Focus on Saving: Towards consensus

Summary

1. All savings matter: they improve the financial flexibility that people have. All savings impact on the financial circumstances of people as they enter retirement.  While steps should be taken to encourage savings in general, particular attention needs to go on the contribution savings make to the living standards of the retired.

2. The recent survey of living standards of the elderly indicated that in the main, retired people lived with an acceptable level of comfort. The issue for savings policy is whether current policy settings and current savings practices are sustaining the wealth accumulation that will replicate that retirement income pattern for future generations.