Super savers: Australians’ cash reserves hit almost $40,000 in August
Australians are madly saving money to stave off the rising cost of living, according to startling new research by Finder.
The average Australian has $39,439 in savings in August, according to Finder's Consumer Sentiment Tracker.
That's a 75% increase from 6 months earlier – up from $22,565 in March – and a record high since Finder began tracking in May 2019.
The amount of savings Aussies have stashed away has been trending up after 4 successive cash rate rises from the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).
Sarah Megginson, money expert at Finder, said cash is king in a downturn.
"Australians are drastically increasing how much cash they have stashed to offset the spiralling cost of living.
"Consumers are concerned that high levels of inflation and increasing interest rates will leave them vulnerable and where possible, they're stockpiling cash to weather the storm."
The research shows men have much bigger cash reserves than women. The average woman has $26,132 saved in August compared to $52,786 for men.
Megginson said boosting savings is a good goal to strive towards.
"Saving a little is better than saving nothing – the habit of saving is most important of all.
"Now is a great time to have excess cash in the bank with high interest savings accounts offering rates of more than 3.10% a year, and term deposits are even higher.
"While the RBA lifting the cash rate to 1.85% is bad news for borrowers, it's good news for savers," Megginson said.
Finder research shows the average Aussie could afford to live off their savings for 19 weeks if they lost their job today – up from 14 weeks in March.
Savings account rates have gone up significantly this year. Here are 6 savings accounts now paying 3% p.a. interest (or more!).
