Saving is not allowed to spend: Russians are switching to an accumulative model

According to NAFI, only 5 out of 10 Russians accumulate a financial "cushion " of safety in case of loss of income. How to accumulate a comfortable amount in the current economic conditions — read the Izvestia article.

The average size of a Russian citizen's "pillow" is 145 thousand rubles, according to the Bank of Russia. But not everyone manages to accumulate even a small amount of capital due to unforeseen expenses faced by 87% of Russians.

Not saving money and spending it all at once is a very big mistake, because every year a person has less and less time to gain financial freedom, comments Yulia Afanasyeva, an analyst at Finam. "You can't waste years, otherwise you can end up below the poverty line in old age," she said.

The more, the better

According to Maria Ermilova, Associate Professor of the Department of Finance for Sustainable Development at Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, Russians make mistakes when trying to create a financial cushion. In particular, they focus on too small amounts, while the optimal amount of savings is an annual income.

In addition, an attempt to accumulate the coveted amount in cash is doomed to failure, as it is eaten up by inflation. The expert advises using banking products (savings accounts, deposits). This is how the money will work and provide additional income.

Mikhail Vasiliev, chief analyst at Sovcombank, partially disagrees with the latter recommendation. According to him, it is wise to keep a small part of your savings in cash so that they are always at hand in case of force majeure. But it is reasonable to keep most of them on deposit at a high interest rate.

— Banks still offer ruble deposits of about 20% per annum. At the same time, official inflation now stands at 10.2%, and by the end of the year it is expected to slow down to 7-8%. That is, it is possible to fix real positive rates," he told the publication. The analyst predicts a decrease in deposit yields to 12-14% by the end of 2025.

A little bit of everything

The experts surveyed recommend considering a diversified portfolio for savings, which should include both conservative (deposits, money market funds and bonds) and more risky instruments (for example, stocks that can provide increased returns over the long term).

Mikhail Vasiliev considers it extremely important to improve financial literacy and explore new sustainable tools for savings, their profitability and risks.

— For example, those who invest only in deposits can study liquidity funds and reliable bonds (OFZ or large Russian companies). In our opinion, liquidity funds remain an extremely interesting and reliable savings tool — their current yield is about 20-21%, while you can withdraw money at any time without losing interest. Those who have mastered deposits and liquidity funds can explore fixed coupon and floating coupon bonds. With the help of a bond portfolio, you can already build strategies to achieve your financial goals," he said in an interview with Izvestia.

At the same time, the share of each instrument is determined based on a person's risk profile, says Bogdan Zvarich, Head of Banking and Financial Market Analysis at PSB. "So, with a very low risk tolerance, the volume of conservative instruments can be 80-100% of the portfolio," he says.

Another important factor in choosing the tools, the specialist called the goal and the expected time of its implementation.

— As an example, you can save up for a down payment on a mortgage — the closer the time of buying an apartment is, the more conservative tools you should choose, — the expert believes.

Currency collapse

Converting some of your savings into convertible currencies was previously a fairly popular way to save money. However, now it is not so profitable, according to Yulia Makarenko, Deputy Director of the Banking Institute for Development.

— The situation in the foreign exchange market is unpredictable. That is, there is no guarantee of receiving income on the currency difference in a certain period of time. The difference between buying and selling in exchangers reaches 10 rubles or more in times of turbulence, and sales in different banks of the same city can vary within 10 rubles from the official one. That is, with a dollar for 80 rubles, you can buy it in some banks for 85-92 rubles. In order for the income not to be "eaten up" by a banking operation, it is necessary to wait for the ruble to weaken by at least 10-15 rubles, she advises.

According to Zvarich, if you diversify your savings portfolio by currency, you can reduce the impact of a weakening ruble if such a risk is realized. He advises paying attention to instruments in "friendly" currencies, which at the same time will generate income. "These can be both deposits in foreign currency and quasi—currency instruments, for example, substitute bonds," the expert explained.

Mikhail Vasiliev, in turn, warns Russians against currency speculation.

"Currency savings are more risky and are more suitable for those who travel abroad for tourism, educational or business purposes," he says.

But for advanced investors, the expert considers it optimal to consider placing part of their investment portfolio in substitute foreign currency bonds of large Russian companies (currently they give 6-9% in dollars and yuan).

Gold reserves

Gold has a reputation as a reliable asset that gets more expensive over time, but this tool is treacherous in terms of risks, warns Alexander Schneiderman, head of Sales and customer Support at Alfa-Forex.

— You can invest in gold only if you are sure that you will not need the money for 5-10 years. Not all years will be as productive for gold as the previous one, when gold increased in price by a third, from $2060 to $2,700, and this year it reached $3,500 per troy ounce. This is due to the uncertainty in global financial markets. Gold usually rises in price more smoothly," he says.

According to the analyst, investing in gold now, at its peak, hoping to make a profit in a year, you may be disappointed as investors who invested in this precious metal in 2022 and lost, as gold returned to average values by the end of the year.

In addition, Yulia Makarenko notes, it is worth remembering that gold is a very liquid asset.

— If you prefer physical bullion, you should also take care of where to store it. A tool such as buying a share in an ETF that manages gold assets partially removes the issue of liquidity and storage," she said.

Not just the "pillow"

The experts surveyed see the point in self-retirement savings. According to Vasiliev, the consistent development of deposits, liquidity funds, bonds, stocks and real estate can be considered for a wide audience.

"We consider investing in real estate to be a good long—term investment, especially through preferential mortgage programs," he says.

If you can live perfectly well on a quarter of your current income, then you don't need to think about retirement (that's about how much you will receive when you retire, even if you honestly paid taxes). Otherwise, savings are necessary, Yulia Afanasyeva believes.

— The choice of pension instruments depends on how far away the pension is now. If you are just at the beginning of your financial life cycle and you still have several decades to retire, then you can choose any exchange-traded or other financial instruments. The main thing is that they do not have signs of fraud or pyramid schemes. If you have up to five years or less, then you should choose only super conservative assets aimed at saving money, the expert recommends.