The awareness of Croatian citizens about the importance of savings has not changed in the last year, despite the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey conducted by IMAS on a sample of 500 respondents for Erste Group in September this year. As many as 83% of respondents, just like last year, believe that saving is important or extremely important, and most respondents, as many as 92%, with this attitude are from the younger age group, between 15 and 29 years of age.
Motivations for saving are different, most respondents save to create financial support for unpredictable situations (77%), 21% for old age or retirement, while a smaller part saves for education and training (4%). In addition, to a lesser extent, people save for various purchases, renovations or trips.
The average amount of monthly savings increased by HRK 10
The average amount of monthly savings of Croatian citizens increased by HRK 10 compared to last year, to HRK 479. Men save an average of HRK 513 per month, and women around HRK 450. Almost 60% of savers said they saved the same amount as in the past few years, while 21% said they saved a slightly smaller amount this year, mostly due to the cost of living that rose while incomes remained at the same level. About 18% of respondents explicitly cited declining income caused by the coronavirus pandemic crisis as the reason for the decline in their monthly savings, and there is also retirement. About 15% of savers have saved more than in the past few years, and when it comes to the amount of money saved, most of those savers are partially satisfied with the amount of money they manage to save, about 35%.
About 41% of respondents use savings accounts to save their savings, slightly less than in 2019, when 43% of the respondents kept their money in savings accounts. Furthermore, 18% of respondents keep funds in the form of life insurance while 11% of respondents keep their money on housing savings, while the percentage of those saving in cash has slightly increased, from 9% to 10%.
As many as 86% of respondents from Slovakia consider putting money aside to be important, while respondents in Serbia consider savings to be the least important (69%). The Austrians save the most money on a monthly basis, EUR 272, which is a jump of EUR 13 compared to last year. They are followed by Slovaks and Czechs with savings of EUR 113 and EUR 109, respectively, while fourth place is shared by Croats and Hungarians who save the same amount of EUR 63 per month, while the savings of Hungarians decreased by EUR 2 compared to last year. According to the survey, Romanians save EUR 59 a month, while Serbs save EUR 44, an increase of EUR 4 compared to last year.
"The average amount of monthly savings of Croatian citizens increased by HRK 10 compared to last year, to HRK 479. Men save an average of HRK 513 per month, and women around HRK 450. "
Do low interest rates affect savings?
Since the period of low interest rates has been going on for a long time, the research tried to find out from the respondents how this affected their habits. A quarter of them therefore keep their savings in a current account, 20% of respondents invested money in buying real estate, while 16% shared their savings with children, grandchildren and families.
In addition, as part of the research, respondents were offered a hypothetical situation that gives them an additional HRK 4000. In such a situation, respondents would, on average, set aside slightly less than half of that amount, HRK 1,978, for savings or investment. Slightly fewer respondents than last year, 16% compared to 17%, would save the entire amount, while 13% of respondents would not save or invest any of that amount.