Although Finland has only recently started into recovery following the recession, Finnish households are doing relatively well as a whole. In the summer, the combined assets of households amounted to 411 billion euros, which is a new record. Even when about 100 billion euros in debt is subtracted, the remaining assets are considerable.

Most of the assets, about 60 percent, are tied down to the housing, but the amount of financial assets has grown considerably this year.

“It would seem that these savings are growing constantly, but I believe that this is more about regular monthly savings, and it is a good thing that Finns have taken this step,” says Anu Numminen, an economist at Nordea Bank.

The rise in share prices has also boosted the monetary value of investments. Finns are generally more willing to invest in corporate shares more than their Swedish and Norwegian neighbours. Swedes invest more in mutual funds than Finns do.

Nearly half of Finns’ savings are on bank accounts where they earn very little interest.

“Finns have about 70 million euros in bank accounts, and unfortunately most of this 70 billion is in interest-free or nearly interest-free transactions accounts," he says.