19/08/03

Over a third of Britains dream of having a nest egg of between £1,000 and £5,000 for rainy days and emergencies, according to the latest Savings in Britain* report from Lloyds TSB.

However, for many putting money aside can be a bit of a nightmare, with one in three people taking up to a year to build up this amount and only 16 per cent of people stating they were organised enough to plan a year in advance.

The report also revealed that surprisingly, despite having many of the same goals, there are interesting differences in the savings aspirations of men and women. Men were more likely (19 per cent) to want to put larger amounts (between £5,000 and £20,000) by, compared to women (14 per cent).  While twice as many women as men believed their ideal savings buffer would be in the more modest £501 and £1,000 range.

There were also marked differences between singles and couples when it comes to their savings stash.  Surprisingly, 17 per cent of singles stated they would be happy with a buffer of just £101-£500, suggesting a spend today, save tomorrow attitude.  This was almost three times the response of couples, where just six per cent stated this amount as their ideal. In contrast, nearly twice as many couples than singles chose the more significant target of between £5,001 - £20,000 as their perfect buffer.

Matthew Osborn, marketing manager, Lloyds TSB Savings, said:  “Amazingly, even when given the choice of having the ideal savings stash many people are satisfied with just a small amount of money for emergencies and rainy days.”

He continued: “Women are happy with smaller emergency funds, whereas men put a bigger price tag on the unexpected. More worryingly, is seems that the nations singletons were even less concerned about their savings pot and weren’t worried about having much to fall back on.

 “People should make provisions to have some kind of savings safety net and start doing so early on in life, so that when they need some emergency funds they have built up a sufficient nest egg.”

The research also found some regional differences:
• Thirteen per cent of people in Yorkshire and Humberside stated that their ideal buffer zone would be between £101-£500, more than any other UK region.
• Twenty two per cent of respondents in the North East said they would be happy with a buffer of £501-£1,000, more than double the response of people in London, (10 per cent).
• Across all the UK regions the most popular buffer would be between £1,001-£5,000.  With 42 per cent of people in the Eastern region choosing this bracket.
• Twenty eight per cent of respondents from Wales stated they would like a buffer of between £5,001-£20,000, more than double the response given by respondents from the South West, 11 per cent.
• One in ten Londoners would like a savings buffer of between £20,001-£100,000.

Provided by the Lloyds TSB