Czechs and Romanians have greater investments than Poles

According to Puls Inwestor eToro the average Polish investor has invested in various assets 108,5 thousand zloty. This is not only less than the Americans, the British or the Germans have, which is not surprising, but also less than the Czechs or Romanians. Our overall propensity to save is also low.

About the author

Pawel Majtkowski - analyst eToro on the Polish market, which shares its weekly commentary on the latest stock market information. Paweł is a recognized expert on financial markets with extensive experience as an analyst in financial institutions. He is also one of the most cited experts in the field of economy and financial markets in Poland. He graduated from law studies at the University of Warsaw. He is also the author of many publications in the field of investing, personal finance and economy.

Czechs and Romanians invest more than Poles

As part of the eToro conducted in 12 countries among 6 thousand Investors in the Puls Inwestora Indywidualny survey were asked about the value of all investments (excluding residential real estate and cash savings). It turned out that Poles have the lowest value of their investments (shares, bonds and other financial assets) of all the surveyed countries - PLN 108,5 thousand. zloty. Average investors from the USA can boast much higher average investment levels - 763,5 thousand. zloty, Australia - 488 thousand, or the United Kingdom 479,2 thousand. zloty. Germany also have much larger investments, amounting to 390,8 thousand. zloty. Czechs also have more valuable investment assets in their portfolios - PLN 138,6 thousand. PLN, as well as Romanians, whose average investments are by 4,3 thousand. PLN higher than Polish.

Source: eToro, Eurostat, BEA, ABS

Responses to the surveys were expressed in British pounds, the results were converted into the zloty at the exchange rate of 5,33 PLN / pound on August 27.08.2021, XNUMX

What is the reason for such a low position of Poland? First of all, with a low willingness to save in general. When we compare the amount of financial assets with the savings rate (this is the part of our income that we save in a given month or year), it is clear that Poles save the least. For comparison, we assumed the savings rate in the fourth quarter of 2019, i.e. the last full quarter before the pandemic, as in the pandemic the savings rate was subject to significant fluctuations and does not reflect the actual propensity to save. Our neighbors, the Germans, save as much as 18,5 percent, and the Czechs - 13,3 percent. your income.

Cash assets, i.e. money accumulated in banks, were excluded from the presented list. Poles still keep a lot of their savings in banks, research shows that the most popular methods of investing their savings in Poland are a current account and a savings account. This year, for the first time, the sum of funds held by Poles in banks exceeded 1 trillion. zloty. The same phenomenon also applies to the Germans, who are not in the top of the ranking, have significant savings, but keep a large part of them in cash.

The ranking also does not apply to the first and subsequent residential properties owned by a given investor. Therefore, it does not take into account investments in flats and houses, which have recently become very popular in Poland and are often an alternative to keeping cash in the bank.

The results of the survey show that despite the influx of new investors to the market, our national habits prevail. At the same time, we are still investing far too little. We do not have to look at the Germans who have the highest savings rate, let's follow the example of the much closer Czechs. We also keep a lot of money in banks, which we lose. In July 2021, holders ending annual bank deposits with average market interest rates lost as much as 4,67 percent.