2/5 of people have less than £100 in savings

[Jorginho5]

your thoughts?

I am not surprised. Everything has gone up in price but many people are struggling to either: find a full time job or better job than the one they currently have.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-4348544/Two-fifths-UK-s-workers-100-savings.html

When I was younger I never saved. We spent 15 years having fertility treatments (free) only to be told we would never have children so we had two good incomes and no responsibilities.

Then I got pregnant, we had to move house, huge mortgage but affordable. We were comfortable although we had to rein our spending in a bit. And then I got pregnant again!! Since then we have no savings. Our fairly well paid jobs cover what we need just about, we have no debts and no credit cards. Generally we have a few (under 30) quid left at the end of the month. Our children have everything they need but we don't have any savings at all.

We don't even have 800 left after the bills have been paid, let alone to save.

hotsauce

We are similar - dual income of about £100k and we don’t have habe anything left for savings after mortgage, bills, cars, holidaysy etc. We are a bit younger (mid 30s) and our kid is only 5 so expenses only likely to go up 😬

Obviously our situation is different to families on low incomes living hand to mouth but that’s not the point of the tread is it? I’m surprised anyone has any savings, let alone a majority of families tbh.

Wow. I've found this thread really sad.

For those that live without the minimum of safety cushion it must be incredibly stressful all the time.

But on the flip side I'm also amazed by those posters who say they earn 50k plus but after "mortgage bills & holidays" don't have anything left
To save. Savings come
Before holidays!!!

I’ve just checked and we have £123 in savings. We are in our overdraft to the tune of £1000, owe £300 odds on an (interest-free) credit card and also have smallish interest-free (though not for long) debts to a couple of other companies. It seems sort of pointless to save when we need to be paying off the debts before they start accruing interest.

I definitely wouldn’t class us as poor - we have considerable equity in our flat, good credit ratings and DH has a decent job. But I’m a student at the moment and things are incredibly hand-to-mouth, and will be until I’m earning (I do work part time at the moment but it doesn’t make much difference tbh). Our debts have been accrued due to things like the car needing work to pass its MOT, the washing machine breaking etc. There is absolutely no slack in our budget at all. I’m currently looking at a flipping mountain of stuff I’ve got to load in the car as I’m doing a car boot sale tomorrow in an attempt to claw back a bit.

If you'd have asked me last week I'd have healthy saving pot. Had to upgrade my car so it's all wiped out now. Brassic til payday and then build the pot up again.

Silvertap I think it's finding the balance, I have 2 savings pots the rainy day fund and the holiday fund. No point having savings if you're going to be miserable!

I have savings - but only when my parents died!

Me and dh have joint savings of £9100.
I am due to return to work in feb after having my 2 dc (age 2 and 3mo). Our childcare bill for 4 days a week will be £1600 so our savings won't last us probably even a year which is heartbreaking.
But unfortunately my job does pay well (not massively but we have a joint income of around £70k) so it does work out that we'll be better off with me working than not working. However for around 18 months my wage will cover childcare and nothing else. I can't see how we'll ever build our savings back up now! And we still have so much to do to the house :-(

Savings come Before holidays!!

Why? I genuinely can’t see how saving would benefit our family. WHats the point of missing out on things we want to do just to have a big pot of money sitting in the bank?

I think there are a lot of wealthy people who don’t have savings.
To be fair though, it does depend where you are in life. We have no savings, large salaries and a more expensive than average house. All savings and spare money have gone on said house, and we also have 2 children in childcare. Now is not the time in life for us to be saving!

Oh but we still take holidays and have luxuries like day trips, clothes, meals out etc. We prioritise those over savings because life can be so tough that we need some Pleasures to stay sane

Yes, have very decent savings in stock and shares ISA, cash ISA and regular savers.

Also have life and sickness insurance although my work sickness is quite generous.

If something awful were to happen, it would still be awful regardless of the money I have in the bank.

