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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask how much you have in savings...

224 replies

MakeAHouseAHome · 09/10/2018 20:25

We have just transferred virtually ALL our money over to our solicitor for our first house. I have gone from having nearly £60k to much much less than that.

I know everyone does it haha, but just feeling un-nerved at losing that nice safety blanket and I will be immediately starting to build it back up again.

Just interested in how much people have in their savings accounts?

OP posts:
seventhgonickname · 10/10/2018 00:12

I have a pension fund but due to divorce a mortgage again.
I have about 3-5 K in case some major catastrophe happens eg.the car dies.I have been working lots of overtime to save that so I can relax a bit.

Shmithecat · 10/10/2018 00:14

In to 6 figures but we don't own a house at the mo - saving to buy one outright in a couple of years.

CaseStudyResearch · 10/10/2018 00:16

Triple figures.

Currently toying between putting half down as a deposit for a house and overpaying on a small mortgage, or buying somewhere smaller outright as mortgage-free first time buyers.

user1471426142 · 10/10/2018 01:48

Depends if you include pensions and/or house equity or not? It’s totally normal to be wiped out of cash but hopefully you’ll be transferring a big chunk of your old savings into equity so really you haven’t lost it (other than fees/tax) it’s just in a different less liquid form. As others have said mortgage overpayments are effectively a form of savings but wouldn’t show up in a cash figure.

ImogenTubbs · 10/10/2018 05:38

Trying to clear some credit card debt at the moment, so nothing. We did have about £12k but had a major life change a couple of years ago which cleaned us out. Worth it though.

SandysMam · 10/10/2018 07:07

Thank you to those who explained about mortgage over payments!

Teateaandmoretea · 10/10/2018 07:13

I certainly wouldn't enjoy life if I was worrying about losing my job, not being able to pay the mortgage, getting ill, being in debt..... saving has meant those things are no longer a worry for me.

Neither would I, but once those boxes are ticked I feel I can chill out a bit and also use money to make life easier and more fun.

It is also unclear from these posts whether this money is individual or joint, my answer for each would be wildly different. We have about 80k jointly but part of that is we want to move house but can't because nothing has come up we want to buy for 2 years......

SandysMam · 10/10/2018 07:55

I think posters who mention a balance are absolutely right. I am so scared of being on the bones of my arse again that I struggle to allow myself to enjoy money at all. I hoard it a bit and deny myself a lot which equally isn’t healthy. However...the peace of mind my savings bring me is massive. I would love to know what people would consider a place where you can relax a bit!

LakieLady · 10/10/2018 08:17

I have about £30km (mostly lump sum from my private sector pension which I got 3 years ago) and DP has about £6k. We had more, but paid off the mortgage earlier this year.

We have fuck all in the way of pensions (mine's £190 a month after tax) though, so are hoping to buy a BTL or somewhere with an annexe we can use to give us a bit more income.

We'd be comfortably off if I hadn't had to give my shit of an ex almost £100k in divorce settlement.

longwayoff · 10/10/2018 08:19

About £5k. No credit cards and no debt though.

Cronesquerness · 10/10/2018 08:24

£0 never been able to afford to save even a tenner a month.

AnnabelleLecter · 10/10/2018 08:24

Saving can become obsessive.
I also can't understand being ott frugal just to amass a fortune for the sake of it.
Life is for living too and I would be miserable it if I never allowed myself to go on holiday/buy gig/theatre tickets etc in favour of extreme saving and just in case scenarios that may never happen.
DH could very well get made redundant next year but we've still booked a holiday.
He might not, he might find a job straight away if he does. We'll have to survive on my money and redundancy for a year or so until he gets his pension.

funinthesun18 · 10/10/2018 08:26

£0.00

HowCanThisBeRight · 10/10/2018 08:26

£11.27

PrimeraVez · 10/10/2018 08:31

Around 115,000. But we aren't homeowners.

Used to be quite a bit more, but then we got married, moved to a much bigger property that required furnishing and fitting out (including landscaping the large garden) and had two kids in quick succession, which means extortionate nursery fees and a full time nanny.

BarbarianMum · 10/10/2018 08:33

Know the feeling OP. Spent 10 years saving to afford some work on the house. Just spent that so now house is good but our savings are right down again. We are starting to build them up again too.

listsandbudgets · 10/10/2018 08:39

How should I know? The calculator protests when I try to add it all up because its toooo much.

In reality probably enough to last a year living frugally if everything went wrong.

Babyshark2018 · 10/10/2018 08:43

I have about 2.5k DH about 3k so not a huge amount.

We have good earning potential and insurance though so it wouldn’t benefit us much to squirrel everything away. Except for DD’s savings. I’d rather spend it Grin

notacooldad · 10/10/2018 08:44

Without going into exact amounts I like to have the equivalent of a years salary in a seperate account that is untouchable unless something goes badly wrong ( which could be sooner rather than later , I am being interviewed for my own job in two weeks time.)
On a monthly basis I save a minimum of half of my salary + my essential car user payment+ any other additional payments that's not part of my salary, e.g. Fuel expenses, sleep in payments and bank holiday pay.

TheClitterati · 10/10/2018 08:44

You didn't tell us how much you have now OP?

huttub · 10/10/2018 08:47

Can I ask how you save and end up with £50k or £100k, has that been saved, earned, gifted?

straightjeans · 10/10/2018 08:51

£1,800. Ballin' Grin

notacooldad · 10/10/2018 08:54

Can I ask how you save and end up with £50k or £100k, has that been saved, earned, gifted?

In my case it has just taken time ( a long time!)

Shmithecat · 10/10/2018 08:55

@huttub, for us, we've saved by living and working in the Middle East.

DaphneduM · 10/10/2018 08:57

huttub For us it has been a mixture of all three - pension lump sums, savings, a gift from a relative and - sadly - inheritances. We believe in passing money on for house deposits to our children - rather than them having to wait until after our death. But we still need savings as a buffer for our old age - particularly if we continue with a Tory government decimating all the public services we all rely on.