Cash-strapped parents aren’t saving for their kids, says Zopa

A new survey by the peer-to-peer lender has found that a fifth of parents aren’t saving for the future.

New research from P2P lender Zopa has found that children will increasingly be forced to ‘go it alone’, as parents struggle to save for the future.

Zopa surveyed a matched sample of 500 parents and 500 non-parents to measure savings behaviour between the two groups. A fifth of parents aren’t saving any money at all for the future, versus 23 per cent of non-parents.

According to the research, 55 per cent of parents aren’t saving for the future due to a shortage of money to save. However, another one in five parents do not save for their children’s future because they want to see them make their own way in life financially.

“With wage growth slowing, interest rates still low and inflation high, it’s a tough savings environment out there. However, for parents that are able to put money away each month there are options to ensure they are making the most of their money,” said Andrew Lawson (pictured), chief product officer at Zopa.

Parents are at least managing to think longer-term than non-parents (just about). Zopa’s research, carried out by Opinium, found that 62 per cent of parents who put money aside have an investment timescale of 4 years. 52 per cent of non-parents are investing with the same timescale in mind.

Meanwhile, 50 per cent of parents who are saving money for their children use a bank savings account. Lawson said that anyone using a savings account as a long term savings vehicle ‘can most definitely find a better route’. He touted the Innovative Finance ISA – which for Zopa has now attracted upwards of £100m – as one such option.