One benefit of the economic crisis is that people have been made to "sit up and take notice" of the need to make the most of their savings.
Director of ARK Financial Planning Phil Perry stated that his company has seen a rise in the number of people looking to extend their savings beyond standard deposit accounts.
He said an effect of the credit crunch was that many people found a lack of savings to be problematic, as this increased the need for more borrowing.
"I think people in general are being made aware that there is much more to saving than just sticking it in a bank or building society. You can't make savings like that and expect much of a gain these days," Mr Perry asserted.
He noted that what is happening now is that people are switching on to the need for a "regular commitment" to saving instead of just building up a little for a "rainy day", with the culture change emerging in an age when old monopolies have been broken up and consumers can do things like shopping around for the best energy prices and other products.
Figures indicating the way things have changed were revealed by the Bank of England last week, which showed that last year, the amount of money put away into deposit accounts was £24 billion, while £20 billion was taken out in new loans.
This was the first time since 1988 that the amount being added to savings was greater than the total amount of new borrowing.
And there are further moves afoot to encourage more borrowing. Thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies - which was co-founded by Margaret Thatcher and Keith Joseph in the 1970s - recently produced a report advocating making saving simpler, with more flexibility including greater opportunities to switch funds between Isas and pensions.
Should new legislation follow to put this into effect, the outcome could be that consumers seek to do even more to increase their savings while relying less on borrowing.
|