What do you count as savings?

[SandyBoffFace]

Was reading another thread about how much do you save a month.

It made me wonder what we all count as savings
Does a private pension count?
Do savings for your DC count?

Or is it just money that you put aside that you can access as needed in the course of your working life?

For me it would be anything I manage to not spend from one month to the next, which for me is practically nothing (despite my good income). My outgoings are very high.

I'd only count money saved aside that I can access when needed

I wouldn’t count the children’s savings or our pensions as our savings, no.

I have long term and short term savings. Money I'll need within a year and then investments for things in 5+ years.

A pension is savings but I have no idea how much my pension is worth (LGPS) so see that as retirement income rather than savings.

I would count accessible money - in my name, and either instantly accessible or fairly quickly. So my work share save scheme for example - still accessible.

Therefore, I wouldn’t count my pension.

I save very little in my children’s names as I don’t want them to have access at what I deem to be a bad time, and I want the flexibility to take it back if I hit hard times. I wouldn’t count money I couldn’t access - CTF/JISA.

But this is all in my own head, I don’t tell other people my business.

I currently have an emergency fund (200) a car fund for tax and insurance (700) and house savings (50k) I would consider all of those savings and my pension/shares at work

A pension is a pension, not savings.
DC savings are not yours so no, would not include them either. I know some people do not see a problem "borrowing" from them occasionally but at the end of the day it is not your money.
Likewise, equity in your house is not savings.

Now I am well into my 50s I count pension AVCs as savings as it wont be long before I can draw down on them. When I was younger I didnt. My other pensions I see as future income not savings.

Teen Ds's savings are in his name and I dont count because i see them as his now and wouldnt access them.

So my pension, shares, premium bonds and savings account are all seen as savings. But I never had this much savings and as many savings products until well into my 40s and also when I joined my current company with a share save scheme.

Interesting... We have pensions but don't think of them as savings

We have a savings pot for insurance/car service/washing machine breakdown etc and another separate savings account for a specific house renovation project. There's another that's for DC but in our names, I don't really count any of them as savings because I've already spent them in my head.

I have one savings account which has no purpose other than for a rainy day... But I don't prioritise it so it feels like I don't save a lot!

Again, I had AVC's but never included them as "savings" as there are restrictions on when & how they can be taken but now I have started to draw my pension (and opted to use my AVC's to increase my lump sum) they are now "savings". My other pension however I disregard completely as I don't intend touching it for several years yet (not until I am over 60).
Also had Sharesave but only counted my actual contributions as "savings" as any gain was only realised on maturity.
Likewise my stock holdings. I don't actually include the current value as "savings" as they can be volatile, I just think of them as an extra pot/income stream.
PB's, NS&I bonds, ISA's, savings accounts etc however are, as you say, "savings".

I personally don’t count things like pension or savings for the kids as that is money they can’t be touched.
I also don’t count savings which are for things. So car repairs pot, savings for Christmas, holiday etc as these are short term savings with the view to be spent.

Literally, money in a savings account

I have £1k in easy access (.was more but I recently bought a car) and £5k in premium bonds. The premium bonds are not to be touched unless I'm in dire, dire straights

I don't count dc's savings as they can't/shouldn't be used by us anyway.

I don't count pensions because they're not really savings, more like an income protection plan for after retirement.

I also don't count pots as savings. I have monzo pots for everything from bills to holidays to xmas/birthdays but they're just budgeting tools to spread the cost of normal everyday life.

Our savings is the balance in the savings account that's not assigned to a specific thing and also my work sharesave that's 3/5 years complete. We have ideas of what we'll do with this money but it's open to change and nor pinned down to anything yet.

Whatever I can access if it's needed. There's not a huge amount in any event, but enough in one account to cover small emergencies, and another for more frivolous spending if there's not enough in the current account. Pensions don't count, no.

Things I DONT count as savings -

1. Money accumulating monthly in holiday pot
2. money accumulating monthly in kids clubs and activities pot
3. money accumulating monthly in gifts and celebrations pot
4. monthly payments into car MOT service pot
5. Monthly payments into home and garden repairs pot
6. monthly payments into kids sundry pot

things I DO count as savings

1. savings account growing monthly by 250 and never to be touched
2. emergency rainy day instant access account growing monthly by 100 never to be touched unless something breaks and goes beyond monthly capacities
3. Kids Vanguard Index tracker growing by 100 a month never touched
4. Grandparents 1k a year for each kid in fixed bonds for University never even looked at ever since they were born and thus started
5. Pensions 10% with 21% employer match
6. Mortgage overpayments and resulting equity in house