This article traces the main patterns in the personal sector's finances over the past fifteen years. It is concerned with saving and investment by the personal sector as a whole, and not with the distribution of saving between different groups within the sector. A study of the sector's finances is not only of considerable interest in itself, but it also provides a background against which current developments in the personal sector may be seen more clearly. Some of the estimates for the earlier years are rather uncertain but the general story is well founded.
The personal sector is one of the main sectors distinguished in the annual articles on sector financing and in the quarterly analysis of financial statistics. This sector includes not only individuals-for whom separate figures are not available-but also unincorporated businesses and private nonprofit- making bodies. Figures for the fifteen years are given in the tables at the end of this article.
Personal saving and financial investment 1951-65