Faced with inflation, the French do not manage their savings in the same way from one region to another. This is demonstrated every year by the “barometer of savings in France and in the regions” produced by Ifop for Altaprofits, an Internet wealth management consulting company. This year, the study requested a sample of 2,407 people representative of the French adult population between April 3 and 12. It follows that “savings in France remains an island of stability that resists inflation.” For three years, a large majority of French people (84%) have had at least one savings product and almost all (94%) said they have invested money in it.
Risk aversion declines but remains strong
One of the striking figures of the 2023 barometer is that almost two out of three French people do not plan to touch their savings to keep them for future projects. “While 29% take money from their investments, even if that means calling certain projects into question, 8% save more to guarantee their purchasing power in the future in the event of a continuous rise in prices,” the study specifies. Specifically, it is the inhabitants of Nouvelle-Aquitaine who are most likely to take their future projects into account (70%). Those from Hauts-de-France have particularly intensified their savings efforts in this regard (14% of them). On the other hand, the Normans and the inhabitants of the Grand-Est are more than a third to take money even if it means questioning certain projects.
More than three in four French people do not plan to change their investments without risk, even if the yield on their savings falls. At the generational level, this proportion is carried by the seniors (86%) and the Bretons, Burgundians and Franco-Conquistadors and Neo-Aquitanians at the geographical level (80%).
As expected, in a context of sustained price increases, more than two out of three French people continue to favor low-yield risk-free savings products, although this percentage has lost three points in one year. “On the contrary, the more risky a product is, the less interest it arouses, despite a higher potential return: only 17% of savers prefer low-risk products, with higher expected returns (+1 point vs. 2022) and only 5% of the risky products with the possibility of obtaining a significant return”, indicates the barometer. For this reason of aversion to risk, the inhabitants of Center-Val-de-Loire and Hauts de France oppose it, 75% of the former in favor of low-yield, risk-free savings products, when almost 10% of the latter are open to risk-taking
Big savers live in the west
While the end of the month is difficult for a growing number of French people, their effort to save is taking place at a much more hectic and less regular pace. Only 40% set aside money every month, the minimum for three years, and 21% prefer to do it every two or even three months. The inhabitants of Centre-Val de Loire, Pays de la Loire and Brittany are the most diligent in terms of saving since 97% of them invested money last year, and even 98% in the case of the Britons, almost the half of which he managed to do on a monthly basis. Less sparing (87%), their Norman neighbors are “only” 31% to have shown such regularity.
For 73% of French respondents, it is the unexpected and, in particular, anticipation of exceptional situations (38%) that guides their savings strategy when only 44% mention projects. The Centrais even have 84% savings in anticipation of these unforeseen events against only two Auvergnats-Rhônalpins out of three.
Another illustration of an underdeveloped financial culture in France, almost half of the French struggle to understand the consequences of inflation on the value of their savings. Of the 45% concerned, a third think the impact is positive and that their savings are increasing in value, 18% see no impact while 12% have no idea. In this sense, the inhabitants of Pays de la Loire are the least aware of the risk that rising prices pose to the value of their savings (59%).
Source: BFM TV
