To ask honestly...do you have 3-6 months savings or more?

[sweepeep]

Based on a few threads going around...

Do you have enough savings for 3-6 months or more? Honestly...

No lol. Currently chasing up a 100 pound invoice that is owed to me!

We always keep 10K available for emergencies. Both of us are teachers so although no job is secure, ours is pretty secure.

Yes. But, we are also considering a house extension, which might bring us under that which feels too much of a risk. So we are in paralysis with 1.5 - 2 years sitting there.

No we don't have enough leeway in our budget to save much at all, and what we do save gets spent on things within a few months

Really? I was told by a FA try to have 3-6 months £ readily available and not tied up in assets / long term investments.

(Currently none of my £ is invested... Need to sort that out!)

Lol, nope.

I have about £240 in a building society that I can only access by going to another city. It still uses a book.

We both have private pensions.

There's a big difference between 6 months expenses (or net salary) "in cash", and the same amount "readily available".

If your salary is £1,500 per month (net), then you are talking about having £9,000 in cash in your house. That is a bit daft and potentially a security problem.

Whereas having £9k in an account that you can withdraw on demand, a post office book, local credit union, demand savings account in a bank etc - it means you have the money for an emergency within a working day, but you are not having to keep large amounts of cash secure at home.

I DO keep some emergency cash at home - it fluctuates over time but generally somewhere between 200 and 800 max. But I have a fair amount that I can access in a hurry across a couple of different savings accounts (not that they are earning any interest anymore) - I've used those savings in accounts to replace a boiler 3 days before Christmas, buy a car when DFIL became terminally ill 2.5 hours drive away and we had to go back to being a 2 car family at short notice among other things. While having some cash at home meant I had a slush fund for a lot of takeaways and easy ready meals and cast covers and taxis when DH broke his wrist just as DD was starting school and my work was bananas busy.....etc.

Ha, I am £25 overdrawn (I don't have a overdraft) and don't get paid till next week.

Definitely. I have put money in very high rated savings& as soon as I see another beating the rate, I withdraw & shove it all in the new one. Changed banks 4 times this month. At the moment I’m getting 1.56% until I see a new one

Yes.

None of your business.

No way. I am trying to save up but it will be for essential repairs, so if and when I hit that level, it will get spent.

Yes but only because it's savings for our first house deposit. If we ever manage to buy we'll be down to a couple of months.

Yes I have been really focussed on savings during and post covid and have a years take home pay saved now

Yes, but as @Woolandwonder sensibly point out there were times of my life when I definitely didn’t. Very people who have recently in the last 5 years or so bought a house will. And this is the point where usually you are most stretched.

But we first bought 20 years ago, not had family holidays and prioritised over paying the mortgage even when we had a low income

I find this quite sad.... Preparing for the future is one thing, but foregoing family holidays in the name of overpaying the mortgage is twisted priorities.... sacrificing. precious family time so you can be more comfortable when your family has left home is warped.

I don't.... but I'm in the lucky enough position to have 12 months sick pay (6 months full, 6 half pay) and the equivalent of around 6 months pay if I was made redundant.

Given that you emptied your savings three years ago and took on loans, I find it remarkable that you have a whole year's worth of expenses saved already! That implies you save more than half your income each month!

No. There's about £200 in the bank, after all the DD payments

If this thread is in any way representative, there is no cost of living crisis, as most people have very significant financial cushions! More likely that this thread attracts smug scrooges like honey attracts wasps!

Nope we have minus £500 right now.

I have about a year of take home pay, which I can probably live on for closer to 2+ without contributing to savings and making lifestyle changes.
This is before all of the price increases though.

Not any more as have just had some building work done - will try and save as much as I can to build it back up again as I worry if I don’t have some just in case money

That's a very uncharitable reading
Our economies are made up of period of boom followed by periods of bust. It's not a bug, it's a feature.
Not factoring this into your financial plans is like being a farmer and assuming your spring/summer bounties are indefinite. You will be caught short if you have not held some back for the winter.

Yes.