In thinking most people don't have any savings?

[Hammy02]

I was having a conversation with DP last night and he reckons most people in this country have some savings. I said I thought a small percentage might but not the majority. It's hardly a big issue but I just wondered what you thought? I always assumed most people pretty much live on their income and have little, if anything left over at the end of the month?

DH done a lot of 'carpet bagging' before he met me and so far has done quite well because of it. I also had savings before meeting him and together we have quite a lot put by for a rainy day.

"Please don't. It's used for such a short time and the more you can get second-hand/free the better."

earwicga I've been trying to tell a friend of mine the same thing. It's her first baby and I gave her some of DS1 and DS2's clothing and she came back with 'there are really lovely clothes but they are more for a summer baby and my baby will be a winter one' I couldn't believe it. Surely you'd be grateful for any baby stuff you get given for free?? It's much easier to add layers on if you are given summer baby clothing. Snowsnuit??

Hey, thanks for the advice. £1000 is all in, including my maternity clothes and nursing bras, plus nursery furniture, high chairs etc, basic clothes, car seat, buggy, steriliser and even nappies have been factored in. I know we will get a lot of offers from friends/family and be able to pick things up second hand, but I'd rather budget for £1k and have some left over than not have enough.

I'm a saver and so is DH. Have a reasonable spread of savings and investments here. Try to spread the risk across different types of investment as well, although we are over-exposed to property atm.

If you only spend £1k on baby things you'll have done well, we've bought most things second hand and still spent that at least.

My power bill will easily top that.

For one fucking heater.

Oh, and no, there's nothing we can cut back on.

Nope, not on the dole. Never have been.

Don't begrudge people who are, though.

we save £25 a month, direct debit on payday otherwise it would just go. Then at the end of the month save if there is any leftover, but our overdraft is bigger than our savings! (but better interest rate)

Saoralba- we spent about £100 at NCT for babystuff, go on freecycle and do a wanted ad, people often really want to find someone to hand over all there stuff to.

(Infact if your in Manchester....)

Heh, in NE Scotland so pretty far away, but thanks!

My mum has got a heap of stuff off freecycle already, but our freecycle is very busy and stuff gets snapped up really quickly. There are always loads of wanted things too. We managed to get a lovely antique rocking chair for £25 in a local charity shop which was a good bargain and I've started keeping an eye on gumtree.

Anyway, completely off topic now, sorry op!

Did you have quads mamatomany?

Interestingly we've been trying to sell bits and bobs that the baby has outgrown and can't give it away. Mamas and papas moses basket, playmat, musical mobiles, bags of baby clothes nobody wants them and yet we're in a recession. Makes no sense at all.

TBH I would love to have savings but its just never worked out that way. I'm a single mother, had my son at the age of 17 and his dad has always been a waster. He has never paid not so much as a penny towards the upbringing of out child and I only just recently paid off student loans and will be taking more out in the future so as you can see long term savings was pretty much out of the question. I will be rectifying this at some point though.

We have savings. Most of it is tied up although could be gotten hold of within 7-10 days or so. Have a savings account too with a relatively small amount in - enough for emergencies though. Not wort having too much in there though at the moment due to the interest rates - the other forms seem a better deal.

We have a decent amount of savings between us, which was handy last year when DH had no work. I'm very thankful that in the climate we're in now I know we could survive for a good while if our jobs disappeared.
I do realise how very lucky we are, I'm Mrs Anxious McAnxious and I'd be having kittens now if we had no money put away (esp as I'm a public sector worker!).
We also don't have any credit cards, which is very unusual these days.

Dh and I have both been out of work for 9 months once and that was scary enough for us to make sure that we have a good cushion for us to make it through especially since I cut down on work (and do a bit from home)

It would be odd to others but we have no credit cards, seldom take hoidays, are very modest with regards to clothes etc but we have £20k of savings for just in case.

I think we are mad sometimes especially given that I drool over our friends' new sofas/flash holidays/amazingly decorated houses/shiny kitchens.

I put it down to being freaked out in the past and having really had it very tough growing up, neither of us had much as children. (materially)

we don't have any savings but i am quite lucky in that my employer gives us free shares every 6 plus more once you pass 15 years service and 20 years etc

To be honest they have been lifesavers for us as we know if we can make it to the next share release we'll be ok

Plus I pay into a pension every month and dh employer pays into one for him

do people think this is ok or should we be putting mmoney away aswell (this would me some very frugal budgeting)

We have savings. We are both 32 and have worked since leaving school, bought our house 12 years ago, managed to put money aside each month, overpay on our mortgage, paying nursery fees and soon private school fees. Have good pension schemes also. Have what I consider above average savings on what I would consider middle earner incomes. Like others have said, always had it drummed in to put money aside.

