The main purpose of Mexicans is to save, how to achieve it?

After 2022 marred by historic inflation, Mexicans will receive the new year with a wish list in order to improve their financial situation, according to a study carried out by the consultant Kantar, 72% of those surveyed have considered saving money for next year.

Despite the fact that many want to save for the following year, very few achieve this goal, according to data from the National Survey of Financial Inclusion (ENIF) four out of ten Mexicans do not save and of those who do, 39% do so through informal mechanisms.

Specialists consider that the lack of financial education and the habit of saving is one of the most common reasons why these types of financial goals are not achieved.

“Savings and investment, more than a goal, are a habit, which must be adopted over time. Today, with everything that is happening in the economy, we see the importance of starting savings and for this we have to go out and build that habit to have money when it is necessary,” said Alfredo Álvarez Arellano, personal finance specialist at flink.

To generate and maintain healthy financial habits, one option is to start with goals that are easy to achieve and that provide some kind of gratification, for example going on a trip or going out to eat. Joselyn Quintero, a specialist in neurofinance, explained that saving for an emergency when there is no habit can be easily associated with unpleasant events and thus cause less willingness to carry out said action, on the contrary, having goals with positive messages generates a immediate feeling of well-being so it is easier to continue with the practice.

Another way to facilitate the practice of saving is to look for communities, in Mexico many people opt for the famous tandas or savings banks at work or with acquaintances. According to Quintero, saving under these mechanisms is easier, since it is done in a group, so there are immediate rewards such as feelings of belonging and social well-being, however, since they are informal mechanisms, there are not so many benefits for the saver, apart from there is a risk of losing money.

One way to obtain benefits for saving and at the same time doing it in a group is to invest. In social networks there are many groups of investors who are in constant communication through publications, in this way you can obtain a benefit of maintaining constant savings through the returns that the investments give, in addition to being within a community. According to Actinver, 43% of people feel a sense of immediate well-being when investing.

Alfredo Álvarez explained that having constant vigilance over our expenses is key to maintaining savings, since by taking into account how much and what it is spent on, we can reflect on what expenses to reduce to improve our financial health.

When carrying out the analysis on the expenses that we can reduce or avoid, you can also choose to set limits on expenses, for example if I have to spend more than a certain amount on an outing I will think twice or you can even consult family and friends if they consider that it is necessary to make the expense at that moment, that way they can have greater financial control.

Lower expectations for savings

Although the desire of Mexicans is to save, economic problems reduce this possibility, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) reveal a drop in Consumer Confidence indicators (ICC) of 0.6 points in November compared to the previous month in terms of the possibilities of saving. While the possibility of saving within 12 months was located at 49 points, that is, 2.6 points below a year before.

joselyn.ugarte@eleconomista.mx