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Wealth barometer: Germans want to save more because of Corona

2020-10-29T05:53:48.131Z


Despite the losses, the Germans are satisfied with their financial situation. According to a survey, however, many have restricted their consumption - and want to save more money.


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Passers-by on Schildergasse in Cologne

Photo: Marius Becker / DPA

The corona crisis is causing Germany's economy to shrink so much this year as it has not since the financial crisis - but Germans are still overall satisfied with their own finances.

This is shown by a new survey on behalf of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association (DSGV), the results of which will be presented this Thursday.

According to this, 42 percent of the respondents rate their situation as "good" or "very good", the proportion has only decreased by one percentage point compared to the previous year.

At 18 percent, just as few speak of a bad financial situation as in the previous year.

For the survey "The wealth barometer 2020: The Germans and their money", the polling company Kantar interviewed more than 4,800 people online from June to July of this year.

The result is surprising because the majority of those surveyed had to accept corona-related losses: 39 percent of those surveyed stated this, and ten percent even spoke of serious losses.

Freelancers, the self-employed and trainees are particularly affected.

In rural areas far away from the cities, the effects of the corona crisis were less than in the city centers.

In rural areas, almost two-thirds of people (65 percent) were spared losses, in inner cities it was 59 percent.

The fact that Germans are so rosy about their own financial situation is probably due to the fact that Germany has come through the crisis well by international standards.

Unemployment has meanwhile risen by around 600,000 people.

But: "That is relatively little in view of the slump," Lars Feld, chairman of the expert council for assessing macroeconomic developments, recently told SPIEGEL.

Especially in comparison with the USA, where several million jobs were lost, Germany has come through the crisis well so far.

Above all, the expansion of short-time work is likely to have stabilized the incomes of many German citizens.

Despite the general satisfaction, according to the DSGV survey, the consumer behavior of Germans is likely to change significantly due to the corona crisis.

More than half (57 percent) say that it has remained unchanged over the past twelve months.

But 36 percent of those surveyed have restricted their consumption: this proportion has not been so great for seven years.

In contrast, only seven percent of those surveyed stated that they had increased their consumption.

In addition, Germans want to save more in the future.

Almost a third of all respondents have adjusted their own savings behavior in times of the corona crisis or are planning to do so.

"Save more" is the most common option chosen by almost two thirds of this subgroup.

"Save less" is only the right option for 17 percent.

17 percent, on the other hand, want to "choose other investment products" or have already done so.

The respondents consider precious metals such as gold, real estate and investment funds to be lucrative alternatives.

On the other hand, overnight money accounts and savings books perform poorly.

Younger people are more optimistic

According to the survey, younger people are particularly optimistic.

The 14 to 29-year-olds rate their current financial situation more positively than the average: Among the younger ones, the proportion of satisfied people is 46 percent higher than in the entire population (42 percent).

At 16 percent, the proportion of dissatisfied people is also two percentage points lower than the average.

63 percent of those surveyed also expect their financial situation to improve in the next two years.

In 2018, this share was eight percentage points lower.

Younger people are probably expecting a recovery after the end of the corona crisis.

This attitude is more widespread among younger people than in the general population.

Nevertheless, the younger generation has also become more cautious: In the youngest age group, the proportion of those who want to limit their consumption is greater than the percentage of those who want to increase it.

That was not always so.

In the two previous years, a majority of younger people wanted to expand their consumption - not limit it.

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Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2020-10-29

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