Rainy day?

Reader question:

Please explain this passage, particularly “rainy day”: The savings rate increased, rising to a one-year high of 4.9% from 4.3% in March, suggesting that consumers may be preparing for a rainy day ahead.

My comments:

The savings rate increased, meaning people are encouraged to put more money in the bank.

People perhaps are worried about the economy. They expect that the economy will slow down, that businesses will fold and that jobs will be cut. People may lose their job and may have difficulty looking for a new one.

In short, people are worried about future troubles and emergencies, such as a sudden illness in the family, having to pay tuition fees for a college going child or buying Christmas gifts for family members.

Things like that.

And things like that – future, potential emergencies – are all likened to “rainy days”.

Rainy days?

Have you heard of the expression “save for a rainy day”?

That’s what we’re talking about.

In the old days, when most people worked in the field, they were forced to stay home when it rained heavily.

And, obviously, that means they wouldn’t be able to go out and gather or hunt for food. They had to go hungry.

But for some people, there was no problem, for they had saved some food from previous days when the sun was shiny and bright. They worked hard and garnered more food than they could consume.

Hence, they were able to hoard some food for this particular day, the rainy day.

That’s, literally, what saving for a rainy day means.

Figuratively, “rainy day” is synonymous with a future emergency – any unexpected event that may trouble us financially.

That’s why people put money in the bank and buy insurance policies – such as for traffic accidents, house fires or illnesses.

In short, people put money away in order to be able to pay for anything unexpected and troublesome in future.

Idiomatically speaking, they’re saving for a rainy day.

All good?

All right, let’s read a few recent media examples:

1. As of January 2025, official data shows that the United States still has the world’s largest gold reserves at 8,133.5 tonnes, well ahead of Germany which is in the second place with 3,351.5 tonnes gold. After that is Italy, France, Russia and China, with gold reserves of 2,451 tonnes, 2,437 tonnes, 2,335 tonnes and 2,279 tonnes respectively.

This, coupled with recent concerns over possible Trump tariffs, has led to a massive inflow of gold and silver into the United States.

Swiss exports to the U.S. soared to the highest level in at least 13 years in January, Swiss customs data showed on Thursday. Industry insiders believe that while the risk of tariffs on gold and silver is low, banks and investors still have reasons to save for a rainy day.

At the same time, the discussion about whether gold should resume the role of ‘hard currency’ is heating up. If the trend continues, the future of gold may not only be seen as hedge assets, it will take a more important position in the monetary system.

Thorsten Polleit, professor emeritus of economics at the University of Bayreuth, said that from a long-term perspective, the United States of America’s gold and silver stockpiles continue to increase, coupled with the government’s renewed focus on gold and silver reserves, may improve people’s expectations these two precious metals as a currency alongside the U.S. dollar.

Using gold and silver as hard currencies alongside the dollar could address inflation, which has become a major threat to the economy. However, he added that in this case, the price of gold and silver would have to rise a lot to accommodate the size of the U.S. economy.

According to Polleit, the unsustainable growth of US debt has pushed the Fed and fiat currency to their limits. The Fed’s rescue of the U.S. economy has severely mispriced risk in the markets. And properly repricing these market risks is no easy task, which is one of the reasons many investors are turning to gold.

Polleit points out that gold has proven its worth time and time again over thousands of years in history. So far this year, gold has been a dominant force in the global currency markets, hitting record highs against all major currencies.

- What’s Donald Trump Gonna Do with over 8,000 Tonnes of Gold Reserves? NAI500.com, February 20, 2025.

2. A wealth tax on rich people like me could raise ￡24 billion a year for our country – much-needed money to fix our struggling economy and crumbling public services. For far too long, working people and their families have been footing the bill, while the super-rich get off scot-free. The mere suggestion of asking them to chip in a bit more is met with claims that they’ll be forced to leave, that their wealth trickles down to everyone, that without them this country will grind to a halt.

As a millionaire I’m here to tell you none of this is true. In fact, there’s many wealthy people, like me and my fellow members of Patriotic Millionaires, who support the introduction of a wealth tax. We can afford to pay more, and 80% of millionaires surveyed, also agreed with us.

A 2% wealth tax on assets over ￡10 million is moderate, reasonable and much needed. Imagine you have ￡11 million. A wealth tax would require you to pay 2% on that 11th million - so ￡20,000. But most people, with wealth of this scale, can make at least 5% return a year on it. So, even after paying the wealth tax, you’d still be ￡530,000 better off.

Money makes money, but most people in the UK have nothing left after they’ve paid the bills to save for a rainy day, let alone to invest to make a return. Too many British families and pensioners are faced with heart-breaking choices. Put the heating on or buy enough food for the week? Be around to help their kids with their homework or do more overtime to buy school uniform?

These are the hard choices facing working people. When a rich person says they will leave the UK if they have to pay more tax, this is also a choice. They are choosing not to support the society in which they live to function and their fellow Brits to thrive. They moan about crime rates and the state of our towns and cities but don’t want to help pay for a functioning criminal justice system and well-maintained parks and city centres.

We all want to live in a strong, stable country where businesses can thrive, where our elderly receive the care they deserve and our young have the best opportunities in life. A wealth tax will provide the investment we all need for a better Britain for all. So should the Government listen to the 75% of the public who support a wealth tax or a tiny handful of rich people who stamp their feet and threaten to leave? The choice is now firmly in the hands of the Chancellor.

- Many millionaires support a wealth tax, and can afford to pay more, by Julia Davies, Mirror.co.uk, August 23, 2025.

3. The personal savings rate of UK households reached a record high in 2020, during the first coronavirus lockdown.

Since then, consumers have battled high interest rates and a persistent cost of living crisis, which has meant many householders have had to tap into savings to cope with rising costs. The number of individuals, for instance, who made an unauthorised withdrawal from a Lifetime ISA, and therefore paid a penalty fee, increased by 139% between 2020/21 and 2023/24.

According to Finder, the average person in the UK has ￡16,067 in savings in 2025. However, 2 in 5 Britons (39%) have ￡1,000 or less in savings, and a quarter of Britons (23%) have ￡200 or less.

1 in 6 UK adults (16%) have no savings at all, equating to around 8.4 million people. 18% of millennials and people in generation X have no savings at all.

We’d like to hear from people in Britain how much they have managed to put aside for personal savings. Are you happy with your emergency fund, or do you believe it is too small? Have you got no savings at all, forcing you to rely on debt? Have you had to stop adding money to your savings account, or had to access it to pay for things? Or have you prioritised saving over spending on non-essentials? How have your savings, or the lack thereof, shaped your lifestyle and plans? Tell us.

Tell us how much you have managed to save for a rainy day, or whether you’ve been struggling to save or had to access savings to pay for things. You can also share how your savings or lack thereof have affected your lifestyle and plans.

- People in the UK: tell us how much money you have managed to save, TheGuardian.com, October 8, 2025.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣）