Social media to blame for 61% of Aussies inability to save: MyState Bank

A recent MyState Bank report found that 6 in 10 Australians say their mood negatively impacts their savings habits, with boredom, 'bad days', peer pressure and buy now, pay later services being the top savings hindrances.

The study also revealed that 61% of Australians felt social media posts made by online friends and influencers negatively impact their ability to save.

MyState Bank Managing Director and CEO, Melos said, “More people have access to social media platforms than ever before and as a result, are exposed to influencers, retailers, and friends showing off clothes, holidays and gadgets.”

With recent figures showing there are 15 million Australians currently active on Facebook and 9 million on Instagram, the power of social media is infinitely growing.

“As humans, we can’t seem to help but compare ourselves to what we see on social media and may feel like we have to spend more to appear to be keeping up with the Joneses,” Sulicich said.

Similarly, Mozo’s recent Comfort Spending Report found that Aussies are resorting to retail therapy when stressed or anxious (45%), feeling unhappy (39%) and feeling lonely (27%).

Mozo’s report discovered 81% of Aussies are comfort spender offenders, racking up an enormous yearly comfort spending total of $25.5 billion. That works out at $1,430 a year on average, per person!

Quick tips to crunch comfort spending:

• Observe your comfort spending habits: Take notice of your comfort spending behaviour to pick up on any potential patterns or emotional triggers.
• Set a comfort spending limit: That way if the urge to splurge arises, at the very least you won’t be chipping into your savings.
• Swear off the plastic: If you are going to comfort spend, make sure to only use cash or a debit card. The last thing you want is lingering credit card debt after a moment of weakness.

So, if you’ve been comfort-spending your savings away, break the cycle, now! Give yourself a head start to catch up by getting a little extra bang for your buck with a high-interest savings account.