I have no savings. I own nothing. I live hand to mouth. I think it's vastly more common than people think.

I tend to build mine up to around 10k then end up spending a lot on holidays, the house etc so it dwindles down then gets built back up again. Also being a contractor I don’t get sick pay or AL so any time off is unpaid so I have to budget for that. I don’t really spend a lot on a day to day basis so find it easy to save. Also I have a lodger so that helps. I rarely buy new clothes, don’t spend a huge amount on food, and don’t go out much nowadays as I’ve become a bit of a homebody. So I can easily save two thirds of my wages. Oh and I don’t have a car so no expense there. Once your DCs grow up, as mine have, it becomes a lot easier.

Find it quite funny everyone saying "oh good luck you'll need it etc." No, I won't need 'good luck'. It is called working hard, saving sensibly and taking out necessary life insurance/critical insurance cover etc. Nothing to do with luck. Just called living within my means (ime notnhaving a child until you can afford one!) and plannibg for the futurr sensibly.

I can understand people on low wages not being able to save . My parents never could when we were little . But wages of 100k and no savings is madness imo.
Savings would benefit your family if you get sick , your children need something expensive , you lose your job etc etc I can’t believe you can’t see the value in saving.
When I met my now husband I didn’t have a penny in savings ( was in my overdraft) having just completed a postgrad. Thankfully since being together he has taught me the value of saving. I work part time and don’t have a particularly well paid job but I have considerable savings in Isas. The interest is rubbish though so we are looking to buy another property. I still wouldn’t like to have less than a few years worth of living expenses accessible.
I’m very frugal though and drive an old car , have a £10 month contract phone and never buy anything new without looking for a money off code.
A lot of people can’t afford to save , I understand that but I imagine more people just can’t be arsed .

To those who don’t save anything but could save something .
Do you worry about money or being made redundant or your child becoming ill so you can’t work?

I agree with a lot of what savy has said . It really isn’t a good idea to have a child if you’re living month to month or barely surviving .

We have about that at the moment. We could save a little bit we are concentrating on paying down a bit of debt we have left, which should be gone in a few months. Having said that, we just can’t save much as by the time we have paid rent and council tax and transport etc we just don’t have much left. Wages here aren’t brilliant and we can’t afford to move somewhere else with better prospects.

It is difficult for people at the moment as it does feel like the cost of things is going up but wages aren’t and that little bit you could put in savings is being eaten each month and then when you finally get together an okay amount, something happens and you are back to square one

I don’t there are many wealthy people without savings , high earners yes but not wealthy .
Wealthy people tend to plan for the next generation while those without money plan for the weekend .

savvy you really are naive if you think hard work automatically equals money in the bank. Some of the hardest working people I know are he poorest. It’s a really sad reflection on society. When DH and I were on our knees, he was working 2 jobs, a 60+ hour week. Don’t think that you are so much better than everyone just because it’s worked it for you.

Purple We could technically afford to save some every month but we don't. It would mean no treats at all. No days out, no ice creams, no extras for the kids. For their entire early childhood. We have a cheap, uk holiday a year, shop in charity shops, don't run a car. We enjoy walks and museums and generally lots of free shop stuff but do sometimes want to do things over and above the absolute essentials. I'm a SAHM so we're looking ahead to me returning to work (at which point we will be able to save everything I earn). Dp has a secure job with potential to earn more in the future. We have credit available should some unforseen shit hit the fan.

I do worry about money sometimes but tbh it just isn't worth us going without any extras at all now to have a couple of thousand in the bank when we'll be in a better position to save in a couple of years IYSWIM.

@User1478944 because if the shit hits the fan and you or your partner lose your jobs/get ill/have an accident/die/a kid gets ill and needs care etc - having 3-6 months outgoings in your savings account is going to be pretty fairly fucking useful.

I should also say we feel very lucky to be in the position we are, despite not having any substantial savings.