To be shocked when adults have absolutely no savings at all?

We spent all of our savings on buying our house, fitting it out, furniture etc and on stuff we needed for dc.
Since then the prices of practically everything have gone through the roof.
There’s been no chance for us to build any savings back up.
Is that hard to understand?
We put quite a lot of earnings into life assurance, pension, health insurance etc. so it’s not like we’re not thinking about the future.

I think we all know that debt and savings ebb and flow over the adult lifetime as circumstances change etc. Eg everyone with a mortgage must have had some savings at some time to finance the deposit required and fees/costs etc. I think this thread is more about the people who never have any savings from decade to decade, which is completely different to the cyclic ebb and flow that lots of people will have as they move through various life stages.

I always had a wee buffer for car/washing machine etc. I felt lucky to be able to have this but with rising costs so many are just lucky to survive. Most people would love to have a little something put by but just can't
Life is tough for lots of people so I am not shocked that they don't have but feel terrible that life is so hard

I'm an adult with a good job and salary but I'm also a single parent with no support or family around. I'm doing better now but for a while I relied on credit cards to survive, so paying them off is a priority atm. I used to have over 60k savings but I had to pay for deposit on my place, and basically survive when my DC were little.

How is it "shocking" that I have no savings? You are a bit dim, OP - sorry.

Far too many people lack any financial awareness. There is a reason that there is a very high correlation of low incomes areas with the number of betting shops for example.

I think it's obviously different for those who literally couldn't save due to incredibly low incomes, BUT, I see a lot of people on relatively high incomes who also live month to month and spend like there's no tomorrow, and never save anything at all.

One case in particular is a client of mine who's a dentist who earns over £100k per year. He doesn't even have a savings account - just his current account and a credit card account - and is regularly in overdraft. His bank statements show several random payments out every single day - wine, clothes, meals out, expensive gym membership, ridiculously expensive mobile phone contract, lots of other random subscriptions/direct debits. It's not as if he has anything to show for it - he has a relatively modest mortgage, a relatively old "normal" car, no fancy expensive foreign holidays (just the odd week in the Med) - so not living the expensive life style - just hundreds/thousands of pounds of waste. When it comes to his twice yearly tax bills, he acts surprised he has tax to pay (even though it's been the same for the 20 years he's been my client), and has to work extra hours to earn the money he needs to pay the tax (he usually only works 4 days per week, so works an extra day in the weeks leading up to tax payment dates!). He doesn't have a pension and doesn't have any other investments/savings. He's just relying on the NHS pension and basically hoping that his tax free lump sum will pay off his mortgage and his NHS pension (along with continuing to work part time) will fund his lifestyle needs until he fully retires at 67!

For some, it's just "easy come, easy go" with no actual appreciation of the money they earn and spend. Ironically, it's often the lowest of earners who have far better control of their spending and manage to save something, if very low amounts, as they often don't have the ability to earn extra by working extra shifts/days when an unexpected bill appears so they're more cautious.

Lol

I have savings now but for quite a few years nothing, certainly not 10k and even now that’s a large sum for me

some people don’t have high paying jobs and can’t get another one so they are stuck living pay cheque to pay cheque

you are incredibly naive about what’s going on out there to not understand that for lots of people saving is just not possible

My younger self would be shocked that now at 38 I only have £100 in savings. Thats what divorce and having an ex husband who doesn’t pay any maintenance does. I live pretty much paycheque to paycheque. Every time I save something the car needs fixing, or the kids need new shoes, etc.

I get what you're saying but it comes off as judgy.

Why £10k?

Just having a big number in your head isn’t enough, you need to understand what that means in the context of your life. A “safe” bulwark needs to keep abreast of interest rates, inflation, your own commitments, dependents, priorities and reflect the stage of life you’re at.

Lucky you that you’re in a position to save that much money!!!!

I think a lot of people are struggling to survive and meet their bills with the cost of living……. I think you need a reality check personally!

Do you know how much a single parent on a low wage earns vs their basic outgoings? Many would love to save but it’s just not possible. This is reality for millions of people.

An M&S one obviously. None of that own brand stuff.

Wow

Shocked!!! Ha ha ha, blimey!

Plenty of people live from month to month scraping by, hoping they can get through those last few days of the month. Plenty of people live their lives in the red. I think you're delusional if you think everyone has the capability of stashing money. I'm sure everyone would like to be able to, plenty of people feel life can be one step towards, two steps back.

There really are some bloody idiots on MN this weekend.

If you’re shocked then you should be very grateful that you’re in such a place of privilege that you can’t possibly imagine scraping by with nothing to spare every single month.

I know exactly how it feels and threads like this (and people like you) piss me off beyond belief.

Let me guess, you’re 60+ and own your own home?
I’d bet money on it.
Or not, seeing as I have none!

You don’t know what’s gone on peoples lives. They might not have ever had enough money to save, or they may have had to use their savings due to an emergency situation.

That is so tough for you. I don’t think a lot of people realise how quickly everything comes toppling down when illness is involved. Solidarity - I have a 13 year old who hasn’t attended school for two years due to severe OCD. Nobody ever knows what’s round the corner

It did not. No savings account alone gives someone any credit score let alone “an astonishingly good one”

it would have marginal impact.

In answer to your question, yes I think you’re being harsh. Sure we have savings for a rainy day and some days when it rains, we’re super glad that we do….but it wasn’t always this way. I’m very old and been married a very long time. Many years back we had small children and we were trying our hardest with what we had, which wasn’t a lot. We worked hard to afford a house, food on the table and we went without to make sure the kids had it all. No difference to many many parents now. What’s the saying “the roof leaked but the kids never knew it was raining even” ….or something like that😊. But we had a house in desperate need of repair, cars that were regularly abandoned round the corner because we couldn’t quite make it home on the tank, and most of our food shopping went on a credit card because we couldn’t afford it. So saving wasn’t possible not a priority. Getting through “the trenches” was.
I’ve put you’re unreasonable simply because sure some people just can’t afford to save.

10K? Bless you. We all needed to know how much money you have. How thoughtful.

Said nobody ever.

Stop it. Behave. Have a day off! Live in the real world and then come back to reevaluate your thread. Goodness me!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3w38qvz195o