Big shift towards mood to save in January

The mood to save was much stronger in January compared to the previous month, according to Legal & General’s MoneyMood Survey.

65 per cent of adults in the UK were in the mood to save at the end of January compared to 51 per cent in December 2006.

This is as high as January 2006 and equal to the highest figure over three years. The mood to spend is the lowest level yet recorded at only 22 per cent of adults questioned.

Legal & General’s MoneyMood Survey shows that the mood to save has grown significantly and is at its highest level for a year.

Claire Stracey, Director, Customer Marketing, Legal & General commented: “This is the highest figure we’ve recorded in three years of tracking and indicates the ‘MoneyMood’ of the nation is firmly in ‘save’ mode. Our research was done just after the Bank of England announced the rise in interest rates (to 5.25 per cent) and Ed Balls; Treasury Minister announced that ISAs would be a permanent feature of the savings market. With the Government encouraging people to use ISAs as their key ‘lifecycle saving’ vehicle we would hope to see a strong ISA market this year.”

Claire adds: “A fall in household disposable money is the most likely factor in pushing down the mood to spend in our survey. MoneyMood found that the percentage of households who said they have money to spend after paying bills and debt payments fell again for the third year in succession. That would suggest that fewer household would be in a position to spend this time round.”