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Pigs might fly...

But they're definitely a poor investment!

• 1 in 5 British adults admit they "save" money in a piggy bank
• £100 million could be just sitting in the UK 's piggy banks
• Turn loose change into real money by saving properly

A survey commissioned by Britannia Building Society* has revealed that a shocking 21% of British adults, or 10 million people^, admit to using a piggy bank, penny jar or hidden place at home to save their money. And even a cautious calculation based on each one containing £10 could mean that over £100 million is sitting in the nation's piggy banks.

This means that unless people are savvy with their stashes and empty their piggy banks regularly into saving accounts, they could be missing out on serious amounts of interest - particularly in the light of recent interest rate rises.

Women are more likely than men to use piggy banks, with 22% admitting to saving in this way compared to 19% of men. But despite the piggy bank's traditional nature the older generation doesn't favour them, with just 9% of those aged over 65 confessing to using them compared to 30% of 25-34 year olds.

Piggy banks are an established way of teaching children how to save money and could be one of the main reasons why so many adults still use them, but piggy banks and money boxes also highlight the difference between 'keeping' and 'saving' money.

Neville Richardson, Britannia's Group Chief Executive, comments "People probably like to keep money in piggy banks and money boxes because they can visibly see how much money can be collected in a fairly short period of time and it gives them "instant access" to cash. But the clever thing to do is to convert loose pennies into pounds by transferring the money into a savings account which will pay you interest.

"Piggy banks are a great way of teaching children about the meaning of money. But it's also important to make sure we aren't robbing our children of the interest they could be earning on their savings.

"Those saving with Britannia will also benefit from the Britannia Membership Reward scheme that returns a share of the Society's profits to its members to reward their loyalty. The average payment this year was approximately £56 – another reason to break open your piggy bank and trot down to your local Britannia!"

* 952 adults were surveyed in a nationally representative GfK NOP Telephone Omnibus survey over the weekend13th – 15th July 2007 . Weighting was applied to the data to bring it in line with national profiles.

^ Total UK population is 62 million of which 12 million (20%) are under 16. Total adult population is therefore 50 million. (National Statistics 2005).

For further information please contact [Emma Taynton-Young 01538 391107 or Jayne Dono or Mandy Castle, Britannia Group Communications, on 01538 393883.]

Piggy Bank Facts

The Piggy Bank probably derives from its name from pygg, the orange clay used to make containers for storing household items such as salt and other consumables, but also money. By the end of the 18th century, the storage jars had acquired the name "pig banks" and it was inevitable that one day a potter would produce a "pig bank" in the shape of a pig.

To this day in some European countries, notably the Netherlands and German speaking countries, it is customary to give piggy banks as gifts because the belief is still held that pigs bring luck and good fortune. At New Year so-called "Lucky Pigs" are still exchanged as gifts. Children are still given piggy banks as birthday or Christmas presents to help encourage saving.

Major Banks and Building Societies have often given piggy banks to children in an attempt to encourage saving, and some of these, particularly those by Wade are now highly collectable and worth substantially more than the amount of money they could ever store.

Most piggy banks are small enough to be held. However, very large piggy banks have been made and there is a life-size brass piggy bank named Rachel in the Pike Place Market in Seattle.

Early piggy banks were always ceramic and had no hole in the bottom, so the pig had to be broken to get the money out. Today's piggy banks feature a cap which can be removed to extract money but most comics characters are still shown breaking their piggy banks open with a hammer whenever they need money.

Homer Simpson steals and smashes open Bart Simpson's piggy bank to buy beer in The Simpsons episode Homer's Odyssey

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