The savings of Russians are growing while the number of reliable tools for investments is decreasing.
MOSCOW, August 15, 2011. Russian Pubic Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning the ways of investing money that seem most reliable to Russians, as well as how many Russian have savings and what they save their money for.
Almost every third Russian has savings today (31%) - there were 25% of such respondents a year ago. As a rule, they are elderly respondents (37%) and Russians with high level of income (50%). Sixty-three percent of Russians do not have savings: basically 35-59-year-old Russians (66-67%) and Russians with income below average (72-74%).
Russians tend to keep money (or they would keep money) for no reason, just in case (28%), for a rainy day (25%) or to buy a home (27%). Rarer respondents mention medical treatment (20%), or education (15%) among reasons. The shares of those who keep money in case of job loss, or for a good vacation/rest (10% for each), to buy a car (8%), a plot of land or dacha (6%), expensive things (5%), to launch a business or make more money (3% for each) are much smaller.
The most popular ways of investing money seem less reliable to Russians than before. For example, in spring fifty percent of Russians regarded the purchase of real estate to be the best investment, today - only 43 % of Russians think so (this is the minimum over the whole year). The same thing can be applied to those who choose keeping assets in gold or jewelry (from 20 to 15%).
Other ways of investing money have held the same positions. Investing money in sberbank savings accounts is the best way of investing money for 26% of Russians; keeping investment in rubles is preferred by 15%. As before, the least reliable way of keeping investments is foreign currencies (7%), stocks, contributions to pension funds, commercial bank accounts (4% for each), and mutual funds (2%).
The initiative Russian opinion polls were conducted on July 9-10, 2011. 1600 respondents were interviewed at 138 sampling points in 46 regions of Russia. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.
Does your family have any savings? (close-ended question, one answer) | ||||||
| July 2011 | April 2011 | January 2011 | December 2010 | September 2010 | July 2010 |
Yes | 31 | 31 | 32 | 30 | 28 | 25 |
No | 63 | 65 | 60 | 66 | 70 | 72 |
Hard to tell | 7 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 3 |
For what purposes do (would) you/your family make savings? (close-ended question, not more than three answers ) | ||||||
| July 2011 | April 2011 | January 2011 | December 2010 | September 2010 | July 2010 |
Purchase of apartment | 27 | 27 | 24 | 27 | 27 | 27 |
In any case, to keep in store | 28 | 28 | 30 | 28 | 26 | 29 |
For a rainy day | 25 | 26 | 27 | 21 | 25 | 23 |
Medical treatment | 20 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
Education | 15 | 16 | 13 | 12 | 15 | 15 |
Entertainment, travelling | 10 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 14 |
Purchase of expensive things | 5 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
Purchase of car | 8 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 11 |
In case of job loss | 10 | 9 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 10 |
Purchase of a plot of land, dacha | 6 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 |
Business, buying stocks | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 |
To get additional income, to multiply money | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
I would not make any savings for any purposes | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
For other purposes | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
Hard to tell | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
In your opinion, which of the following investments are the most reliable? (up to three answers) | ||||||
| July 2011 | April 2011 | January 2011 | December 2010 | September 2010 | July 2010 |
Purchase of real estate | 43 | 50 | 48 | 52 | 45 | 48 |
Buying gold, jewelry | 15 | 20 | 18 | 24 | 19 | 17 |
Opening a sberbank savings account | 26 | 26 | 23 | 24 | 20 | 19 |
Saving money in rubles and keeping them in cash | 15 | 17 | 15 | 15 | 13 | 13 |
Purchase of foreign currencies and keeping it in cash | 7 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
Purchase of stocks | 4 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
Contributions to pension funds | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
Opening a commercial bank account | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 |
Mutual funds | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 |
Other | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
Hard to tell | 18 | 13 | 17 | 12 | 19 | 20 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!