No one in Europe saves like the Italians

58% of Italians save. This is the highest figure in the last 20 years. The category of 'intentional' savers, who accumulate with precise objectives (home, children, retirement age), is consolidating, compared to those who save for precautionary purposes. Retirement is a shared concern across generations, and the home remains the mainstay of Italian assets, with almost 80% of respondents living in their own home and buying it at different stages of their lives. Bonds remain the preferred financial instrument, and while equities remain marginal, asset management products have climbed the ladder over the past year. Security continues to prevail among the objectives of those who save.

These are the main findings of the Survey on Savings and Financial Choices of Italians 2025, carried out by Intesa and Fondazione Einaudi. "Italy is confirmed in Europe as one of the largest deposits of savings," recalls Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, Chairman of Intesa Sanpaolo, "and Europe is one worldwide with 33 trillion, but every year 300 billion crosses the Atlantic to finance external economies. The task of financial operators is to fertilise savings because when it is entrusted to a manager who lends it and makes it bear fruit, that money circulates and produces value. 'The Italians' high propensity to save is a great virtue that is being consolidated,' Giuseppe Lavazza, newly appointed president of the Einaudi Centre, echoes him, 'and saving is a form of democratic emancipation.

The research, conducted on a sample of 1,500 respondents, analyses the financial investment dynamics of Italian households and highlights their behaviour and opinions. The focus of the 2025 edition is the Silver Age, conducted through an oversampling of 200 individuals aged between 60 and 85. "They are active economic agents: on average, almost 2 out of 3 continue to set aside a significant portion of their income, they are engines of family welfare, also supporting their children and grandchildren economically," explains Giuseppe Russo , director of the Einaudi Centre, "devoting a lot of time to them. Finally, a non-negligible percentage continue to carry out daily work activities. Silver's plans tell of a generation that does not stop: between 12 and 13% plan trips, short or long: it is not just tourism, but the search for psychophysical well-being. So saving is an instrument of protection and freedom'.

Italians are more and more careful about saving to face future unforeseen events, concerned about old age but ready to help the new generations, willing to invest in bricks and mortar and much less in financial instruments. More men (61%) than women (57%) and people with the highest educational qualifications save, with over 90% of graduates declaring that they have full financial independence (84.2% of the total sample). For 36% of those interviewed, the resources set aside are used to deal with unforeseen future events, while there are 'intentional' savers (38%) who have precise accumulation objectives (home, children, retirement age). Pension provision is a generational concern. About 24.5% have subscribed to a complementary pension form: a growing percentage, doubled in the last 15 years, although still a minority. The take-up of Long Term Care (LTC), health and life policies remains low, especially among young people. Interest in LTC policies remains limited even in older age groups. Only 17.9% of respondents are protected by a form of insurance (individual or family, group or company) that covers, in whole or in part, medical expenses.The home remains the mainstay of Italian wealth, with almost 80% of respondents living in their own homes. The desire for homes does not die down even as people get older: over 7% of the over 60s declare intentions or ambitions to buy in the next few years, often for housing improvements or geographical repositioning following retirement. As many as 22% of actual purchases by the over-55s relate to housing for their children. On the investment front, bonds remain the preferred instrument, with one fifth of Italian savers in the sample owning them: 44% of these have traded in the last year, with a ratio of 2 to 1 between those who bought and those who sold. Equities remain marginal: only 4.6% of respondents have traded on the stock market in the last twelve months. Security continues to dominate among the objectives respondents set themselves when spending their savings. In the 2025 report, however, mentions drop below 50 per cent for the first time, with 47 per cent of respondents placing it first. The sample's cautiousness is also undoubtedly due to the fact that financial literacy is not high: only 4 out of 10 people consider their level of competence to be sufficient.

While precautionary saving remains dominant among the over-80s, linked above all to health uncertainties and unforeseen events, it has to be said that the silverware appears to be the driving force behind family welfare, supporting children and grandchildren financially and devoting time to them. Seventy per cent believe that 'one should at least leave the house to one's children'; about half believe that 'inheritance is a moral duty'. A surprising fact concerns paid work. Not negligible percentages of the over-60s continue in fact to carry out daily work activities: these are 59.7% of men and 44.4% of women in the 61-70 bracket, percentages that fall (but resist) even in later ages (31.5% and 28.5% in the 71-80 bracket; 12.2% and 12.1% in the over 81 bracket). When projecting their expectations on the next 12-18 months, the silver people maintain a tempered optimism. With reference to future savings, the ratio between optimists and pessimists remains above unity (between 1 and 2), indicating that the ability to continue to save represents for the silver people not only a form of personal security, but also the fulfilment of what many consider to be a moral duty towards subsequent generations. The balance between those satisfied and dissatisfied with their accumulated wealth also appears positive, with an initial phase characterised by high satisfaction (45-55% for both genders), followed by a low of 30-35% in the middle age bracket and, finally, a later recovery, especially among men (up to 50-52%).