1 in 4 people have less than £100 in savings.

[cakeorwine]

And of those, 1 in 6 have no savings

moneyandpensionsservice.org.uk/2022/11/07/one-in-six-uk-adults-have-no-savings/

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63517823

And it's only going to get worse with fuel bills and inflation.

It must be such a worry. And I bet that within that data, there is going to be wider variation (in general) with age, location and income (obviously)

No savings here, I dropped my hours from full time to 26 to go to uni and now in my final year. We didn’t know as I did that we would then go through a pandemic and COL crisis so the fact we are just scraping by is a miracle. I keep thinking that we just have to get through another 8 months then I should be able to get a much better paid job. I have debt of around £3000 but although it’s not great it is what I would call manageable and I am making payments towards it each month so it isn’t affecting my credit rating I’m a negative way. I estimate that it will take me 6-12 months after graduating to be in a place where I am then comfortable again.
In the mean time I have taken the advice from this thread about the help to save and have opened an account today. I will make sure I put £10 a month in, more if I possibly can and will be telling dp to do the same as it’s a starting point and the bonuses that link to it are worth it so thank you

Harder to save now even in a household were two people work I have seen people needing to borrow money still. Been made worse by inflation. If you can pay everything and have some left over to spend then that is great considering the cost of everything now.

I was watching the news the other day and there was somebody complaining about how their costs had gone up by £3-400 per month. The news reporter asked them how they were going to cope and they said that very regretfully they would have to start digging into their savings. And I thought 'Wow, you have SAVINGS?!'.

Zero savings here. No pension. Big mortgage. I bought late in life and rental rates and deposits, constant costly house moves, have meant I've never saved. I'm dreading anything breaking down. It would have to stay broken at the moment. I too am surprised the number of those without savings isn't bigger.

Those might have been their savings for a deposit, or moving expenses, though; you just don’t know.

Bugger all savings here, I think I have about £250 for Xmas. High childcare and 2 recent housemoves mean we are living month to month. But we have lots in assets, public sector pension and when the childcare stops we will save again.
It’s all context though, we aren’t poor. We have property equity of £350k, BTL income etc. But right now our bills are what we earn.

This survey is a nationally representative sample. I work in the area and it’s not just people using their service. The poll is designed to represent the UK (you only need 1,000 people to do that from across the UK, they had 3,000)

I'm sure even in the mid 00s when the economy was strongest, a similar amount of people would have had less than £100 in savings. Probably not as many as 1 in 4 people, but 1 in 5 or 1 in 6. It's just how some people live. They'll live in the most expensive house they can barely afford, get a car on credit, get into debt to go on holiday, buy clothes etc on store cards or credit cards.

I like to live well within my means. I drive a 14 year old car. Live in a fairly small house. Almost never spend money on frivolities.

Lots of comments on the survey

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation have published similar using data from the ONS Wealth and Assets survey

According to the Office for National Statistics’ Wealth and Assets Survey, around
1 in 6 people in 2016/18 lived in a household (HH) where adult liquid savings
were less than £250 in real terms

However, this rate varies considerably between different household income quintiles.

Just over 1 in 3 people in the poorest fifth of households have household liquid savings of less than £250 while nearly 1 in 4 people in the second poorest household income quintile are in this position. On the other hand, only 3% of people in the highest household income quintile have household liquid savings less than this amount.

www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2022

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/debt/methodologies/wealthandassetssurveyqmi

Research from Yorkshire Building Society

www.ybs.co.uk/w/media-centre/savings-crisis

New figures released today (15 June) highlight the fragility of people’s finances across the country with almost one in five (19%) UK adults, more than 10.3 million people, having less than £100 in savings.
The research by Yorkshire Building Society also revealed that more than one in ten (13%) UK adults have no savings at all and more than a quarter (26%) of UK Brits admitting to having less than £500 in savings.

I think people get scared to save as well esp of on benefits or border line benefits.

I think 16 thou needs to be raised to 20 thou, 24 thou and that would give people more insentive to save and be able to help their own family.

Id also like to know the profile of those people, what level of education, background etc

3000 people is quite a big number for a survey.

From the link

This survey was conducted among 3,000 people in the UK aged 18+ in September 2022. It is nationally representative

That's usually enough to have a good degree of confidence in the results.

Hmm. I'm not sure I believe that statistic. Where are they getting that data from.I appreciated many don't, but some do. Depends who you ask. Many people we know are in their 50's and 60's with older dc or older teens and have a reasonable disposable income.

I don't want to sound rude but benefits are supposed to be to help when needed not to help save tens of thousands.... If one can save tens of thousnads, they don't need benefit help

From a survey of 3000 people - a nationally representatve survey.

It ties in with other data as well from other sources.

On the other side, 3 in 4 people have more than £100 in savings.

Yep, your benefits start to taper if you have £6k in the bank, and stop totally at £16k. And you have to account for any big spends so to prove you are not depriving yourself of assets.

£6k is not much in the scheme of things. If your car blows up, you won't get a replacement for that nowadays.

It's ridiculous isn't it.

Why not let people hold onto some security and give more indenting to save it's creating the wrong attitude.

@Schroedingersimmigrant
I'm well aware of what benefits are there for and I e been a recipient.

Benefits are supposed to be a safety net not a barrier to people being insenstived to do better.

I can believe it. 15 years ago, this was us. 2 kids at nursery with a hefty mortgage. Despite earning well, we had little to no savings and relied on 0% credit cards to fund any unexpected emergencies. They were very stressful years and I used to lose sleep over it.

Thankfully, as the kids got older and our circumstances and wages increased, we have been able to build up a good savings pot and are now in a better place but I understand I’m speaking from a relatively privileged position. Incidentally, neither DH received any help from our parents, both first to go to Uni, both took out student loans etc and saved the deposit on our first flat ourselves. Though not in a very nice area, we were I guess lucky to have bought at the right time as it went up in value and enabled us to buy our first house.

I think it can also be about attitude to money and mindset around saving. Some just don’t see it as important whilst others find every possible way to save a something, no matter how small. I know people who priotise spending on designer clothes, shoes and holidays over savings. My sister and her husband are like this, their philosophy is you can’t take it with you. I also know people who earn very little but still manage to put a little aside, like my MIL who who works as a mid-day assistant and lives very frugally. She has been religiously putting £25 per month into the kids junior ISAs since they were toddlers and won’t be told otherwise.

But it doesn't tie in with actual data released by the ONS. This survey was a sample of those using MoneyWise, who are already a certain demographic.

Every time I build up any savings a fucking "unprecedented" crisis happens and I have to use the fuckers up.

This chart makes me feel really sad. I'm a lone parent and I had no choice in that matter. My ex became severely abusive during pregnancy and I had to leave. He's been prosecuted. I'm on my own. My savings are dwindling as even on universal credit and being frugal, my income is less than my outgoings. £850 rent, £900 nursery, then everything else. I can't believe sometimes that just rent and nursery on its own costs me £1750. I've never felt so lost, unsecure and small in my entire life.

24 years old, renting, no kids, self employed, 8.5k in savings. I don't drive, main expenses are eating out,shopping , bars etc. Mainly saving towards a deposit on an investment property in a foreign country (around 10k deposit and monthly payments.)

Would like to build and keep a 'pot' of savings to set me up for whenever I want to settle down , buy a home or car.

for context I am also around 1k in debt to my credit card company. no other debts

No it wasn't.

It was a nationally representative sample.

Did you read the link?