Saving when scrimping: getting Britons into the black

Speakers:
Chris Leslie MP, Shadow Financial Secretary to the Treasury Lord Newby, Co-Chair, Liberal Democrat Treasury Parliamentary Policy Committee Gary Millner, Director of Operations, pfeg Nancy Kelley, Deputy Director of Policy and Research, Joseph Rowntree Foundation Jeff Prestridge, Personal Finance Editor, The Mail on Sunday Matthew Vincent, Personal Finance Editor, FT Brian Pomeroy CBE, former Chair, Financial Inclusion Taskforce (Chair of Bristol’s panel) Andrea Finney, Research Fellow, University of Bristol Jeff Masters, Associate Fellow, SMF
Chair: Ian Mulheirn, Director, Social Market Foundation
This events will see the launch of two new research reports exploring the financial behaviours of those on lower incomes: one from the Social Market Foundation, the other from the Personal Finance Research Centre (PFRC) at Bristol University. The reports provide new insights into the financial priorities of lower income groups and the challenges they face. Both offer suggestions for policy makers aiming to create a ‘nation of savers’.
Building on their recent work in this area, SMF’s latest research report draws on newly available data from the Wealth and Assets Survey to assess how the savings attitudes and behaviours of lower income groups differ from those of the better-off. It also analyses the record of past policy intended to encourage saving and suggests how future policy might be better directed at this income group to enable them to acquire assets.
The latest research from the PFRC at Bristol University is an in-depth study of the motivations and capacity of those on lower incomes to save. The research highlights the pressures felt in balancing today’s needs with future needs and aspirations. The findings point to new and simple ways in which policy makers and providers might encourage those who struggle to save to build saving into their everyday lives.