Finance experts say households are leaving money on the table
18:44, 10 Mar 2026Updated 18:45, 10 Mar 2026
(Image: Wavebreakmedia Ltd via Getty Images)
The cost-of-living crisis has forced most Irish households to engage in some creative budgeting, with many cutting back on non-essentials and swapping premium products for store-brand alternatives during the weekly shop. While people pay close attention to their grocery receipts and other bills, finance experts warn they may be leaving money on the table elsewhere.
Many households will have a healthy savings account to deal with unexpected expenses, but the same people who go to great lengths to save a few quid at the tills often fail to give the same attention to the interest rates in their accounts.
Low interest rates mean that inflation slowly eats away at the buying power of your savings, and personal finance expert Dan Malone says that households can often save hundreds, if not thousands of euros, in the long run by taking some time to find the right account for them.
The founder of honest.ie explained: “Our attitude towards where we keep our savings needs to change. We have no problem driving an extra five minutes to shop in a cheaper supermarket to save a few euro, but we are indifferent about whether our savings are in the right account.”
Dan stated that taking just five minutes to compare interest rates could add hundreds or even thousands of euros in interest over the years.
He added: “Too many people have cash sitting in accounts that have pathetic interest rates, and inflation will eat away at these savings in the long run.
“Let’s say that for the next ten years, you leave €5,000 sitting in an Irish account earning zero interest. After ten years, you’ll still see €5,000 in your account after ten years, so it looks like you have the same amount of money.
“But with inflation, your €5,000 might only be able to buy around €4,000 worth of goods in today’s money. So in reality, you’re really losing around €100 per year by keeping your cash in the wrong bank account, but most people don’t realise that because inflation is invisible – it doesn’t show up as a falling bank balance.”
Personal finance expert Dan Malone has warned savers of the invisible, silent killer that is eating people’s savings – inflation(Image: honest.ie)
Dan said people have two choices: they can continue burying their heads in the sand, or take a few minutes to shop around for a better rate.
He continued: “Thankfully, gone are the days when we had only a handful of banks to choose from. Now there are dozens of banks available to people, and the best options are currently outside of Ireland. Many EU banks now offer much better rates, and your savings would be just as safe because of EU deposit guarantees.”
Dan has launched the comparison site honest.ie to help people better understand their saving options and to easily compare different accounts.
He said: “People are astonished when they compare bank accounts side by side and discover that there are much better options out there for their savings.”
The warning comes as Tanaiste Simon Harris recently acknowledged that Ireland is “lagging behind other countries when it comes to long-term savings”.
Speaking in February, he said there is “approximately €170 billion on deposit in Irish bank accounts”, adding that while it shows Irish households are good at saving, “this money is, to be frank, sitting idle”.
He said: “It generates very little return for the people who are consciously trying to build that bit of security for themselves and their families.”
The Tanaiste said he plans to bring a framework for an incentivised savings scheme to the Government in the first half of this year and intends to prioritise the issue during his time as Finance Minister.
He said: “I’m talking about people who are not uber wealthy by any manner or means, but people who are trying to put away a few bob at the end of the week, at the end of the month, either for their own futures to perhaps save for a deposit of a house, perhaps for their children’s futures, perhaps just for a rainy day in terms of their own household economy.
“And at the moment, quite frankly, they’re locked out of any meaningful participation in the investment scenario in Ireland, locked out by complexity, locked out by tax rules, locked out by the amount you’d have to invest to be able to benefit in any sort of meaningful way.”
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