A new survey from Bank of Ireland reveals that inflation is the main worry for people as the year draws to close.
The latest Bank of Ireland Savings and Investment Index shows that 26% of people cited inflation as their biggest concern, down from 29% in the third quarter.
The war in Ukraine was cited by 20% of people as their main worry, up from 17% in the third quarter.
Today's survey shows that the desire to save remained at a low ebb in the fourth quarter of 2022.
When asked if it was a good time to save, the sub-index is now 28 points below its May 2020 pandemic high (89 compared to 117).
But 36% still think it is a good time or a very good time to save.
58% of people stated that they were either saving nowhere near what they should be or a bit less than they should be.
That marked a 6-percentage point rise on the responses in November 2021, and the second quarter in a row that this is at pre-pandemic levels.
35% of people surveyed said they felt that they are "about where I should be" in relation to their saving.
"The continued subdued desire to save is probably heavily influenced by the cost of living crisis currently being experienced by Irish households. Day to day expenditures have risen so capacity to save has naturally fallen back somewhat," Kevin Quinn, Chief Investment Strategist at Bank of Ireland, said.
"There is clearly a recognition amongst Irish consumers of the value of regular savings, but the cost of living crisis being faced at present its putting this down the priority list," Mr Quinn said.
Meanwhile, 43% of respondents saw the current environment as a poor time to invest in the latest survey, as was the case in August.
When asked to look forward to six months' time, the mood changes and 32% see six months' time as a bad time to invest - an improvement of 5 percentage points since the survey in August.
"Our survey indicates a greater level of optimism about investing in 2023 from Irish households, following a difficult 2022 with losses in both equities and bonds," Mr Quinn said.
"What's more, the market has tried to stage a recovery on three occasions in the past year and each time this has reversed. Markets are already pricing in a mild recession in both the US and EU and while we believe that will keep markets volatile at the start of the year, there are also reasons to be more optimistic about the longer-term outlook," he added.
