Top high street bank report says the average Belfast resident has nearly £40K in savings

A new report from one of the UK's leading banks has said the average Belfast resident has nearly £40,000 in savings.

A recent survey by HSBC has looked at the spending and saving habits of people in cities across the UK, with Belfast ranking fourth in the UK for residents with the most amount of savings in the bank, with the average resident having £39,747.96.

Although, more than half of respondents to the survey said they had nowhere near that figure as 13.04% of respondents said they savings between £101-£500, £501-£1,000, £1,001-£5,000 and £5,001-£10,000. Just over 20% of respondents said they had savings of £50,000 or more, including 8.7% had more than £90,000 in savings.

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The average amount of savings for the whole of the UK was £33,079, with the East of England ranking top with £41,598, followed by London with £40,597 and the North West of England with £40,429

The HSBC survey also found that Belfast residents were the least confident in managing their spending as nearly one third saying they had problems with this.

When asked about their spending outside of everyday essentials such as bills, rent/mortgage and grocercies, people in Belfast were found to enjoy buying clothes, shoes and accssercoies, dining out and going on holiday, as 42% of those surveyed said they factor this into their spending every month.

This is quite similar to the rest of the UK where 46% spent the most outside of essentials on clothing, shoes, and accessories, followed 41% by dining out, 34% getting takeaways and holidays.

However, there were only certain things that residents said were "non-negitioable" with regards to there montly spending with 19% saying they would need to dine out every month, 17% saying they would need to get a takeaway while 10% said going out for a drink was vital.

Lloyd Robson, HSBC UK’s Head of Savings said: "Dining out and entertainment remain popular areas of non-essential spending, but it's interesting to see that 27% of Brits now believe most of their spending is negotiable.

"This highlights a shift in consumer attitudes, with more people rethinking their budgets and making considered choices, prioritising positive saving habits over impulse buys."

HSBC says the survey underscores "the need for accessible financial education tools to help people in the UK feel confident in managing their finances. To bridge this gap, there's a call for more resources that break down complex financial topics into simple, actionable advice."

Lloyd added: "Although many are showing positive financial habits, lots of people in the UK don’t feel like they have the knowledge they need to make confident financial decisions. By providing easy-to-understand resources, guidance and saving tools, HSBC UK endeavours to help empower more people to take control of their finances and build a secure future."

The bank has launched HSBC UK’s Savings Goal feature ‘Savings Goals’ in order to help customers improve their spending and saving habits by giving them indivdual targets to hit each month.

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