How much money would you like in your savings account to feel comfortable?

[Blondiebeachbabe]

Just that!

I think these is one of those N+1 questions.

Whatever people have, they’ll want more…!

Having spent most of my working life with very little in savings, a decade of that in debt / overdraft, the stress of having no savings was pretty bad. Literally living from hand to mouth despite having a good job. The result of an expensive divorce!
Now as retirees we have no debt, no mortgage and the equivalent of 5 year’s worth of our current income (which we can live off) in various savings accounts, which is so reassuring that at times I secretly cry with relief that we can face our retirement years in relative comfort.

I would comfortable ,with 50 grand

In an ideal world I'd have minimum 12 months of outgoings, which would be around £15k, but if I am daring to dream £50k sounds like a nice amount. Enough for losing-a-job type scenarios but also enough for e.g. oh no you need a new roof on the house without wiping the whole lot out.

We currently have about £2k, so nowhere near.

Loads. More than I’ll ever have. I want to be able to afford a decent nursing home but that’s just not going to be possible.

So, maybe half a million? That would give me about 5 years in one. I mean, I can dream.

replacing the car, roofing issues on the house, illness, unemployment, new front door, replacing white goods in the kitchen, unexpected pregnancy, helping out adult children, weddings, funerals there’s endless things that can happen where you need savings to get through it.. I’ve had to replace my car, replace a cooker, washing machine, tumble dryer, microwave and have work done on the apex & guttering on my house all in the last 12 months it’s taken virtually all my savings that I acquired from downsizing several years ago, as a single person it will take me years to recover financially from this.

I reckon 3 million, which would mean DH and wouldn't worry about losing our jobs or our retirement.

I just saw another post by someone saying she feels less well off than people around her- they have 40k savings. We have zero- I’d like to say 40k but irl if I had 10k so if something fully broke we didn’t have to scramble I feel I’d be rich!!

I value security over most things. For me savings mean nothing needs to be a real crisis. If you can throw money at a problem, most can be solved relatively easily. E.g. losing my job in the financial crisis was distressing but never the end of the world.

At least six months' salary, but preferably a year.

Impossible to answer without context.

If you're a family with a big mortgage, childcare costs and an insecure income, tens of thousands could run out in months if you lost your income.

If you have a pension that covers your outgoings and own an energy efficient paid for property in good repair, you could feel happy with minimal savings, well under £5k because its not foreseeable that you'll be short of money.

If you're in secure rented housing and are used to not having much spare money, a few hundred spare, enough to replace the washing machine and buy a few treats could feel like a huge amount.

Isn’t the question about savings, rather than long term investments? Surely the people with millions don’t have that sitting in their savings account (unless temporarily for recent lump sum)?

My investments are still savings. Still money I have saved.

Heavens, don’t hold all the money you want to give you a retirement income in a savings account!

OP, what’s sensible really depends on your life stage, job security, whether you are in a couple, what you need to maintain your current lifestyle etc.

I’m a few years off retirement. Aiming for a year’s income in an emergency fund, a year in a savings account earmarked for the coming year’s spending, and about six years in gilts. The rest will be in shares.

We would like 500K but only have 20K. We have just paid off our mortgage so that’s why we don’t have as much as we would like but now we can put that money into savings instead. At least if we can’t work we just need to find money for our bills, which is what we wanted we didn’t want to have to worry about potentially losing the house.

A year’s after tax pay.

Having the option to get a hip replacement privately, rather than waiting in agony for two years? A new roof? Dental treatment? Topping up care home fees? Sustaining your lifestyle through future cost of living shocks? Maybe 2.5 million is overkill, but life, especially later life, is expensive.

We always aim to have a minimum of £10k in accessible savings. It has saved our butts a few times.....when DH was made redundant, when the car developed a massive fault and needed scrapping, when the boiler broke and needed replacing etc. It has given us the peace of mind that nothing is an immediate crisis.

If we ever dip into it, we will aggressively save to get back to the £10k figure....even if that means eating beans on toast for a month.

I'm not including retirement savings in that figure. I save into my pension separately.

I feel ok with about 30k easy accessible savings.
But it bothers me that the interest is so low!
I sway between I should put this somewhere with a better return / what if i need it.
I am quite anxious about money so I would imagine this is more than most people need to feel comfortable.
DH needs much less , 2-3 months income, and is not at all anxious.

I reckon 6 months after tax salary in easy access would be bliss - especially as I am on a short term contract atm, so that cushion would be bliss. Problem is am using all surplus cash for debt right now so saving is tricky.

No, you don't hold it in a savings account. You invest it to provide a return. 2.5 mill would generate approximately 100k a year return. Enough for both of us to retire early and live comfortably.

Indeed. Bit confusing then to say that’s what you’d want in your savings account 😂

£15k would be nice, we bought a house last year and currently have £3.5k (and struggling to add to that) which worries me but I know we are still in a fortunate position so try to not worry too much.

50K would be lovely.

2.5 million would earn you £112k per year, in a bog standard, zero risk, savings account paying 4.5%

In my own savings account I’ve got £50! I’m so happy 😁
Joint, £700 but we’ve just paid for a holiday and car stuff. It will go back up soon. I’m happy having £2k or so in there. We overpay our mortgage and save a bit each month between us.