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AIBU?

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Original poster

... to ask how much money you had saved by age 30?

209 replies

Izzygrey · 13/09/2018 17:21

Just that really. Turned 30 last month and feeling a bit crap about the amount of money I have in savings (around £3k). Is this normal? I only started properly saving recently (when I had a sudden "I'm 30 soon and I have no savings!" panic). I'd had a big saved before but dipped into it regularly for treats! I don't know why this has suddenly struck me - I think because I'm no longer "in my 20s" I feel like I should suddenly act like a proper grown up! Curious to sort of gage my situation (as well as hoping for reassurance - or worst case scenario to find out I'm dramatically behind most people which will hopefully give me some motivation!) Thank you! Flowers

OP posts:
tomhazard · 13/09/2018 18:59

On my 30th birthday I had two kids under 3 and fuck all savings personally although dh had saved 10k for our emergency funds and I was a couple of years into a mortgage.
At 33 I have added 10k to DHs and we've saved 2k each into ISAs for our DC.

I work more hours in a better paid job and childcare costs have recently plummeted which has helped.

KnitFastDieWarm · 13/09/2018 19:00

Fuck all Grin we do have a mortgage though, and very little debt.

AntiHop · 13/09/2018 19:01

Zero. I was fortunate that around that time I got a 95% mortgage and my dad lent me the deposit.

Ellen7262 · 13/09/2018 19:02

@whereiscaroline oh yeah of course! I am impressed by anybody who saved up for their own house and has 10k plus saved up. I wouldn't be able to do that I don't think!Actual me wants to go on 8 holidays a year and have a brand new car every year, but accountant me stops that from happening!

ConsiderHerWaysAndOthers · 13/09/2018 19:02

About to turn 30 and jointly with DH we have about 300k in savings plus equity in the house of about another 250k. It’s all from family trusts/inheritance though, anything we do save from our salaries usually ends up being blown on holidays and frivolous crap.

tierraJ · 13/09/2018 19:02

At 30 I had saved none but luckily (& sadly) inherited some money for a house deposit from a family friend.

At 42 now all my money goes on bills but I have a few thousand saved for holidays & emergencies that I inherited from my nan last year. I would rather have my nan though.

I don't earn enough to actually save my own money.

Ellen7262 · 13/09/2018 19:03

@whereiscaroline oh and, I'm saving up for a buy to let property! (I think). If I didn't have a plan in mind I don't think I would have as much saved as I do.

Elloelloello123 · 13/09/2018 19:05

Currently don't have much in savings as just completed a renovation project. But have 2 houses. 1 with 60k equity and one with 220k equity. Will start savings back up again soon hopefully

LittleKitty1985 · 13/09/2018 19:08

@whereiscaroline I also need to be saving for something.

Aged 28-30 I went on a long exotic (expensive) holiday each summer, so I would just save for that. I was on a good wage but I had tons of other small holidays and treats too and generally just enjoyed being young and free, so no meaningful savings.

Now (age 32), DH and I have 2 joint savings accounts: one for a house deposit and one for our DS (due next year) and have £30k in total. It would be a bit more but we got married this year (although we managed to do the whole thing for only £10k and we made most of that back by asking for cash instead of gifts, so I'm proud of that)

househunthappening · 13/09/2018 19:10

I'm 30 soon and have about £30k, although about half of that was inherited so can't take credit for that. 1 DS and another on the way.

Mortgage free home, although that is down to DH who bought it when we hadn't been together long with a large cash deposit he'd saved up over years and years. I moved in and paid him 'rent' to help with the small mortgage whilst he had one.

He's got about £80k in savings, so between us £110k approx. Basically I am bloody lucky to have him and his natural tightness ability to save astounds me. I've made other sacrifices (relocating, commuting) to make our relationship work so I've contributed in other ways.

Redglitter · 13/09/2018 19:11

I'm much older than 30 & have absolutely no savings. I do however own my house

peachgreen · 13/09/2018 19:13

About £50k joint with DH. We saved about £30k of that over 3 years by working 2 jobs each. Paid for our wedding and house deposit and now we have about £3k (but I'm on mat leave and some of that will be eaten into). Pre-baby we were able to save £1300 a month (most of which went on renovations) but when I go back to work childcare costs mean we'll only be able to afford £300 a month and most of that is for regular annual expenses like dentists, car insurance etc.

Magpiefeather · 13/09/2018 19:17

Impressed and More than a little jealous over here.... I chose a vocation rather than a money-making career, have always lived hand to mouth and don’t own a house, have no savings (used them all up on Mat Leave). No regrets though, I followed my heart. You can’t take it with you, as they say. (That’s me trying to be positive, I know really that a nice little cushion would be great and very sensible). Your 3k sounds fantastic to me OP!

maddjess · 13/09/2018 19:21

None. I'm 35. I have a credit card for emergencies if I ever need it and lots of equity in my house should I need some money.

I do spend a lot of money on hols, we eat well and I drive the car I want.

I'm a nurse and a big believer in life every day as it comes, you never know when you will get that diagnosis, that car accident, etc. I want memories not money in the bank

Lockheart · 13/09/2018 19:21

I’m nearly 30. I have about 2.5k in savings and about £1k tied up in my rent deposit.

It might seem poor to some, but up until last year I was either working poorly paid jobs or struggling to find work. And there’s no prospect of any inheritance coming my way.

Also living in London is expensive. My rent is half my take home pay, even though it’s well below the average London rent. But the only reason I’m in London is to retrain and start a new career - this time next year I’ll be on much more money and will be able to start saving in earnest. In the meantime, I put away what I can.

lastqueenofscotland · 13/09/2018 19:22

26 until recently had £120k now down to about 7k due to house purchase and the bulk of savings went on deposit.
Had seriously high earning graduate job until last year so managed to squirrel a lot away.

Amy1996 · 13/09/2018 19:24

Im 22 currently saving £500 a month for a mortgage but once I have a house having savings won't be a priority

eurochick · 13/09/2018 19:27

Very little but at that point I had bought a car outright and purchased my first property. Before those things I had saved about 30k. I have always been a saver, even as a child. The savings built up pretty well again afterwards.

PurpleTigerLove · 13/09/2018 19:33

At 30 I had maybe £10 thousand in savings .

MLTS · 13/09/2018 19:36

None! I started saving at 35 Blush

M0veOntheG0 · 13/09/2018 20:03

No debt.Saved 10% deposit plus fees to buy a house. Also started paying into a pension in my 20s. I didn't live with parents to save. I worked several jobs at the same time. Then got a better paying job with over time. Still paying into pension and have some other savings.

sofato5miles · 13/09/2018 20:07

I didn't have any savings at 30, lived hand to mouth.

AccidentallyRunToWindsor · 13/09/2018 20:51

£0

HollyGoLoudly1 · 13/09/2018 20:55

Not so much cash floating around but I overpay my mortgage whenever I have some spare. So maybe had about £30-40k equity in my house at 30.

Leighhalfpennysthigh · 13/09/2018 21:16

Before 30 we had nearly £10k saved for a deposit on a house. At 30we used it towards our first round of IVF. We borrowed £20k. There were three more rounds to follow before giving up. I'm still paying off that debt now. Luckily we inherited a huge house from my husband's grandparents, so I have that as an asset to sell if things become dire enough. I hope not though.

Sometimes living is more important than saving.