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...

We have about 5 months of expenses saved, if you take out childcare (which we would if one of lost our job).

Nope, I did but a recent vets bill wiped them out :-( despite having insurance, 1 more vets bill and I'm going to have to sign up for OnlyFans, barfs lol

Yes. But my husband is a high earner and also we’re not frivolous at all. Feel very fortunate to be in that position.

I have 2 months, there is no point in having more than 3 months. 6 months of wages is 6x1,500 =9k , if I had 9k I would have £52 taken off my UC amount and be expected to make up that with my savings. Yet 9k is still not enough to even consider a deposit on a house

Yes we have around 2 years. I'm on mat leave atm so it's not getting any higher but it's enough to keep me from worrying.

Yes also minimal mortgage on a facility if needed. Both high earners but very careful on what we spend...basic cars etc

Yes

Yes, currently have nearly exactly 6.5 m wages and am working really hard on upping/maintaining it.
Not going to lie, it's going to take a battering in the next few months as I'm looking to move so I'm being extra frugal and selling a lot of un-needed belongings. Getting a bit sick of cheese butties at this point!

We didn’t used to but a few years ago my husband lost his job and I am lucky enough to have access to a financial advisor through my job and he told us that to avoid the stresses that come with redundancy in the future, we should have six months worth of our joint salary in savings. So pre children, we pumped most of our spare income into investments and these have paid off and given us our good safety blanket. We continue to pay some money into it now but less than before and luckily the hard work was already done. We are very lucky to be in this position, it wasn’t always the case.

Yes.

Yes.

We have enough for 12-14 months but only because we have money set aside to do up the house

Usually we keep enough aside to cover bills for 2-3 months if everything went tits up as this should be long enough to sort out temporary work etc

I have just over a years worth but I earn NMW so that doesn't amount to a huge deal lol. This has only been possible by staying with my parents and paying them very low rent, having pretty much no social life for the past few years and picking up extra hours at work where I can. I also have no dependents, and my parents are currently in a position nowhere they are able to pay money directly into my savings to help top them up. I'd be very surprised if my car (12 years old this year) makes it to the end of the year though, so I've been really strict with myself so far this year and stopped any frivolous spending.

I also have £25k in a LISA for a deposit, planning to add another £4k soon so with the 25% bonus that would take me up to £30k. Can't see anyone wanting to give me a mortgage on my wages though 😂 So the rather demoralising hunt for a better paid job continues...

Yes, we each have six or more months outgoings saved.

I have a month's worth in easy access savings, and a further six months in an ISA. I'm nominally saving it for 'some point' in the kids futures. Once we have finished paying for three lots of driving lessons and 3 DCs to get through uni we will be in a position to contribute to a wedding or a car, or a bit towards a house deposit for them. However, if I needed to fly one of them abroad for medical treatment, we would at least have a good place to start

I think the next 2 years will be the biggest squeeze. After that my student loan will be paid and we will have another chunk to ride out to uni years and start saving more. I am public sector so will expect an increment in 2 years and also have good pension and sickness benefits.

We weren't always in this position. We rented for years whilst saving up a house deposit and were much more hand to mouth. Being homeowners has saved us £300 pm on rent which has been a game changer.

We have more

I currently have enough to last about 2 weeks, probably less when the increases kick in.
I've managed that by being as frugal as normal while working shit loads of overtime covering covid absences over the last year or so, but also had to use it to cover my own absences or I'd have a bit more.

Yes, we have more than 6 months saved.

No, but dh has insurance and I have insurance via work for sickness (full pay for 6 months and then 75% pay) plus my employer's redundancy package would leave me with 6 months pay in the event of redundancy. We also have critical illness and personal accident insurance through work. So are generally covered.

Actually I do have share save at work which is about 3 months pay (but worth much more when they mature)

No, we’ve only got around 1k in savings at the moment. We moved house when I was on maternity leave and I don’t start getting properly paid until next month when I can start saving again.
But we both have secure jobs (well as secure as a job can be!) with good sick / redundancy pay, own car outright. So I’m not too concerned at the moment but obviously ideally we would have 3 months saved.
We always tend to prioritise overpaying the mortgage, rightly or wrongly, so saving is never too high on the agenda. I do think we need to save more definitely though instead of just overpaying.

In theory yes
In reality it’s actually earmarked for a new kitchen and bathroom which will leave me with nothing
I’m very lucky to have a fab credit score and if I desperately needed it would borrow the money and worry later - I could probably borrow 2-3 years salary if I maxed all my cards in one go

Yes, could happily live for up to 3 years …..

Yes