Or do you call this normal?? Savings!!

[Tryingtostayyoung]

So just looking for opinions, DH works full time, I'm a SAHM and we are both under 30 (not sure if this is relevant but thought I would say because we've not been working as long as people who are say late 30s). We live in a 3 bed house with one DD, mortgage to pay, 2 cars etc etc (sorry giving all these details to paint a picture)
what do people generally have saved? I think me and DH have ok savings, currently £1500 in the joint and I have £900 and he has around £1000.
Was talking to one of my best friends and they seem to have a lot more which made me think are we not saving enough?!

[Botchit]

As a guide you should always have at least 3 months mortgage put aside.

[ImperialBlether]

But that's a goal, Botchit. Young people who've just bought a house wouldn't be likely to have that.

[Verticalvenetianblinds]

We have no savings! Mid 30s, 2 kids, rent, both work, only just make ends meet

[ImperialBlether]

You've got enough in case your washing machine fails but what you need to be looking at, really, is how secure your jobs are.

[ToriaPumpkin]

We have bugger all savings at the moment (both 30, two children, two cars, I was a SAHM for four years until a few weeks back when I went back PT) but that's down to stretching ourselves to buy a bigger house when DD was born and my father died. Up until that point we had about £2-3k. Ideally we would have had more but life got in the way. Now I'm working again and we've almost sold my father's house (a protracted drama that has incurred minor debt) we'll be back on an even keel we can start saving again. We're very lucky though that we've always had enough to cover emergency repairs/bills/MOT complications etc and enough credit on cards to cover any shortfall.

[pitterpatterrain]

We have quite a bit as we are saving right now and have an offset mortgage. It represents about 10-11 months take-home for us both.
Our preferred buffer of rainy day savings that we have talked about is 3-6 months savings to cover bills etc in case one of us got ill / made redundant etc so that we would feel we had some breathing room.

[AlysaEdwards]

About £75k in two ISAs and a savings account. Maybe around £2000 in premium bonds and our pensions too but I don't really count that.
I'm 32 and DH is 41. Two DCs. DCs have savings but they are separate.
The amount does fluctuate as we are renovation the house.

[Tryingtostayyoung]

I forgot to mention that DD also has a savings account that has around 3k in aswell. Our joint savings will now start to go up every month by around £2-300 fingers crossed.

[Tryingtostayyoung]

Sorry meant £100-200

[SingingSamosa]

I am currently a SAHM, DH works full time and we have a fairly average sized mortgage I'd imagine (just under £200k). We did have a lot more savings a couple of years ago but we built a large extension and that took the majority of our savings to do. We now have probably around £20K saved up but I'm about to start a full time PGCE when youngest DC starts school in September so that's going to cost a fair amount - with course fees, petrol to and from next town every day, childcare before and after school for three kids etc. I can't imagine we'll have a very big buffer after the end of that but then I'll be earning a wage then too so will hopefully manage to build it up again.
In our marriage, DH is an absolute tight wad and I'm more of a spender. He definitely saves more than spends but I do draw the line at his miserly ways sometimes! I'm not an absolutely wild spender by any stretch but compared to him I am!!

[littlemonkey5]

I've just read an article on MSN written by self-made millionaires and something in the article hit me. One of them said that you should forget about saving and actually make your 'spare' money earn you more money. Ultimately we should all be investing money instead of saving. £1000 in a savings account could earn you 3% but investing that money in something (or someone, as the article also suggests) could earn you 3x that much. Typically, financially successful people have 3 different streams of income, diversifying those streams lessens the risk of losing all forms of income should one fail. It makes sense. If the person who earns the most suddenly loses their job because the company goes bust, you may have 1 job to fall back on, but if this job doesn't cover all of the bills, you could be in big trouble. If you had 3 streams of income, you now have 2, which, hopefully, will buffer the difference in the short term until another job is found. If there are 2 adults in the household, that is potentially 6 streams of income! Even if your other 2 streams make you £20 per week, that's still £20 extra......

I like this phrase: From tiny Acorns, Great Oaks grow......

[sepa]

We have about £5k in savings (mortgage, 1 DC and 2 cars) I'm late 20 and DP is mid 30s. Only have this much as out mortgage is low & DP doesn't buy anything (most of the savings are his)
I think what you have is fine for boiler breakdown etc. You need to look to see if you have enough if one of you is out of work?
At the moment I am on mat leave (so only £600ish + child benefit a month) and DP is out of work due to broken leg (self employed) and will be off work for about 4 more weeks (on top of the 2 he has had) and we are covered with savings for our bills.
You have to think if you can do the same?

