To save or not to save?

The Scots may have always had a reputation for being tight-fisted, but a new survey reveals the benefits of being so stingy, according to the Chelsea Building Society. In fact, people from Edinburgh and Glasgow are among the biggest savers in the UK with the average Glaswegian sitting on a whopping £15,000 in savings, while 15% of those from Edinburgh have at least thirty grand stashed away in the bank.

Almost one in twenty affluent Edinburgh folk put away the princely sum of £500 every month and a third of them class themselves as excellent savers.

But it's not just the Scots that are good with their pennies, 9% of those from Norwich also have more than 30K in savings and 10% of those living there claim to have up to 5 savings accounts.

Sheffield residents are the savviest with 58% knowing the interest rate their savings account offers while nobody from Chelmsford had a clue.

Over 4000 people took part in the poll, which revealed that those living in Leeds are the worst savers in the UK. The study showed 14% of people from there said they never saved and a third had just 50 quid in their piggy bank. Plymouth folk didn't fare well either and were branded as the second worst savers, just ahead of Newcastle and Swansea.

Almost three quarters of British adults said they worry that they're not saving enough and one in ten have resorted to hiding cash under the mattress or other unusual places including tumble driers! Meanwhile, a sneaky 17% don't tell their partners how much they save, preferring to keep their nest egg a secret.

Elsewhere, 80% of people admitted to collecting spare change with a traditional 27% saving their coppers in a piggy bank.

A quarter of Brits said they dip in to their savings account all the time with the most common thing to splash out on being home renovations, followed by holidays and a new car.

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2007-04-27 10:57:46 © Moneyextra.com