Differences between saving and investment
Although savings and investment are similar, they are not the same, explained Luz del Carmen, national director of the Finance Degree at the Tecnológico de Monterrey Business School.
Savings are used for short-term goals and are taken into accounts that leave very little return.
The purpose of the investment is “to be able to have a usufruct (gain) greater than the savings, in order to have a higher yield.”
In the first half of March, the national consumer price index stood at 7.12%. Although the increase in the cost of products and services has taken a breather in the last measurements of the Inegi, it is still very far from the range of between 2% and 4% that Banco de México (Banxico) has as its objective.
In Mexico, 35.5% of the adult population saves in a financial institution, against 43.7% who do so through informal schemes, such as batches, according to data from the Condusef taken up by Finamex Casa de Bolsa.
While 7.07 million Mexicans have the possibility of saving, but do not, this was revealed by a study carried out by Mexico, How are we doing? and Vanguard.
Why don’t you invest?
Despite the importance of investing, in Mexico few people do, although there is a wide range of options to put money to work.
Of the around 126 million Mexicans, at the end of 2022 there were 4.95 million investment accounts, according to data from the Mexican Association of Stock Market Institutions (AMIB).
Among the reasons why people do not invest, Finamex and Luz del Carmen Díaz point out the following:
1. The perception that investing is a luxury and is for people with high purchasing power
2. They consider that it is a very risky activity and they can lose all their money
3. Lack of information and financial education in Mexico
4. Low level of bankarization in Mexico