Despite the region’s damp climate, many households in British Columbia didn’t save anything for a rainy day last year.
Twenty per cent of British Columbians didn’t sock away a single dime in 2014, according to the BMO Household Savings Report released April 7. This is slightly higher than the national average of 19%.
Nationally, among those who did put money away last year, 40% said they felt they did not save enough and 31% said one of the things keeping them from doing so was a lack of a savings plan.
“The most recent industry data show the household savings rate in Canada hit a five-year low in the fourth quarter of 2014,” said BMO head of North American retail payments and personal banking Ernie Johannson, referring to Statistics Canada data that showed that the national household saving rate was 3.5% in Q4 2014. The 10-year average is 4%, compared with 7.9% in the 1990s.
Among those with savings, almost a third of Canadians – 32% – have less than $10,000 put away. Of this group, 12% have less than $1,000.
The top reason people across the country are putting money away is saving for vacations (45%), which is down eight percentage points compared with a year ago. This is followed by retirement savings (42%) and emergencies (40%).
More Millennials have savings plans than other Canadians. The survey found that 40% of those aged 18-34 have a fixed plan, compared with 33% last year. The national average was 31%, up from 26% last year.