[WeAllHaveWings]

We are mid forties have one ds(12), mortgage with around 18 months left to pay and counting.

I earn ~£34k, dh is self employed part-time (does school drop off/pickup/holidays) and earns ~£12k. We run two cars but are careful with money/don't holiday abroad etc.

Savings and my work shares (B2G1F) total approx. £50K. Also have a small endowment policy due to mature for ~£15K next year.

£20K of the savings came from a redundancy payment a few years ago and is kept in an ISA for a rainy day. If I lost my job again I wouldn't have a big payout and due to my age and skillset I feel I need a bigger safety net.

[Cressandra]

Varies wildly depending on whether we are about to buy, or have just bought, something big like a holiday or car.

[WriteforFun1]

Can you save more? If you can, then definitely do that. I get the impression you are posting because you can save more...I mean if you couldn't, then you wouldn't have asked the question?

A pp mentioned job security. No such thing in my view. You can be secure in your trade if you are a doctor, plumber, hairdresser etc but general I'd always plan for the worst and save max. What you have doesn't sound like a lot. It partly depends where you live, you may have a tiny mortgage.

But jobs go, people get ill...etc. I'm a great believer in saving as much as possible.

[skankingpiglet]

In an ideal world I think enough in savings to cover all household costs for 6mo should be the minimum you aim for, to cover job loss, sickness etc.

In reality we've only had that this last year, and that is because my late DM was able to leave me a sum. Before that we had enough to scrape by probably 3mo, and there have been times when I've had nothing saved.

As for investments rather than savings, I think that makes a lot of sense but only once you have gone over your basic savings needs. Investments can go down too and you need to keep a nest egg that is safe for rainy days even if it means it not really 'working' for you in other ways (providing an income).

[DustOffYourHighestHopes]

Agree that you should have about 3 months' worth of mortgage that you never touch. An emergency fund that can never be used for holidays/cars etc. It's a safety cushion in case of being sacked/illness etc.

A financial advisor once told me, spend your money as follows:

• basic living expenses
  
• pay off all short-term expensive debt
  
• compile a cushion of savings (how much depends on dependents/fixed outgoings such as mortgage etc)
  
• pension
  
• THEN diversify savings portfolio e.g. ISAs, etc.

[BarbaraofSeville]

You probably have a lot more than other people though so there's no point in comparing with others, who could earn more, have received inheritences etc.

Just focus on making the best of what you have and try to save for annual and unpredictable expenses like car or white goods breakdown first and then save some spare too if you have it. You will need to think about how much of your disposable income you want to spend on nice things and how much you want to save for a rainy day. Make sure it is earning a bit of interest too - you can get 3-5% on cash in current accounts, which is all you need until you have a bit more spare and you might be able to think about investing for the longer term.

No point living like church mice with thousands in the bank but you would also be silly to spend every penny you earn especially if you have a decent disposable income.

You never know what is round the corner, illness, accident, another DC and parental leave and increased childcare or you could get pay rises and promotions and end up with more spare money than you have now. Allcould have an effect on your savings, good or bad.

[pearlylum]

We have around 24 months income saved.

[NapQueen]

We have a flat (mortgaged) a car, both work ft but lowish income. Two dcs, 4 and 18mo. We have our overdraft facility and that's it. Still recovering from mat leave pay from dc2.

Dh is also taking driving lessons and we have a small loan outstanding from our car purchase which is paid off end of the year.

[BoatyMcBoat]

Late 50s, dh early 60s. No savings . I had a great savings plan thing, but we had to sell it (for a lot less than it was worth really) because we couldn't afford to live, partly because I became disabled and couldn't work. I would sell up and try for somewhere cheaper, but dh won't, at least until dd is safely at Uni.

So don't worry, you're doing fine.

[WriteforFun1]

Boaty, you had a savings plan "thing" that you sold? I think the op is talking about conventional savings.

[HollyBollyBooBoo]

About 4 months salary and I'm making a very conscious effort to save each month. Mostly this is just from a fear of being made redundant or something.

[GrumpyOldBag]

Do you have a pension? I think that's where you start with savings. And 3 months income in cash for emergencies.

[Cantgetmyoldnameback]

We have around £9,000 in savings, mortgage already paid off. I was aiming to save another £3-4K this year but it's been an expensive first 4 months this year with a few unexpected large bills, so I'll be happy if we get to £10k by the end if the year.

I was always a spender (or borrower) before but I changed my attitude completely about 4 years ago and now it makes me happy when I save.