To ask how much you have in savings and what you are saving for?

[Watermelonade]

Before anyone jumps on me, this is not a boasting thread. A few years ago we had nothing and felt like we were drowning, so now I am very cautious with money and save, save, save.

I have 8000 which is strictly for emergencies and is never touched.

Then I've just started a holiday fund which has a small amount of 550 in it.

What about you?

Threads like this are daft. I could have £10 or £10 million in savings, who cares? And especially now when people's finances are going down the pan.

We have quite a bit, but whilst we have been running our business we have taken minimal income lived frugally for 10 yrs and are now drawing out dividends and putting them in savings accounts.
Had we drawn more from the beginning we would have likely lived to those means and not end up with as much as we do now.
We also wok in an area where mechanical breakdowns can cost thousands to repair more to replace so we had to leave money in the business.

So good planning and patience worked for us.

Savings are so different to everyone, I think we're lucky to have what we have. For some even a few hundred saved is a small miracle that doesn't even last long.
I really don't think you can compare at all as people's lives, finances etc are so different.

@GiveMyHeadPeaceffs you worked your ass off and saved?
When I was in debt I worked my ass off. When I couldn't save I was still worried my ass off. I've savings now but I haven't worked any harder. Hard work doesn't always equate to material wealth. You need to have more coming in than goes out to be able to put aside.

I don’t count pensions as savings as they aren’t accessible and can only be used for one thing - providing an income in retirement.

@Northernsoullover I get your point but, well ime I feel like I did work harder, I gave up a lot so I could work longer hours and weekends so I could have financial security and get rid of debt.

I just opened a savings account in February. I've got a whole £422 in it 😂

DP and I both have a gov help to save account, we have each saved £900 in 18 months. This is a big achievement for us, dp has paid off small debt and we are both on very low income. I'm lucky that my housing costs are low otherwise we couldn't have done it.
We also have save the change added to our main current accounts and background 200 easy to access for an emergency if we needed it. That's taken 18 months to get to that point as well. By the end of the month/when student finance is due to be paid we have nothing left in our current accounts at all but because we pay the savings with the bills on 1st of the month we just don't consider it money to be spent.
It would be nice to have a float in our current accounts but one step at a time.

Enough to let me take a years mat leave if we get pregnant on our NHS rounds of ivf or to pay for a round or 2 of IVF privately if the NHS rounds don’t work (and by then hopefully have saved enough to cover the mat leave too).

I suppose it's an age thing then as we do think of our pensions as savings as for us they are defined contribution pots that we are close to being able to start draw-down. We put as much as we could into them from late 20s so they've been tax efficient and grown very well in global stocks. Taken a big hit recently - haven't looked to be honest! - but still, been a useful arm of our savings. Would never buy an annuity with it. We think of it as a stocks and shares isa that we can pay into before it's taxed.

Don’t forget , savings will be very dependent on age . I had about £4K of overdraft when I was 26 and had just finished a postgraduate degree. It took a year to pay that off and then I started saving £3k every year as that’s the max you could put in an isa at the time. If you’re below 30 it’s unlikely that you’ll have much saved so don’t panic , there’s still time .
If you don’t have much to spare then don’t feel like you’re doing something wrong . Life and children are expensive.
However , if you’re established in your job /career /business with a good income then it’s time to start to set some aside. There’s no point in driving an expensive car and going on several holidays a year if a job loss means you would be rocking up to the food bank within a month or two . That’s got nothing to do with falling on hard times, just sheer lack of any financial planning .
Lots of people genuinely don’t have any extra to save , more think they don’t have anything to save.You only have to read the “holiday threads “ and the “ what car do you drive threads?” to get an idea of how people use /waste their income .

Yes I think if you can possibly start saving as early as you can when you start working, it fosters good habits that will help long-term. I wasn't in a good place mid 20s. As someone said upthread, the mindset is less about saving and more about not spending. If you can not spend, or spend less, the saving sort of takes care of itself.

I always felt like everyone was rolling in it and we wernt. We are by no means we'll off but we have about 2 months rent in savings, everything else can be dealt with if needed. We also have an Xmas fund of round ups and a baby fund for dc2 stuff. Ds1 has 200quid and he's only 1 and a half!

Every other person on here has half a million saved.I don't believe it for a minute.

Funds in the black is always a good feeling

Some people will have 1/2 million saved and some will be lying . A lot of people without savings want everyone else to be like them.
I’m not a high earner but it’s important to be to me financially secure . It’s not much fun worrying about money when you’re only a child with no control over the situation .
I’m fascinated by money tbh . Not because of what it can buy but because of the security it offers . My heroes are people like Martin Lewis . He genuinely wants to help people make the best decisions with their income .

We have various savings/investments
50k investments
20k in another cash account
4K in dh's savings account
My current account always has a 1.5k buffer
My dh's account has a 2k buffet
DC's savings accounts have
11k and 8k (I save the child benefit)
I also have sinking funds for car tax and insurance that are at 600ish
We also have no mortgage and 2 properties so that reduces our outgoings.

No debts , not even a mortgage. Late 40s.
I inherited about £120k ~15 yrs ago and of course that made a huge difference.

If we cashed everything in (not including the house or pensions) I guess DH & I would jointly have about £250k.

What the F are we saving it for...
Might move somewhere a lot more expensive.
DC going to university.
Mostly I don't like spending, I don't have expensive habits. Often in life I/we have chosen the cheaper option of many for things like car or house, clothes or entertainment.

My job situation is dodgy right now, and I don't know what kind of alternative job might become available when. I don't plan to retire until I'm in my 70s, either.

Another one laughing at posters saying why start these threads/it’s none of your business , the title is hardly misleading is it so why choose to read it ?

Absolutely bugger all! Had to use savings to pay for my mortgage & bills due to not being in work!

8k saved for florida so far.

2k (aiming for 4) for when baby 3 arrives in December (to cover may leave).

Also about 400 in child benefit account as it touched it whilst the children have been off school.

£4K which is there to pay of a 0% credit card when the 0% rate expires. Purely a more cost effective way of paying off a debt.

I can understand why you ask, as I find money is something people are generally not open about. I have about 3 months salary saved and working towards 6. It has gone up and down over the years, due to using some over maternity leaves and some to meet costs when husband was not earning.

I am not sure why people would lie. I gave my husband £870k on the divorce and have given the children quite a bit for housing and spent about £1m on school and university fees so without all that I would certainly have £500k saved.

100k but

Just under 20k thanks to having our holiday of a lifetime cancelled... now looking to buy our first home and use some of the money as a deposit