The saver on the verge of a crisis.

Summary Today, savers are sailing on stormy seas: the financial and economic crisis is making the environment more uncertain, there are macroeconomic risks linked to the future of the social protection system, tax reforms, and "individual activation" policies that seek to make savers more responsible for their future. As a result, savers today prefer safe, short-term assets more than ever, which worries some actors who, on the contrary, want to favour long-term productive savings. Using individual data, we show that this observation does not concern the entire population: the wealthy and older segments of the population hold risky, long-term products more frequently and to a greater extent. Moreover, the increased caution of savers during the crisis is explained more by downward expectations (income, stock prices, labor market) than by an increase in risk aversion during the crisis.