The latest proprietary insight from Moneyhub, the market-leading data and payments platform’s Financial Wellness Tracker, reveals that consumer cash savings fell by 24.5% in the 12 months to August 2024.
This coincides with an individual’s capacity to save without making any changes to their overall spending behaviour, falling by 5.5% over the same period.
Indeed, consumers' non-discretionary spending needs (e.g. mortgage/rent, utilities and groceries) rose by 2.6% over the last 12 months, likely prompting the drop in their discretionary spend of 1.6% over the year.
Moneyhub’s Financial Wellness tracker, released each month, tracks consumer spending and saving trends across five key indices; savings, savings capacity, spending on essentials, discretionary spending, and debt to income ratios.
Commenting on the monthly findings, Samantha Seaton, CEO, Moneyhub, said: “While inflation has dropped and costs are beginning to ease back to a semblance of normality, it’s clear that the cost of living crisis lingers on for a vast swathe of the population. The fact that an individual’s capacity to save without making significant lifestyle changes continues to dwindle is worrying. Especially with many fixed-rate mortgages still to rise by quite some over the next year.
“Access to cash when it’s most needed provides consumers with a sense of financial security that supports their overall well-being. Businesses that are able to provide their customers a full view of their financial worlds; all incomings, outgoings, savings and investments, in a single place via platforms such as Moneyhub, will help individuals take stock and make more informed choices and build buy-in and loyalty.This consent-driven data will also enable businesses to offer more personalised products and services that ultimately better benefit their customers.”