Falling savings levels may be a result of a loss of consumer confidence about the state of household finances, new research suggests.According to the latest RaboDirect Financial Health Barometer, average monthly household savings fell 22.4 per cent between 2014 and 2015. Based on a survey of 2000 financial decision-makers, average household savings in a typical month fell from A$908 in 2014 to $705 last year.Forty per cent of people are using their transaction accounts, which usually pay no interest on deposits, as the main place for their savings.The survey also found that 26 per cent of people made voluntary contributions to their superannuation fund last year - down from 29 per cent in Rabo's 2013 and 2014 surveys.These falls have coincided with a deterioration in people's confidence about their finances. In 2013, 52 per cent of respondents said they were confident about the state of their household finances but last year only 45 per cent said they were confident.People's expectations about what they will have to live on when they retire and their confidence in financial planners are also down.Rabobank Australia and New Zealand head of research and analytics Glenn Wealands said the data suggested a correlation between consumer confidence and the amount consumers save regularly.The proportion of people who have a long-term financial plan rose from 35 per cent in the 2011 survey to 46 per cent in 2014 but fell back to 41 per cent last year.There has been an increase in the number of people who think financial planning is "only for the wealthy" - up from 17 per cent in 2012 to 28 per cent last year."High-profile scandals in the financial planning sector in recent years, coupled with the low-rate, low-return environment, have contributed to a lack of interest in financial advice," the RaboDirect report said.In 2014, 40 per cent of people said they trusted financial advice. A year later on 29 per cent said they trusted it.