New Zealand is among the group of countries with a record low rate of savings and we are a spendthrift society, according to a survey.
Buzz Channel Group, which conducted the Survey for Westpac, said that an average New Zealander incurred at least $5 a day in ‘impulsive purchases.’
“Such impulsive spending amounts to $16.1 million every day of the week,” the Survey, conducted online, said.
“Such spending equates to $674,000 every hour across 18 years plus population.
Supermarkets, cafes and fast food outlets are the main places where impulse spending takes place while bigger ticket items such as computer and video games, shoes and perfume are also purchased on a whim,” it said.
Westpac Institutional Bank Chief Executive David McLean said thoughtless spending raised the question, “How much better off would we be as individuals and as a country if we could save as impulsively as we spend?”
“We all have our dreams, some big, some small, including buying a home, a new pair of shoes, retirement; and those dreams could be a little easier to achieve if we saved more. Resisting the urge to impulse spend at the levels New Zealanders are would certainly help,” he said.
About 54% of the respondents said recession had no impact on their spending, which was at the same level as it was before the financial crisis began.
The volume of impulse spending was approximately 9% of the total amount spent in the economy daily.
In addition, 49% of the participants in the Survey said that either they did not have a savings account or have not used it for a while.
“New Zealanders have traditionally not been good at saving,” Mr McLean said.
“But one of the lessons from the recession is that regular saving and a nest egg can help create personal and household stability and, on a wider scale, contribute to a more balanced economy. Impulse saving, rather than impulse spending, is one way to achieve that and help make those dreams come true a little quicker and a little easier.”
Survey Fact Box
o New Zealanders impulse spend $16.1m per day
o Equates to $674,000 on impulse spending per hour
o 54% have not changed their impulse spending despite the recession
o No Savings Account: 13.45%; Yes, but not used for some time: 16.18%; Yes, only occasionally: 19.69%; Yes, regularly: 50.68%
Impulse Spending
Supermarkets: 56%; Fast Food: 20.50%; Cafés: 20.10%
Some sour facts
o NZ is 23rdout of 29 in the OECD for national savings rate (household, business, Government). We are ahead of only the Slovak Republic, US, Hungary, Iceland, Portugal and Greece
o NZ households owe, on average, $1.60 for every $1 earned
o Treasury says our low savings contributes to New Zealand’s undeveloped capital markets, high average interest rates, and high debt levels, leaves exposing us to the risk of falling foreign-investor confidence.
