Savers highlight interest and ROI as top priorities

The Next Gen: Investors and Savers report by P2P lending platform ArchOver has revealed that two-thirds of UK adults (67%) would call themselves ‘savers’ rather than ‘investors’.

The survey of 2,000 UK adults found that the average saver puts aside £191 a month.

Just under two-thirds of savers (66%) maintained a ‘rainy day fund’, while financing a new car or a holiday (29%) or paying for retirement (27%) were the other main reasons for saving.

The majority of savers (83%) used traditional savings accounts to build their nest eggs, followed by Isas (43%) and pension funds (33%).

Angus Dent, CEO at ArchOver (pictured above), said: “Savers like knowing that the service they are saving into is fully regulated.

“Many take comfort in knowing their money is protected by official bodies and that they’ll be contacted if there’s a significant risk to their cash.”

If they inherited a large sum of money, just three in 10 savers (30%) would put it into an Isa, while only 9% would consider investing a large sum of money in stocks and shares.

Only 4% currently use P2P lending or crowdfunding.

“Savers like knowing that the service they are saving into is fully regulated,” added Angus.

“Many take comfort in knowing their money is protected by official bodies and that they’ll be contacted if there’s a significant risk to their cash.

“But that cautiousness is at odds with what savers claim to be thinking about, which is seeing their money grow.

“If savers are to achieve their goals, there needs to be more education available on the options that could help them achieve higher returns with a relatively low amount of risk.”