I have shares somewhere in the US. I need to chase it up. Back in the day, I used to do quite well. I was very respectable - degreed - that was what everyone did; owned a home, two cars, ex h and I had good jobs earning 'good' money.

I was nothing like I am now.

I am back there mostly the 6 weeks of summer, so I must chase it all up, I still kept all the paperwork. I was with ETrade and Schwab.

Oh, there might be something in that.

I'd pay taxes and any penalties just to be rid of this debt. It is near killing us. Just the minimum payments total near £300 and there is £60/month to BOS as we are never out of our overdraft. It is £1/day on every account in the red and we have two.

I'd never tell my folks.

They have bailed me out enough and I am 40 in just 3 months.

But I've no driving license there anymore, and I have no wish to surrender my British one, as I had to sit all the tests here and it was not so easy. My mother has already suggested it, which means they will cover the fees.

Maybe it's all tanked. But well, the dollar has always been pretty weak against the pound . . .

I really hope mine are not such big failures as I am. I was brought up very naively, methinks often enough.

None.

Single parent of disabled child, homeowner...well, most of it belongs to the mortgage company who wouldn't let me borrow £3000 for a new porch (existing one is collapsing) so have to take out an expensive loan. Have to barricade front door so ds doesn't go walkabout. No adaptations grant available.

What I've got saved is down the back of the sofa.

We both have good work pensions.

We also have a fair amount of savings, 3months salary put away plus a lump sum that's ear marked for the children but we could use if we needed to. We only have this as I inherited a large amount recently. Otherwise we'd have nothing really.

We save about 200 a month into a holiday fund as well. Anything else leftover after bills and spends goes straight onto a mortgage overpayment. Again, the inheritance paid off a large part of the mortgage, but we've kept the term as was so if we were in dire straits we could just pay the basic monthly payment rather than the regular repayment we make.

Here most people are on minimum wage and the wages are way below the national average. Not many people I know have savings unless they are a lot older or but the house many years ago.

Most people here have mortgages but are only minimum wage earners or close to it so usually mortgage bills take up all our spare cash. My property will be my savings when I pay it off.

i think that 'most people' don't have savings or pesion (apart from state). Worked for many years as debt counsellor and still keep up with this kind of thing.
When you have a low income its hard go save and if you want stuff it costs money. Rich people tend to be frugal, its how they keep rich! Old people remember the war and the poorhouse and the national assistance board.
We used to have savings but 3 kids, two lots of lost jobs (for me) have used them all up. Now we are paychecl to paycheck and i hate every minute ( i came out of uni with savings and before kids whenever i needed soething i'd moonlight to pay for it). Tories will be the death of me...

"I was brought up very naively, methinks often enough"

Same here. My parents never, EVER talked about money with us (apart from "we can't afford that"), though I know they had a rather rubbish time of it when I was growing up (I think both sets of grandparents gave them loans and what not). As a result, my mother at least is terrified of money. I tried talking to her (woman in her sixties) about what kind of pension she had through work - she has no clue. She said that "they started using PC words, and I just couldn't follow" and point blank refused to open an ISA, as she thought it was a type of hedge fund. I did try to arrange to go with her to see her bank manager, but it didn't work out.
Because of this, and the constant fear we had around us as DCs that we were going to lose the house/starve, I have tried to learn as much as possible about how to save, get pensions etc. etc.

DP gerw up in a similar situation - very little money, but instead his father worked two jobs (teacher in France - possible as you only have 18 contact hours a week) to make sure they always had something to fall back on. DP is very careful with money and is brilliant at saving. He's good at reining me in.

we have/had savings but they get/got severaly dented over time, due to dh being se and work very slow - as well as car going wrong £800ish etc

they will get built up again (hopefully) but in the meantime any extra cash we do have we over pay our mortgage even if only £50 a month - it all adds up :)

we also have £50 ish in a dd to an isa as our savings try to build up again for emergancys, car/lack of job/boiler etc

my dad always said try to pay that off first, and no point having £10k (i wish ) in savings paying 1/2% while mortgage is 6%

also if we both lost our jobs, as we have overpaid over the years im hoping the bank would be lienant and give us a few months mortgage free to sort ourselves out

No savings - but a lot of equity in a London property - which I'm hoping is as good as savings.