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

[Izzygrey]

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!

@BlackEyedOwls I haven't really got much spare money to save but I haven't really got anything of value to lose anyway. I rent my home so housing benefit would pay the rent if I ever lost my job. Failing that I have family who would never see DS and I out on the streets or anything. My parents own a 3 bedroom home and we would be welcome there.

Hardly anyone is more than a few months away from being financially in deep shit. There by the grace of God etc.

I’m 29, DH early 30s. 20k in my ISA and then DH and I together have approx. 450k in a shares portfolio.

He has a very unusual job that pays highly and we took up a number of expat contracts where all of our expenses (rent, bills, food, travel) etc were paid, in low tax countries on a combined high salary, which has allowed us to build that up.

We don’t own property yet but obviously expecting that to be wiped out when we start looking next year.

@BlackEyedOwls I was one of the people who said we tend to spend our money on enjoying life

I perhaps have a skewed view of it however I have had two close friends and a family member die before 30, all having never done the things they enjoy. I would rather enjoy my time as it comes rather than what may or may not happen tomorrow

£0 at 30 £0 at 40 and £0 at 50.

Nothing but half my mortgae was paid off at that stage

Nothing. I was paying a mortgage though and contributing to a pension. I lived very much hand to mouth throughout my working life.

None. And I had none at 40 either.

we had about 9000 at age 28, I did lots of agency nursing alongside carful saving but we still
managed to go on fantastic holidays too. then used that for a house deposit along with 5000 loan from in laws which we paid back within 2 years. by 30 we’d managed to save 2000 more but then we had DD and used it to buy baby things and top up my maternity pay. since i’ve gone back to work a year ago we’ve got married and the nursery bill takes its toll and so there’s hardly a bean left. It scares me that I don’t have savings anymore, we do have a good life insurance plan though. Hopefully when DD gets her free hours i’ll be able to get some savings started again. unless I somehow figure out if we can afford another baby. doubt it though.

29, and about £2k, after wiping out 30k on the house last year. £4k joint savings as our base level.

Currently focusing on pension and overpaying the mortgage. Bit panicky about 'low' monthly amount of savings (previously I put everything into deposit savings, so it was about 3x as much).

When I was living alone on £1000 take home I saved £200 a month. Partly due to low living expenses, but I also put savings first. I spent about £100 fun money a month.

OP - to be honest, if you've been living it up on money you could have saved, yes, you have a problem that you ought to address. If you have just spent on living costs and a bit of fun to keep life interesting then crack on, you've done the right thing by not getting into debt.

Not a penny!

At 30 (DH 38) we had NOTHING at the end of the month and were living hand to mouth in starter jobs. I remember telling DH to eat meat at his sponsored canteen to save us money! We also had regular dinners at ILs to help us through the month. DC1 was tiny and a good part of my salary went on childcare.
BUT we looked on our mortgage and pension plans as “savings”. At that time, in spite of higher interest, you could expect some increase in value. We ended up selling that house for almost double and the next jobs we got were the ones that made the difference.We started being able to afford holidays and savings and now at 50/58 we’re pretty comfortable. Mortgage paid off, two other properties and no daily money worries.
Hang on in there, OP!

Savings?! Ha!

My now ex dh had just left me and I had debts of £30k at 30...! It wasn’t a good time for me.

I'd just paid off a loan that I took out to help my mum buy a house when she divorced my father, and probably had a few £1000 in the bank, maybe £5K. And a mortgage. But no other debt.

I was saving into a pension and sharesave plan at work though, so probably had a few more thousand saved at the time.

@BlackEyedOwls Really interested in those people who don't bother saving and would rather spend it on living and experiences etc... Do you not worry about the future? How you'll cope of you lose your job? This is the 10 year anniversary of the financial crash and I've been reading about the various ways people's lives were ruined, they lost EVERYTHING. I'm terrified of that and my savings goal is a year's salary to cushion me in case of a catastrophe beyond my control.

I was one of these people in my 20s (as I previously posted) and I guess I always knew I'd be ok as I'd lost jobs in the past and survived on Jobseeker's Allowance, overdrafts, and help from the bank of mum and dad, all of which was easily paid off when I was back at work again. Although I wouldn't want to rely on those things now that I'm older and have a DS on the way. Your outlook changes as you get older.

Also I live in London and while I was single I knew that I'd never be able to afford to buy property, so didn't bother saving for a deposit. Whereas now on a dual income its more achievable and we've saved £30k in 2 years.

Absolutely nothing at 30. Probably had credit card debt and I was overdrawn.

49 now with a mortgage, partner and child. about £400 in savings. No credit cards and partner doesn't have an overdraft.

I'm still £500 OD every month.

There's nothing like a ' savings' thread on MN to show the huge discrepancy in peoples earnings and savings.

There was a thread a while back ' how much have you saved for child's future' . There were some stupid amounts being bandied. I didn't even know saving money to give to your child in the future was a thing!.

Do you not worry about the future? How you'll cope of you lose your job? This is the 10 year anniversary of the financial crash and I've been reading about the various ways people's lives were ruined, they lost EVERYTHING. I'm terrified of that and my savings goal is a year's salary to cushion me in case of a catastrophe beyond my control

If you haven't got anything,you haven't got anything to lose have you?

In financial crash people lost all the money they had invested or saved in some get rich quick schemes. I didn't lose anything, because I didn't have anything.

People are way too materialistic these days.

My priorities were paint off the mortgage early and building up a decent pension pot. Saving started once we had paid off the mortgage.

Having calculated the actual cost of interest on a mortgage, we focused on that and paid it off in ten years. Pointless having savings earning less than you are paying on the mortgage.

Love this question, OP.

I’m 30. No children and single. No inheritance. I don’t have a mortgage. I do have a student loan but no overdraft or credit card.
I have 10k saved, plus 1.5k in a personal pension pot.

I'm 28 and we've got fuck all. Don't own a house or a car. DH wage just about covers the basic bills, I buy food/clothes/travel/xmas/birthdays/dentist etc. I get paid weekly (minimum wage job) and quite often I have to borrow money from mum to buy food to see us through a couple of days til payday. Three kids and a dog and up to my eyeballs in credit card/overdraft/unpaid utilities debt. Off to uni next week though so hopefully when I graduate at 32 I can get a decent paying job and we can start paying everything off! It's always been like this though, both our parents were always skint too, so we don't know any different.

Missed the point a bit there, sorry! What I'm saying is there's nothing spare to save, it's impossible for a lot of people.

I think money is a funny thing in that people have such different attitudes to it. Mumsnet is full of high earning savers. Real life is much more of a mixture of very low incomes and very frivolous spenders.

I am a spender. I’ve seen far too many old people die with bank accounts full of money they’ve saved - it’s no good when you’re dead. I spend what I have. I’d like to save a little for a rainy day but we are a really low income family and quite often there isn’t anything to save anyway! If something breaks and we use anything spare to fix it something else might break too... it’s endless! We just muddle through, as I think a lot of families do, and we have a bit of (manageable) debt and just pay off what we can.

I might get run over by a bus tomorrow. I live in the “now”. I’m not going to overpay my mortgage or try to build up mountains of savings - a view I know that horrifies a lot of mumsnet folk.

Oh well. Everyone is different!

I had 20k and a flat. Two maternity leaves and 10 years of part time work later, I have 500 pounds! (My keyboard doesnt do pound signs)

More than £30k. I'm not from a particularly affluent background but I was careful with money.

I've got none now though. But a biggish house.