Towards a nation of savers: understanding and overcoming the challenges to saving on a lower income

Previous analysis of existing evidence, carried out by PFRC for the Financial Inclusion Taskforce, concluded that the three main challenges to increasing rates of saving in lower-income groups are: helping people to prioritise saving over spending; transitioning people from saving informally to saving formally; and encouraging people to extend their saving horizons. The aim of this research project was to inform the first two of these policy concerns. Primarily qualitative in design, it used a mix of depth interviews followed by focus groups with people on lower incomes, supplemented with new analysis of the 2006-08 Wealth and Assets Survey. The study highlights the pressures people feel when trying to balance the needs of today with needs and aspirations for the future, and points to new and simple ways in which policy makers and providers might encourage those who struggle the most to become active savers.