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?

We have debt not savings. We do contribute to pensions and own our own home but there is nothing left in the pot at the end of the month and we are usually well in to overdraft !

Technically no savings, but we owe very little on our mortgage, and have an all in one type account. We are still paying off the mortgage each month, by varying amounts, on track to pay it off completely in 3 years - we might in fact keep a little on it and start putting the money in savings instead. We will outgrow this house in the next few years though, so that's a big consideration.

And if I retrain, which I am considering doing, the hefty fees will be added to the mortgage. We do have access to money if we need it.

We used to save 20% of our joint income. Once we had children our savings were gone in less than 2 years. There is no way we could afford to save now. We also have a massive overdraft and other debts.

Always thought that the wise advice was to have 3 months income in savings. We're a tiny bit below that but not by much. Having said that, that's only because my Dad died a few years back and my inheritance meant we could pay off a lot of the mortgage.

Our previous rule of thumb was to think of the two most expensive unplanned things that could happen to us (it was boiler and car needing replacement at same time) and make sure we had enough for that.

I think we're quite lucky really. Most friends and acquaintances are pretty hand to mouth - not irresponsible in most cases by any stretch. We managed to by a property at a very fortunate time so have about £190k equity as well, despite a joint income pre-DCs of less than 60k (we're now down to less than £35k).

yes we have savings and assume that most people do

god this is terrifying! 6months income??

We used to save then we used it as a deposit on our house, neither of us pay anything into a pension (DH turns 30 next year, I'm 27). I'm self-employed and even when I do earn it just covers the childcare. We rarely have anything left at the end of the month but realised we could live cheaper, so put away £150 at the beginning of each month but that's it.

I grew up with a savings mentality but we need to start from scratch again now we own a flat.

However we don't have any debts aside from mortgage and student loans (DH should be free of his in the next 3/4 years) and never had credit cards - we do save for holidays and big purchases

We have currently enough for 3 months salary for both of us, will all be gone when we buy new house though :(