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Johannesburg - Forty percent of South Africans are saving less now than they did six months ago, according to the Old Mutual Savings and Investment Monitor released on Thursday.
"This is not great considering (South Africans) are not great savers anyway," Lynette Nicholson, chief researcher of Old Mutual, told media in Johannesburg.
People aged 35 to 49 years and those in the Eastern Cape are feeling the pinch more than others, she said.
However, more respondents said they were satisfied with their overall financial situation than six months ago.
Respondents on average gave a mean score of 6.3 out of 10 with 10 being very satisfied in November 2011.
This had improved from 5.7 in July.
"It seems like a contradiction... but what we see now is people are still distressed but they are making plans to cut down on expenses," she said.
"People are quite resilient when it comes to managing."
Education remained the primary savings objective, with 54% of respondents agreeing that saving for education is more important than saving for retirement.
However, South Africans are underestimating the cost of education in the future, Nicholson said.
This was the fifth of the bi-annual survey conducted on 100 working metropolitan South African households. Peppercorn Research did the study through face-to-face interviews.
"This is not great considering (South Africans) are not great savers anyway," Lynette Nicholson, chief researcher of Old Mutual, told media in Johannesburg.
People aged 35 to 49 years and those in the Eastern Cape are feeling the pinch more than others, she said.
However, more respondents said they were satisfied with their overall financial situation than six months ago.
Respondents on average gave a mean score of 6.3 out of 10 with 10 being very satisfied in November 2011.
This had improved from 5.7 in July.
"It seems like a contradiction... but what we see now is people are still distressed but they are making plans to cut down on expenses," she said.
"People are quite resilient when it comes to managing."
Education remained the primary savings objective, with 54% of respondents agreeing that saving for education is more important than saving for retirement.
However, South Africans are underestimating the cost of education in the future, Nicholson said.
This was the fifth of the bi-annual survey conducted on 100 working metropolitan South African households. Peppercorn Research did the study through face-to-face interviews.
