Fewer than 40 percent of young adults would have sufficient savings to maintain their lifestyle if they lost their job tomorrow, a new Australian survey has found.
Most of those in the 21-34 age group live from pay day to pay day and spend most of their disposable income without saving for major purchases or long-term investment.
The findings of 400 responses through the social networking website Facebook show that despite the offer of high interest rates on savings accounts, more than 30 percent claimed to have no savings at all.
Men appear to be the worst savers with 43 percent saying they had put nothing aside for a rainy day.
"While our parents' generation grew up with an expectation to save for what you want, the generation X and Y's under 35 are living for the now and using debt to fund the purchases they want," Richard Greenwood, of saving account comparison website www.high-interest-saving-account.com.au, said.
The poll revealed just 20 percent of young adults were dedicated savers, who said they could survive for six months or more at their present lifestyle from savings alone.
"Following the recent spate of interest rate rises in Australia, savers can benefit from extremely competitive rates on high interest accounts - around 8.0 percent," Mr Greenwood said.
At an interest rate of 8.0 percent, opening a saving account with just $A500 ($NZ643.66) and depositing $A150 each fortnight would grow to over $A24,000 in just five years.
"That's enough to buy a new car in cash."
"If you can live without the money for a while then term deposits offer even higher returns and avoid the temptation to withdraw funds before reaching your saving goals."
