To ask about debt/savings?

[IanHBuckells]

I know these always end up a bit gosst but just wondering how many people really have 3 months net wages readily available in a rainy day fund and if they do, at what point in life that becomes the reality. This isn't about figures as it's relative to income/outgoings so not looking for people to share that they have £xxxxx!

We have about 2.5 months wages in a savings account but that's about to be wiped out by a new kitchen, then we will start again. However, we also have a bigger loan outstanding on our car so in my mind we don't actually have any savings!

Most of my friends are in similar positions - a few hundred quid in savings but nowhere near 3 months wages unless they are saving for something specific.

We're mid 30's and sometimes I wonder if we will ever be proper grown ups

Mid 30s with between 3-5 times monthly salaries in savings but it’s about to be wiped out due to maternity leave. I wouldn’t spend the safety net on home improvements though other than essential repairs or similar.

We save monthly without fail and see it as an essential bill especially since we had children. I’d take overtime or a second job if needed to ensure we saved.

We have no debt bar the mortgage as I hate debt. We have separate savings for large purchases, holidays, Christmas etc so we don’t dip into our rainy day savings.

I have a year saved but it’s about to all go on a property so I’ll have 2 months saved and it does make me feel really really nervous so I’ll be saving again as much as I possibly can every month.

@IanHBuckells

I know these always end up a bit gosst but just wondering how many people really have 3 months net wages readily available in a rainy day fund and if they do, at what point in life that becomes the reality. This isn't about figures as it's relative to income/outgoings so not looking for people to share that they have £xxxxx!

We have about 2.5 months wages in a savings account but that's about to be wiped out by a new kitchen, then we will start again. However, we also have a bigger loan outstanding on our car so in my mind we don't actually have any savings!

Most of my friends are in similar positions - a few hundred quid in savings but nowhere near 3 months wages unless they are saving for something specific.

We're mid 30's and sometimes I wonder if we will ever be proper grown ups

Do you have kids? Children are often where the money goes.

I don't think it makes sense to use your entire savings on a non essential purchase like a kitchen. Can you not get an interest free period when buying the kitchen?

I have more that saved but it is ring fenced for DS university. It has taken literally years.

What has worked very well is having an “unexpected expenses” fund. I try to keep it at £1000 to ensure I don’t need to rely in credit cards or be thrown out into a financial mess if something expensive comes along, like repairs to the house, vet fees or fixing the car.

@Exhausted4ever

I don't think it makes sense to use your entire savings on a non essential purchase like a kitchen. Can you not get an interest free period when buying the kitchen?

Yes, but that's a debt and the interest free option almost always costs more than cash price (so not free at all!).

We save for everything (aside the car which was a rare treat!) but it would take us years to save for a new kitchen (ours is falling apart!) and another 3 months joint salaries!

To cover 3 months joint salaries we would need about 14k and considering we have a 1 year old DD at the moment, it's just not going to happen!

Then when we start to build up savings it then disappears on house maintenance, car maintenance (£625 this month, ugh).

I am building my savings up slowly but it will take a long time to hit 14k.

Is your kitchen really 'falling apart'? Ours is 25 years old and is almost as good as new. How much would it cost in comparison to fix the issues rather than rip out and start again?

I have 6 months expenses rather than 6 months of wages in savings. For less urgent stuff around the house like replacing the fence and getting the driveway done, I have a separate savings fund. For urgent things like the boiler breaking down I use money from the expenses fund then build it back up.

I'm 32. I've just worked it out and I have about 7 and a half months salary in savings.

This has happened in the last two years after I finally left an extremely poorly paid job, moving twice since, almost doubling my salary in the process. Before I had less than £100 in savings.

I've no clue how much my husband has. Similar amount I think.

We have around 1.5 months worth of our net household income saved which sounds scarily low to me but it's more like 3 months worth of outgoings.

We're late 20s/early 30s.

I never buy anything that I don’t save up for and buy outright.
The only debt I ever had was the mortgage, which we paid off early.
We’ve always lived within our means and saved.

In our 30s virtually no savings and we received CTC in addition to DH salary. 10 years later we have around 12 months of our net income as an overpayment against our mortgage that we can draw down to our monthly repayments are currently very very little indeed.

One going to uni means no more being able to save.

I have a years salary saved, which I could probably live off for two years if needed.

I’m 33 and have 3 months worth saved.

I’m coming to the end of my maternity leave so we have almost 0 savings. I’ll be back at work with a full month’s salary at the end of August so will start frantically saving again then.

We're late 40s. I've worked part-time since had 2 kids in my late 30s/early 40s. We got 3 months outgoings saved before the kids were born. Would have been almost impossible afterwards due to childcare costs and the fact our kids seem to be expensive! We have no debt due to never buying anything we couldn't afford.

Zero savings. And debts. But also lots of credit so I could manage.

And I'm not at all bothered really. Worse case scenario MiL has the equivalent of 2 years of my wages in her savings account and would give it to us if needed. Of course I could also just take it as I have TPA but that would be theft so wouldn't. I also have about a year's worth of wages in an account joint with my mom but that's her money - it's a tax/inheritance thing.

We have almost a years worth of bills.covered but we earn more than that a month if you see what I mean.

Only debt is a mortgage and a year left on an interest free kitchen loan from IKEA. Could that be an option? Exactly the same price but over 3 years is only about £120 a.month

Or pay for it on long term interest free credit card (check money saving expert,I'm sure there are some interest free for 3 years) then pay it off monthly?

Disclsimer: I'm old.

I have enough in an account that I can walk away from my job and live for around a year.

Disadvantage: I'm so old I'll probably never work again

We have nearly 3 months of salary saved, which if it was needed would last much longer than 3 months because if one of us lost our job we’d take DD out of nursery which would dramatically reduce outgoings.
We see savings as an essential outgoing and it is prioritised, however, I absolutely appreciate that that is a privileged position to be in, especially while paying for nursery as well.

I was in my early 40's by the time I had this!

It got wiped out by my partner being made redundant.

I was 53 before I managed it again!

We have decent savings but they’re about to go on a house deposit and some furniture. Then we’ll get back to saving again.

We have no debt now apart from my student loan, and soon we will have a mortgage, but that’s it.

You need to think about an emergency fund differently to savings. Your emergency fund should not be used for anything other than an emergency situation. Once your emergency fund is full you should then save for big purchases like a kitchen etc in a separate account.