Transformation of investment and savings behavior of high-income groups during the crisis

On the basis of results of the study conducted in several large cities of Russia the article presents key models of investment and savings behavior of high-income groups in the unfolding crisis. It shows the impact on the choice of a particular model of respondents’ views about the situation in the banking sector and the economy as a whole, determines the nature of emerging attitudes and expectations. It analyses well-to-do households’ approaches to the choice of a bank and a type of deposit and their willingness to use other ways of investing, including participation in the system of voluntary pension insurance; reflects the experience of borrowing and the attitude to different credit products. Negative phenomena in the economy and the financial sector concern households, invoking parallels with the crises of 1998 and 2008 and even with the era of the 1990s. In the near future the recession is expected to worsen. The respondents, focusing on the effect of sanctions and falling oil prices, believe that it will be short. Other respondents, concerned about the degree of de-industrialization and inefficiency of public administration, predict long economic malaise. The majority of respondents expect disturbances in the banking sector, and half of them believe that they will be wide-scale and will have a significant negative impact on the economy. As before the crisis, this income group prefers to save rather than invest, with investment in real estate or own business being the only exception. The preferred form of savings is ruble deposits in large Russian banks within the limits stipulated by the deposit insurance system.