[jeffrey]

A KeyCorp survey has found that 55% believe they are disciplined savers even though 80% save less than 5% of their income. The report also found that 42% save less than 2% of their income while 24% don't save anything at all.

"It's clearly a case of people believing they're doing better job of saving than they actually are," said Andy Will, director of Consumer Product Management. "The best intentions are not resulting in the best behavior."

Insufficient income, debt and spending habits are the main reasons which prevent people from saving as much as they would like. In addition, the survey found that people consider the following as essentials:




Cable / Satellite TV - 49%
Cell phone - 46%
High-speed Internet access - 44 percent
Entertainment (movies, books, dining out, etc.) - 32 percent.
Big screen TV - 6%
Gym membership - 6%

"What struck me about the survey," said Will, "is that you have more than two-thirds of the people saying they'd like to save 10 percent or more of their income. Almost 90 percent say they can't save what they want because they don't make enough or are too far in debt. And yet, when you look at what people consider essential to their lifestyle - well, it leads us to believe there's some untapped potential for people to reach their savings goals. That may be the silver lining in this survey."

When asked which items people would give up first to save more money, 79% indicated the gym membership while 74% said the big screen TV.

People also believe that saving money is difficult. The survey found that approximately 70% of the people surveyed believe saving money is harder than losing weight, finding love or a good job, raising children, eating healthy, and maintaining a work/life balance. Over half (51%) said saving money was more difficult than getting along with their families.

"One thing I want to stress is that saving money doesn't have to be so painful, and that there's much to gain," said Will. "More people have saved their way to becoming millionaires than have earned their way. Also, setting some money aside is the single best thing you can do to inoculate yourself against the potential negative effects of life changing events such as job loss or unforeseen medical expenses."