It is no longer a secret: when it comes to putting money aside, the French prefer not to take the risk of losing it. When they are asked which products they favor to place their savings, 83%to cite their savings booklets first (booklet A, LEP, LDDS, etc.), then their current account (36%), and finally, at 20%, the guaranteed capital supports of their life insurance, or their retirement savings plan (PER), according to the 2024 savings barometer (AMF/Audirep). In other words, savings solutions on which they are sure not to lose anything. Conversely, there are only 12% to favor, for example, the stock market investment.
However, over the long term, it is the investment in the financial markets, and in particular in equities, which is the most profitable, as shown by the Institute of Real Estate and Land Savings (IEIF) in its study “40 years of comparative performance (1984-2024). Over this period, the shares reported on average 11.8% per year, against 3.39% for booklet A. An observation which is also verified in the shorter term: between 2019 and 2024, for example, with 6.17% average performance for shares, against only 1.79% for booklet A. A differential without consequences if savers do not hope for more yield of a risk -free placement.
The French hope a little more secure investments
The problem is that there is sometimes a gap between the placements favored by the French and their hope of gain. According to the same savings barometer relayed by the IEIF, 46% of savers hope for example a return between 3 and 4% for a risk -free placement. A target slightly above reality, since booklet A has, for example, went from a rate of 3% to 2.4% on February 1, and that in life insurance, the average yield of guaranteed capital supports (Euros funds) is displayed at 2.6% in 2024, or 2.15% net of social security contributions.
Worse still, 27% of respondents rely on a performance of 5 to 6%, and 16% on a yield greater than 6%, or more than twice the rate of booklet A, placement without reference risk. As a reminder, in life insurance, the best euro fund in the 2024 vintage displayed a yield (net of social security contributions) of 3.8%. Conversely, we note that the French expect less than what they are entitled to hope for risky investments. 49% of them consider remuneration between 5 and 9%. While condition that you do not need the money invested over a long period, IEIF data show that the annual share return is statistically (but without guarantee!) Above 10%.
>> Our service – save money by testing our comparator of savings booklets
