Canadians Closer to Achieving Savings Goals in 2011: Scotiabank Annual Saving Poll

TORONTO, Aug. 16, 2011 /CNW/ - Saving money continues to be important to Canadians in 2011, with nearly all (96 per cent) indicating they feel better when they have a safety net of savings (vs. 94 per cent last year). While Canadians' attitude toward saving has remained consistent since last year, their behaviour has improved, with more people taking action and doing something about their saving goals.

According to Scotiabank's second Annual Saving Poll, conducted by Harris/Decima, among Canadians who think building up a nest egg in case of an emergency is a very important goal, two-in-five (39 per cent) indicate they are very close to achieving this goal - an eight per cent increase from last year.

"Canadians are moving in the right direction when it comes to achieving their financial goals," said Mike Henry, Scotiabank's Senior Vice-President and Head of Canadian Retail Payments, Deposits and Lending. "It has been a year since we launched our Let the Saving Begin program and we wanted to check in with Canadians to see how they are doing when it comes to saving - and it looks like one year has made a big difference!"

In line with last year's findings, Canadians continue to think having money set aside for the unknown is the most important reason to save (42 per cent in 2011, 43 per cent in 2010). Two-in-five Canadians (42 per cent) have enough rainy day money saved to cover three or more months of household expenses, significantly more than the 33 per cent who had done so in 2010.

"Last year we heard that Canadians recognized the importance of saving money for emergencies, but they weren't where they needed to be to reach that goal," said Mr. Henry. "The rule of thumb is to have three to six months of household expenses set aside in case of an emergency and it is great to see that so many Canadians have achieved this. It is also encouraging to see that fewer Canadians reported having no rainy day money at all."

In addition to being closer to reaching their goal of setting aside money for a rainy day, Canadians are also closer to achieving their other financial goals. Of the Canadians who feel the following goals are very important, many are more likely to be very close to achieving their goal this year:

• Saving for a trip: Half of Canadians (53 per cent) reported that they are very close to their goal of saving for a trip, comparable to 48 per cent last year.
  
  
• Saving to buy a home: Forty-three per cent of Canadians are very close to reaching their saving goal to buy a home, marking a six per cent increase from last year.
  
  
• Paying down debt: Canadians are more likely to be very close to paying down their debt this year (42 per cent in 2011 vs. 36 per cent in 2010).
  
  
• Saving for a new car: One-third of Canadians (33 per cent) are very close to reaching their goal of saving for a new car, comparable to 27 per cent last year.
  
  
• Saving for a child's education: Nearly one-in-three Canadians (29 per cent) said they are very close to reaching their goal of saving for their child's education, significantly higher than last year's 17 per cent.
  
  
• Saving for retirement: Twenty-nine per cent of Canadians indicated they are very close to their retirement goals, comparable to 25 per cent last year.

"The results of this year's poll are very positive and we want to do our part in helping this trend continue," noted Mr. Henry. "Our recently launched Scotia Moneyback Account and Scotia Momentum Infinite VISA are just two examples of how we continue to improve the products and services we offer to our customers to provide them more value with their everyday banking and help them save more of their hard earned money. Let the saving continue, Canada!"

The Scotia Moneyback Account, a first-if-its-kind chequing account, offers customers one per cent cash back rewards on all point of sale debit purchases. The Scotia Momentum VISA Infinite Card offers more options and higher cash back on credit card purchases. For more information about the features of these new products and how cash back rewards can add up, please visit: www.scotiabank.com.

About the poll
The Scotiabank Savings Poll was conducted online using Harris/Decima's online panel.  A total of 1,115 completed surveys were collected from a random sample of panel members across Canada from June 27th to July 8th, 2011.

This was a standard panel survey among a random sample of Harris/Decima's Canadian panel members. In a fashion similar to a telephone study, email addresses from their panel were pulled at random, according to population and gender specifications, in order to make the study representative of the Canadian population by region and gender. When contacted to solicit participation, participants had no prior knowledge of the subject matter of the study. Harris/Decima controls access to the study through passwords to ensure that respondents can participate only once. Subsequent to completion of the study, the data was weighted by region, age, and gender.

About Scotiabank
Scotiabank is one of North America's premier financial institutions and Canada's most international bank. With more than 70,000 employees, Scotiabank Group and its affiliates serve some 18.6 million customers in more than 50 countries around the world. Scotiabank offers a broad range of products and services including personal, commercial, corporate and investment banking. With assets above $571 billion (as at April 30, 2011), Scotiabank trades on the Toronto (BNS) and New York Exchanges (BNS). For more information please visit www.scotiabank.com.