How much should a 30 year old have in savings?

[Sky1992]

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?

If I said at 30 I had £3000 in savings and my DB at £4500.

Should we have more? Should I have more?

Irrelevant really? Two different people two completely different circumstances.

If they are a premiership footballer millions, if they are unable to work and living on benefits then probably £0.

I'm in my mid- late 20s and I have friends who have just bought, who won't have many savings. Friends who are thinking of buying so presumably have decent savings

Friends who still live at home, so presumably have decent savings. But will at some point need to pay mortgage/bills

Friends who are spending their savings on travelling

Friends who are spending their savings on additional training/additional degrees. Have none now but this will payback.

Friends who have been single mothers since teens, Friends who have no DC. Friends who been to university for 10+ yrs and friends who haven't been at all.

There's such a range. Everyone is different, everyone's priorities are different. Someone's savings at this stage has no real bearing on what their life is and what their life is going to be. Savings aren't really a marker of how successful your life is, and no one should compare or compete against their peers

I e never really had savings as such because I've threw everything at my mortgage. I could be mortgage free in three years then I will really start saving g

It’s not an amount as such, but when I got my first proper job after finishing education, my mum drummed into me that I always, always need to have 6 months salary in savings, and so I always have. As long as I’ve got that backup I can relax financially.

Depending on my job that 6 months savings has been a small amount or a large amount, but it’s always been a full 6 months worth of salary.

To answer your question, that’s what I think a 30 year old/any year old should have, ideally, as savings.

What anyone else has is not a concern for me.

Wealth, for most, consists of equity in their property, pensions for retirement and some savings you can get easy access to. Beyond that many will be building equity in a business if they started their own thing.

So how much someone has in 'savings' depends entirely on their own personal wealth strategy.

3-6 months net salary on hand is a good way to safeguard against being out of work though, gives time to get another job and still pay the bills.

I had sod all in savings at 30. Actually, minus sod all as I had about 6k credit card debt.

I had zero at age 30. However, I was nearly 10 years down on a mortgage in our 'forever' home, had 2 children and could afford to work part time.

It depends on what lifestyle you have, as well as your family etc. There is no 'right' amount

At 30 you should have saved enough to cover 6 months expenses as an emergency fund for major costs in life or the worst case of losing your job in a recession or other circumstance where the job market is poor. This will allow you to keep your home and pay your bills whilst searching for a new job.

You should have also paid into a pension through your 20s, maximising your employer contributions dependent on what they offer. So should be on your way to having a good nest egg for retirement or potentially early retirement.

Any other spare money overpaying mortgage if you have one or put into stocks and shares ISA

Agree with alwaysmovingforwards

At 30 me and DP had 50k in savings.

At 32 we now have no savings but have a house worth 500k with a mortgage of 250k. Mortgage will be paid off when I'm 60.
We have 2 stable jobs, no threat of redundancy and are ensured for every eventuality so if anything happened to our health, we would still be fine.
We both have good pensions we are paying into.
DH has turned his hobby into a good business with high value assets and machinery. This remains his hobby outside of his 9-5 job but has high income.
We have 2 DC aged 9 and 3.

Replace ‘savings’ with ‘pension’ and then we can talk

Depends completely on context. I’m mid-30s and have £100k but I’m renting so it’s all earmarked for a deposit. Most is inheritance from losing a parent as well so not saved as such. I would say I typically save around £250 a month but can sometimes be more.

The average age of a FTB is over 30 and has been for years.

This has got to be the most ridiculous question I have seen

Completely dependent on circumstances - highly paid 30 year old with no dependents and low cost lifestyle is likely to have far more than single parent at the exact same age.

In general, we aim to have 6 months salary in savings as back up for any unexpected changes but there has been times when we have depleted this for an investment - house purchase/renovations/new car. We work hard to build it back up immediately but we are in a fortunate financial position right now

The word ‘should’ makes no sense in this context.

IF a 30 yo has an income and after student loan, tax, rent and essentials has disposable income it would be sensible to save a meaningful amount of that.

Ideally a 30 yo would be approaching enough for a flat or house deposit, have started a pension and or an easy access / rainy day fund to cover job loss / maternity leave.

But ‘ideally’ depends on many factors and it simply won’t be possible for many.

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

Yes, most people need a phone in 2023. It can be four years old and fully paid off, or can be all fancy and new and costing you £50 a month.

you can get a haircut every three months for £40 or you can be the person who gets a full colour etc etc very few weeks for £300.

In three months the first person has just saved hundreds of pounds more than the second person. In many cases it’s partly personal choice, and the people moaning they don’t have any savings could often easily trim hundreds a month from their expenditure.

^Yes, most people need a phone in 2023. It can be four years old and fully paid off, or can be all fancy and new and costing you £50 a month.

you can get a haircut every three months for £40 or you can be the person who gets a full colour etc etc very few weeks for £300.

In three months the first person has just saved hundreds of pounds more than the second person. In many cases it’s partly personal choice, and the people moaning they don’t have any savings could often easily trim hundreds a month from their expenditure^

Add to that the difference in cost between taking a packed lunch and flask vs buying while out, how much your car costs, differences in clothes, grooming, holidays etc etc all adds up and could easily be £1k+ pm.

The low spenders can have perfectly decent lifestyles, present themselves appropriately for interviews (you can get a jacket and trousers from M&S for not much more than £50), have the necessary tech, etc etc on a lot less than someone who has expensive but not particularly outlandish versions of everything.

I had a baby when I was 18 so saving wasn't possible. Don't own a house either, I'm not worried. I have a secure tenancy (housing association) and have opportunity to start saving when I don't have to fund DS any more.

I’m 36 and recently applied for a bank account and mortgage. The bank did a sort of fact find/financial assessment and in their report put in that OH and I should have an “emergency” fund of £23k. Didn’t read the detail to see how they’d got there. It would take me 2 years to put half of that aside.

Ah, if only life was that straightforward 😂

I think the key thing is that nobody really cares much about the wealth of others.

If you spend to what you earn every month and have zero contingency.. that's your business.

If you live like a chipmunk and squirrel it all away for the future.. that's your business.

So long as we're happy with the choices we make to have the life we want, then all is good 😊

I would say it’s all relative to your fixed outgoings/ relationship status/ children/ stability of job/ do you have debt etc.

Im 30, married with 1 DS and have £3K in savings (3 months of outgoings). However my job is pretty stable as is my husbands and we have no commercial debt.

When we were in debt we followed Dave Ramseys principles and had £1K in savings to cover a basic emergency without having to go into debt and threw everything else at debt until we were debt free.

Really sick of these intrusive adverts causing this app and posts to mess up grrrrr.

If you want a finanically independent retirement, then use the 50:30:20 rule - 50% of income on house and household bills, 30% on expenses - leisure, clothes etc and 20% into savings and investments.

I never did this, do wish I had! Even putting 50% of earnings into savings and investment now can't save me 😬 yet I did invest 6-8% in pensions where I could (lots of self employment & moving employers for more money or experience).

Did you use this rule?

I would never have bought a property if I had listened to advice like that! It’s unrealistic for most people living in the real world.

Nothing! At 30 you shouldn't have anything unless in a great job because you've either spent it all on getting a mortgage or you've had a wonderful time in your 20s travelling, concerts, festivals, trips out, holidays and have memories instead