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Original poster

How much should a 30 year old have in savings?

135 replies

Sky1992 · 26/02/2023 03:27

I'm quiet curious to read people's responses

How much do you think a 30 year old should have saved by now and how much do you think they should be saving per month?

OP posts:
RedRiverShore3 · 26/02/2023 06:54

There are probably more people with debt than savings at thirty.

MintJulia · 26/02/2023 06:58

At thirty I was 3 years into owning a very tatty 2-bed semi that I was renovating, so I had no savings as such. I was paying 5% of £30k into my pension.

CooCooNut · 26/02/2023 07:00

At 30 I was:

Single
Renting
Had a good job & income
Had my own car
Was having 4 / 5 holidays a year

Had not a penny in savings.

honestlyno · 26/02/2023 07:00

At 30 I was childless, renting in London, above average salary, and had zero savings.

CSR721 · 26/02/2023 07:01

I'm 30. I'd saved 10k when I lived in my old house. It went on my wedding and buying/furnishing my current home. I now have a bigger mortgage and a child to support and will be going back to work part time so it'll be difficult to build anything back up again.

Swiftswatch · 26/02/2023 07:14

There is no amount a 30 year old ‘should’ be saving each month.
At 28/29 I was saving about 35% of my income due to being very careful with living expenses. I racked up about 20k but by 30 I spent it on a flat and had about £200 total.

There is no one answer here.

Itsmyturnnow1 · 26/02/2023 07:17

Husband and I are mid 30’s with a 4yo son. A 210k mortgage and 3k in savings.

Sirius3030 · 26/02/2023 07:20

£1325.

Persipan · 26/02/2023 07:22

In an ideal world everyone would have at least 3-6 months living expenses in savings, but we absolutely do not live in an ideal world and that's not achievable for many people.

safeplanet · 26/02/2023 07:22

It depends on circumstances, do they have a mortgage, children etc.

gettingalifttothestation · 26/02/2023 07:23

Sirius3030 · 26/02/2023 07:20

£1325.

1326

DashboardConfessional · 26/02/2023 07:23

I am 38 and we had about £2k at 30 because we'd just sold our last house and bought this one. We have £7k less than last week because we bought a second car yesterday and booked a holiday. There is no should.

MuggleMe · 26/02/2023 07:24

We couldn't save at 30 as childcare costs were crippling us. 7 years later and we're in a much better position putting away about £600 in a combination of short term, long term and mortgage overpayments.

Paturday · 26/02/2023 07:25

Depends on so many factors that there is basically no point in this thread I’m afraid.

For example, me and my friend both 33. One of us has:
no job (but a husband crucially!)
3 kids
mortgage
no family help
about to do a massive build

other has:
no accomm costs (live-in job at the moment)
family help
no kids
unmarried
travelling the world

No idea of friend’s savings situation, and you can’t really tell from the list who would have the most savings.

Soapnotshowergel · 26/02/2023 07:25

Agree with everyone that it depends on circumstances.

When I turned 30 I had 18k in savings, we brought a house 6 months later and then didn't have any money to save for the next two years because every penny went on the house.

Rellywobble · 26/02/2023 07:28

TimeForMeToF1y · 26/02/2023 03:49

There's no such thing as how much a person should have saved

How can anyone answer that?

This ,,,how long is a piece of string !

tabulahrasa · 26/02/2023 07:30

Why would you ever base savings on age and not relevant stuff like income?

Twiglets1 · 26/02/2023 07:32

Tbh I never had any savings at all in my 30s or 40s. But I was investing in other ways for my future. I was paying off a mortgage and paying into a pension.

RedRiverShore3 · 26/02/2023 07:38

People may have savings and live in a tatty rented bedsit with no pension, you need to know the whole picture

SpringGreens23 · 26/02/2023 07:39

It varies. I developed a serious, life-long illness at 16 and spent far too long at uni due to medical leave. I didn't understand the benefits system so never applied. I had summer jobs and paid emergency tax without noticing.

At 30 I probably had about £1K - £2K in savings.

Then my health improved a bit around mid-2017 and I started to work obsessively. I started off in a minimum wage call centre job for a few months.

Then I progressed in a career I had no education or experience in. At 37 I have about £120K in savings.

Things can change.

Summerfun54321 · 26/02/2023 07:42

None and loads of student debt.

Girasoli · 26/02/2023 07:45

I had close to no savings at 30, DH was supporting us and I was doing an MSc.

SpringGreens23 · 26/02/2023 07:58

SpringGreens23 · 26/02/2023 07:39

It varies. I developed a serious, life-long illness at 16 and spent far too long at uni due to medical leave. I didn't understand the benefits system so never applied. I had summer jobs and paid emergency tax without noticing.

At 30 I probably had about £1K - £2K in savings.

Then my health improved a bit around mid-2017 and I started to work obsessively. I started off in a minimum wage call centre job for a few months.

Then I progressed in a career I had no education or experience in. At 37 I have about £120K in savings.

Things can change.

I want to add, the money hasn't made me any happier. I know people get upset when you say that.

I had more freedom and could take more risks when I felt I had less to lose.

LineDancing · 26/02/2023 08:14

I am nearly 30. I have £500.
But for all I know, we could end up needing new tyres, washing machine or fridge tomorrow and the majority if not all of that will be gone.

autienotnaughty · 26/02/2023 08:15

In an ideal world you should be paying 20% of your wage into a pension and have the equivalent of half your yearly salary saved for emergencies. But for the majority of us that's impossible.

At 30 I was paying a small pension maybe 10% and probably had about 3 grand in savings . At 42 I'm paying 25% into my pension (slight panic after 5 years sahm) and have about 12k saved (jointly with dh) I know I'm lucky as a lot are far worse off. But we don't do big holidays, I shop at Aldi, we don't eat meat and our clothes are second hand/supermarket.