Personal savings typically refer to the savings of a private household. The latter is defined as containing a group of people, private individuals, who live together as an economic unit or those who live alone, which constitutes a single-person household. Accommodation which is communal or houses an establishment is not considered a household. The amount of money saved by private households in Germany in total began increasing from 2014 onwards, peaking noticeably in 2020. This may have been due to that year's pandemic-related border closures in Europe and therefore extremely decreased travel spending. In 2022, German households had saved a total of around 248.2 billion euros. While individual household saving patterns and circumstances differ, generally figures showed increased savings rates in recent years.
Based on a survey conducted in 2023, German households had varying attitudes in terms of assessing their current financial situation. Around 26 percent of respondents considered their circumstances mostly bad or bad, while 40 percent thought their finances were manageable. Future assessments of this kind, not to mention actual success with savings, depend on many factors. These include whether inflation levels will stabilize, the long-term effects of rising energy prices and the security of financial institutions offering investment opportunities.
