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MONEY COMMENT
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Here's some good news: a new report from the Observatoire de L'Epargne Européenne (OEE) - European Savings Institute - has revealed that we Britons have far greater financial assets than our four richest European neighbours. The OEE estimates that the average Brit has €75,812 (£51,500) tucked away in savings, bonds, shares and collective investments, life assurance and pension funds (but not property). Next was Germany with €47,526 (£32,285) per head, with Spain bringing up the rear with €30,916 (£21,002). But here's the bad news: the OEE claims we need our extra wealth, because our state pension system is much less generous than those Europeans receive. Oh dear! Hence, we hold more in our private and company pensions to boost our retirement incomes. We invest our money very differently from other Europeans, holding the majority in life assurance and pension funds that are heavily exposed to shares. On the other hand, the more conservative Germans spread their wealth around more, splitting their money fairly evenly between cash; bonds, mutual funds and shares; and life assurance and pension funds. The French hold about an eighth of their wealth in shares (13%), while the Spanish are more aggressive investors, with more than a quarter in equities (26%). Then again, Spaniards balance things out by keeping a massive two-fifths of their assets (40%) in cash, compared to Britons' 26%. Even more bad news: another problem for Britons is that we save a lower proportion of our disposable income than the Continentals do. Savings ratios are between 15% and 16% in France, Germany and Italy, and almost 11% in Spain. Sadly, we Brits can't even manage to squirrel away a measly 6% of our spare cash! So, although we have greater assets than the citizens of neighbouring countries, we need this wealth to supplement our lower state pensions. Then again, it's encouraging that we put our faith in shares, because these have provided better returns than other assets over long periods. But we could certainly do with saving more! More: Start saving today with a trip to our Savings and ISA centres.