Financial Investments in Germany

Despite the relatively low returns, life insurance policies remain the favourite type of investment in Germany. The findings of the Investment Barometer, a bi-annual representative survey carried out by GfK Ad Hoc Research Worldwide on behalf of The Wall Street Journal Europe, show that 45% of Germans have a life insurance policy.

The Investment Barometer shows that in the last six months, Germans have preferred relatively low returns on their investments to high yield/high risk investments. 45% of Germans have a life insurance policy (December 2001: 46%) and 28% consider this to be the most important investment tool (December 2001: 25%). The importance of life insurance as an investment product was the same or lower in all the other European countries included in the survey. 45% of respondents in the UK also have a life insurance policy (December 2001: 42%), but only 14% consider this to be the most important investment tool (December 2001: 10%), while the figures for France are 25% (December 2001: 29%) and 8% respectively (December 2001: also 8%). On average, 28% of western Europeans have a life insurance policy, of which 11% see it as their most important investment.

In Germany's comparatively recent stock culture, shares still suffer from a low level of acceptance. Nine per cent of Germans hold shares (December 2001: eight per cent) and only three per cent consider shares to be their most important investment (December 2001: two per cent). Compared with the other European countries, Germany continues to lag behind the UK, where the number of people holding shares increased from 21% to 30% in the last six months, and Sweden, which still leads with an unchanged 36%. In Western Europe, seventeen per cent of respondents confirmed that they held shares. This means that Germans are not the only European nation to have shown little interest in shares in the last six months: the number of shareholders in Spain and Italy has dropped from 22% (December 2001) to fourteen and from fourteen to eight per cent respectively.

In addition to life insurance, Germans set great store by short-term savings such as savings books, overnight money and fixed-term deposits, all of which continue to be popular throughout Europe. 55% of respondents in Germany have one or more such investments and the average figure for western Europe stands at 46%. Asked how they would invest EUR 50,000 today, 23% of Germans would put their money in a short-term savings account, 24% in an investment fund and 26% would invest in bonds.

Whether and how much Germans will invest in the future depends largely on the amount of money available to them in real terms. Almost 50% of Germans, which is in line with the average for western Europe, expects to be able to save as much over the coming twelve months as they did last year (December 2001: 55%). However, the number of Germans who think they will not be able to save as much this year, or think they will be saving significantly less, has risen considerably in the last six months. Approximately six months after the introduction of the Euro, 37% (December 2001: 27%) of Germans are showing a pessimistic attitude towards saving in the next twelve months.

The Investment Barometer provides half-yearly information about the investment behaviour of consumers in Europe. The data provided concentrates on investments, the most important forms of investment for respondents and how respondents would invest EUR 50,000 if this sum were available to them. Commissioned by The Wall Street Journal Europe and with the financial support of GfK e.V., GfK Ad Hoc Research Worldwide surveyed 9,373 people in twelve countries for the current study from 14 March to 23 April this year. In western Europe 7,129 people in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the UK were questioned, while 2,244 people were surveyed in Central Europe including the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. In each country, a representative random sample of households was surveyed.

All articles 2006-22 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas unless otherwise stated.

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