save up. For 8 years the percentage of people sharing this opinion oscillates around 2/3. "Minor increases and decreases could be triggered off by the change of economic situation in Poland, Europe or in the world. Then, although along with increasing concerns of Poles regarding own finances the declarations on the significance of saving up were ever more common, our habits did not change." adds Tomasz Daniun. The percentage of people who recognize the need to save up is still higher (67 percent) than the number of people who actually put away their surpluses (59 percent).
The basis for saving up is regularity, and this is still our Achilles' heel. Only 16 percent of Poles put away regularly, and even if this value increased more than twice within 8 years (2008 - 7 percent), still, taking into account total amount of our savings, we are much behind other states of the European Union.
However, we save not only more often but also more consciously, which is a positive phenomenon. If in 2013 merely 18 percent of people saved funds having in mind the future of their closest relatives, while 31 percent wanted to put aside money for holidays or small pleasures, currently these proportions are exactly the opposite. Safety is chosen by 28 percent and consumption by 18 percent of respondents.
Popular investment experts - Poles ever more often rely on professionals.
A wide range of banking offers increasingly often induces us to derive financial knowledge straight from the source. Within the last 8 years, the percentage of people who follow only their intuition when making financial decisions fell nearly fivefold (from 49 percent to 10 percent) while the number of those who use advisory services or financial institutions' materials grew (from 17 percent to 37 percent).
Although we willingly use professional advisory services, unfortunately we still harbor certain resentment towards making investments. For years, the percentage of those who invest remains the same. Merely every 11th respondent declares that they deposit funds in order to earn profit in the future.
About the Survey:
The survey "Poles' Attitudes towards Saving" is conducted by Kronenberg Foundation on a representative sample of Poles aged 15+.
The survey makes use of CAPI technology (Computer Assisted Personal Interview).
