To ask how much savings you have

[mrsshears]

nosey old bag emoction

"so it will be a lean year of relying on hubbies savings and our salaries."

what, you mean like MOST people do?

£30

More than 3 months income, but a lot of it is earmarked for new windows, re-rendering the house, new kitchen, fixing damp problems caused by dodgy old render and windows etc etc etc.

We don't get maximum interest. About half is in isas, a quarter is in a work share scheme, and the rest is in an easy access savings account.

I don't know what to do with it actually. It's a recent thing that we have it, and I want to put it to best use. Might stick some into mortgage overpayments.

Nothing.

We have about 30k between us. Joint income about £70k. I'm 36, DP is 27.

BUT... we're renting and looking to buy, so ours will get sucked up into that, then we'll start again :(

I lost a lot of money on my last property. Nevermind, it's only money :)

I try and save approx 7% of my gross salary each month, although not all of it makes it's way into the rainy day find and might get used for holidays or something big.

Save 6% into my pension too.

Got about 30k but will be spending every penny of that on a house (flat) in the next year or two.

Might stick some into mortgage overpayments

Yeah if your savings are 'spare' and not saving up to buy something then defo put against your mortgage. Better to save 6% interest than gain 0.5%!

About £35. But I'm on benefits and stbx isn't bothering to pay child maintenance at all (unemployed), so finances are rather stretched. I'll have to pay for a divorce in the future, so best get saving.

Very little savings, about 500, but Dp and I have 5 grown up kids, 3 grandkids between us- Im
divorced and left house to exH, he;s twice divorced & left two houses, - so we are doing really well as we have brought up, 5 kids, between us, and have managed to buy a house( overpaying the mortage monthly), have jobs , a car each etc -, savings nah- happy , yeah!!!!!

I Want to know whahappened with Zukiecat. She was lovely and all her posts on here have been withdrawn. I hope she's ok. Lots of old names on here I miss seeing

No mortgage.
Have 3 months salary in savings now
Had a years salary in savings up to a year ago but had to use it to cover house renovations and unforeseen repairs. Don't think I'll get back to that level of savings again due to salary cuts and increased costs. It took five years of very hard saving to accumulate and 5 weeks to use up :(

No mortgage.
Have 3 months salary in savings now
Had a years salary in savings up to a year ago but had to use it to cover house renovations and unforeseen repairs. Don't think I'll get back to that level of savings again due to salary cuts and increased costs. It took five years of very hard saving to accumulate and 5 weeks to use up :(

About 80% of my (pre-tax) annual salary. OH has around half as much. In our early thirties, and this represents a decade of saving up for a deposit, but London property prices means we haven't bought anywhere yet. Still renting and working out what our next step is.

About 2 months' worth of outgoings. Self employed so have to have a bit of a buffer for cash flow etc. Pensions. An endowment. So a bit for the future. Would like to have a bit more in ready cash...about 6 months worth of outgoings would be good.

What I don't understand is why people with huge debts (such as a mortgage) on which they are paying interest maintain huge savings (beyond rainy day/ redundancy levels).

Banks make money by charging you more than they give you, at their most basic. You'll never earn more on savings than you pay on borrowings. Why continue to pay an expensive debt when you can pay it off and continue to save afresh?

None. We're living paycheck to paycheck at the moment. But it's what works best for our family.

Somehow, we seem to have almost 2.5x annual income stashed away

Dh used to earn 40k and I earned 17k {in 2009) and we managed to pay off the mortgage and save 30k between us.

Then dh was made redundant . We did some travelling, then were on contribution based jobseekers allowance. Being mortgage free, that was just about enough to live on.

He got a job on 14k a year and then I got one at 20k. Then we had two children.

He gave up his job and is sahp and I am now on 22k yet we still have joint savings of 50k.

AND I'm currently on SMP this year AND we live in the southeast. The SMP plus child tax credits is just about keeping our heads above water without needing to dip into savings. I'm shocked, if I'm honest.

I'm now in the position of lending my sister money. My sister who earns almost 60k a year!

So 22k income, 50k savings, no mortgage despite two years on SMP. I guess we're frugal and lucky.

slithytove Tue 05-Aug-14 15:12:54

off set mortgage?

CrimeaRiver Wed 06-Aug-14 02:44:42

agree but it seems to be an acceptable debt to have .....and we are not taught any money life skills at school which i think we shold be

DP is 30, I'm 24.

Joint income is 80k. We live abroad and get an expat package through DP which covers housing and living expenses.

DP has about 200k saved/invested, I have about 15k.

What I don't understand is why people with huge debts (such as a mortgage) on which they are paying interest maintain huge savings (beyond rainy day/ redundancy levels).

Because it is sensible to have some level of readily available cash saving for emergencies. Agreed it's not the most efficient way but if, for eg, you have 20k savings it's probably a good idea to overpay mortgage by 18k and have 2k sat in an easy-access isa. For example new boiler, car repairs can be very expensive and need paying for quickly.

CrimeaRiver the interest on my mortgage is 2.29% and is fixed for another 3 yrs - the interest I get on savings can be up to 6% so I make money on my savings, why would I pay my mortgage off?

whois I don't know anyone who is paying 6% on their mortgage... the rates have never be that high in years.

I am a single parent but have a mortgage free house worth about £300k due to a lucky investment when I was without responsibility and earning bucks. In cash, I have about 3k. In paintings, I have about 15k. I now earn just over 12k a year as I'm part-time.

whois I don't know anyone who is paying 6% on their mortgage... the rates have never be that high in years.

True but you could easily be paying 4%.

If you're getting 6% on savings then they aren't in Isas so you're going to be paying tax on the interest. Less attractive at 40% tax rate. Quite likely to be in a higher risk or sophisticated investment which wouldn't be suitable for most people.