Savings Shortfall: Many Japanese Under 50 Have Little in the Bank

An SMBC Consumer Finance survey assessing the financial awareness of people in their twenties to forties has revealed that approximately 20% across that age range have zero savings.

In each of the three age groups, the most common situation was to have savings of up to ¥500,000, which was the case for 46.3% of those in their twenties, 25.8% in their thirties, and 28.0% in their forties (excluding those with zero savings). Adding up all those who had less than ¥1 million in savings shows this is true for 79.9% of people in their twenties, 59.2% in their thirties, and 62.0% in their forties. The trimmed mean (calculated excluding the top and bottom 10%) was ¥530,000 for people in their twenties, ¥1.83 million for those in their thirties, and ¥2.02 million for those in their forties.

The Financial Services Agency’s Council June 2019 report made headlines by stating that each person’s national pension fell short by an estimated ¥20 million (a report that Finance Minister Asō Tarō refused to accept). This is a far cry from what people currently have saved.

When asked at what level of household annual income they would think positively about getting married, those saying either there was no lower limit, ¥2 million, ¥3 million, or ¥4 million came to 41.0% of those in their twenties, 34.8% of those in their thirties, and 30.0% of those in their forties. With the ¥5 million range added in, these figures rose to 56.0%, 56.8%, and 51.0%, respectively. More than half of people appear to feel that if household income is up to ¥5 million, they can imagine getting married.

However, 13.9% of those in their twenties, 15.2% of those in their thirties, and 17.0% of those in their forties all answered that they would not get married no matter how high household income was, indicating that money alone cannot bring about a solution for the increasing tendency not to marry.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pakutaso.)