Poles invest cautiously and little

The public opinion survey "Finances of Poles", which was commissioned by Bank Millennium, provides the latest information on the financial situation of Poles, the approach to saving, the housing situation and financial education.

The latest edition of the survey shows that Poles do not assess their knowledge of investing very positively - almost half of the respondents assess it as average, and every third - as poor. Only 12 percent declare good knowledge of investment issues.

Among the most recognisable forms of investing money, respondents indicate: real estate, land, bonds, raw materials and shares. All these answers reached indications in the range of 61-72 percent. For comparison, only 16 percent of Poles are familiar with a product like a structured deposit. For almost all of the products or ways of investing mentioned in the survey, the percentage of people declaring a lack of interest ranges from 47 percent in the case of raw materials to as much as 71 percent in the case of structured deposits.

The participants of the study also do not show much appetite for investing. Only 13 percent of them invest, although this is still an increase of 2 percentage points compared to last year and 5 percentage points compared to 2023. Men are more willing to invest (15 percent of respondents declare so) than women (11 percent of respondents). The average Polish investor is a middle-aged man who lives in a big city and has a higher education.

What do Poles invest in? The largest group (27 percent) declares that they use pension schemes offered by their employer, and almost every fourth respondent (24 percent) invests in raw materials. Next, respondents mentioned: pension products (22 percent), real estate and land (16 percent each) and raw materials (15 percent). Structured deposits remain a niche product, with only 9 percent of respondents declaring they use them.

Only 5 percent of respondents invest more than 5,000 PLN per month. Most often it is between 100 PLN and 500 PLN per month - this range is indicated by 34 percent of survey participants.

The most common motivation for investing is - as the respondents declare - to secure their future or that of their children (59 percent), to protect money from inflation (49 percent) and to multiply capital (44 percent). Only 7 percent of respondents indicate interest in investment markets as a reason for investing.

The largest group of investors (46 percent) describe their investment style as stable, i.e. they accept only slight fluctuations in the value of investments and low risk, or moderate (33 percent) - characterised by moderate, periodic fluctuations in the value of investments and medium risk. Only 4 percent of investors decide on a dynamic strategy (rapid, periodic increases and decreases in the value of investments and considerable risk). Interestingly, as many as 17 percent of respondents cannot determine their investment style.

When investing money, Poles still care more about security than about higher profit - this view is shared by 63 percent of respondents. Only 16 percent of the survey participants would be willing to take a risk to make a bigger profit. However, they see both the advantages of saving regularly (76 percent) and investing even small amounts (60 percent). 57 percent of respondents agree with the statement that investments are for people who are savvy, and half (50 percent) equate investing with freezing cash for a long time. 45 percent of respondents are of the opinion that investing devotes a lot of time, and 40 percent that it is intended for wealthy people. Only one in five participants in the survey (18 percent) declare that they feel confident in the subject of finance and investing.

— The survey confirms that Poles still value security the most, which can be equated more with saving than investing. Nevertheless, it is with saving that the adventure with investments often begins. Poles are therefore at the beginning of their journey to become more aware participants in the capital market, which they know very well, as most of them do not declare a good knowledge of the laws of the market. This means that education remains one of the key factors supporting Poles in starting their adventure with investments — comments Łukasz Bugaj, Senior Financial Analyst at Bank Millennium brokerage office. — It is good that a large number of respondents see the advantages of investing even small, but regularly invested amounts. This is a good starting point where you will be able to increase your commitment in the future as society becomes richer and, hopefully, also with its growing familiarity with financial markets.

In the "Finance of Poles" survey, respondents were also asked about their expectations of investment products. The five most popular answers are: low fees for product service (84 percent), low risk and security (83 percent), flexibility understood as the possibility of withdrawing funds without fees and freedom of payment (83 percent), capital guarantee (83 percent) and low financial threshold for starting investing (72 percent).

The "Finances of Poles" survey was carried out on 6-12 June 2025 by Ogólnopolski Panel Badawczy Ariadna research agency for Bank Millennium on a representative sample of 1046 people using the CAWI method.

More information: www.bankmillennium.plThe link opens in a new tab..