Every fifth Pole does not have any savings set aside, according to the latest survey. 13% of respondents have accumulated savings of less than PLN 1,000, while more than 20% have set aside cash between PLN 1,000 and 5,000.
A survey conducted by UCE Research and SYNO Poland for the network of law firms Twój Prawnik 24 shows that 19 percent of respondents have no money set aside, nearly 13 percent said they have less than PLN 1,000.
One in five respondents reported that their savings ranged between PLN 1,000 and PLN 5,000, with one percent less respondents reporting that they had saved between PLN 5,000 and PLN 10,000. A financial cushion in the amount between PLN 10 thousand and PLN 19 thousand 999 was declared by less than 10% of respondents, the amount between PLN 20 thousand and PLN 49 thousand 999 was saved by more than 8% of respondents, and the amount above PLN 50 thousand by 9.5%. – According to the survey.
Pandemic has affected savings, low salaries don’t help
According to Dominik Kowalczyk of UCE Research, the result of 18.7 percent of Poles without savings is surprising, given the expressed need for savings in 2020. “Certainly the pandemic situation had a big impact on the reduction of savings,” Kowalczyk assessed. He noted that the widespread lack of financial education means that many people do not see the need to save money in case of a worse financial situation.
According to the survey, without savings there are mainly people aged 56-80 years (26.5% of indications), with a monthly net income of PLN 1000-2999 (26.7%), living in towns with population between 20,000 and 49,000 (23.8%). According to the expert, such low incomes do not allow to put aside any money, and sometimes are not enough to cover all current needs. “The constantly rising cost of living and the difficult economic situation also contribute to the lack of savings in this group of people,” he assessed.
The survey shows that the most frequently indicated savings range for Poles is from PLN 1,000 to PLN 5,000. Such savings are declared mainly by people aged 23-35 (25.8% of respondents), with a monthly net income below PLN 1,000 (29.8%) and with primary or lower secondary education (26.9%). These people usually live in towns with population between 5 thousand and 19 thousand (25.2% of indications).
As noted by survey co-author and president of the Twój Prawnik 24 law firm network Piotr Bijański, people in this age bracket often do not yet fully support themselves. “Thanks to the support of parents and grandparents, they have the opportunity to put aside the aforementioned savings, even with an income of PLN 1,000 per month. Additionally, living in a small city may provide fewer opportunities to spend money.” – he added.
On the other hand, people declaring savings below PLN 1,000 are mainly aged 18-22 (25%), with a monthly net income below PLN 1,000 (34%), living in villages and towns with a population of up to 5,000 (15.4%).
According to Bijański, those who indicate a financial reserve of less than PLN 1,000 are unlikely to support themselves. “Thus, they have the opportunity to set aside for themselves a large portion of the money they earn, even if their earnings are very modest,” he pointed out.
Who has more than PLN 50 thousand?
As he pointed out, at the other extreme in the survey are savings above PLN 50,000, which are mainly mentioned by people aged 56-80 (12 percent), with a monthly net income above PLN 9,000 (42.3 percent) and with higher education (14.4 percent). Most Poles are from cities with population over 500 thousand (13.5 percent).
The expert pointed out that the higher the savings, the fewer people have them. “The level above PLN 50,000 (9.5 percent of indications) is very general, it applies to both middle-income people and the richest, so more people indicate it than savings in the range of PLN 20,000 to PLN 49,999 (8 percent),” Bijański explained.
He pointed out that both lack of savings and sums exceeding PLN 50,000 were most frequently declared by persons aged 56-80 – 26.5% and 12% respectively.
The survey was conducted using the CAWI method by UCE Research and SYNO Poland for the network of law firms Twój Prawnik 24 among 1040 adult Poles. The sample was representative in terms of gender, age, town size, education and region.
