According (1) ... a recent survey, (2) ... British are poor savers in comparison (3) ... other nations in Europe. They may start out with good intentions but many people end up putting aside only 5.5 percent of their income (4) ... 'a rainy day'. It is believed that only 13 percent of people currently in employment in the UK are saving towards their retirement. One of the reasons (5) ... this is that they spend around 16 percent of everything they earn (6) ... luxuries such as holidays and other forms of entertainment. As (7) ... result, financial problems and personal debt have increased sharply. Owning a home is a good investment by many British people. However, house prices are now so high that they are simply unaffordable for many young people starting out. At (8) ... other end of the scale, over 800,000 households now own a second home abroad.