to think most people don't have savings?

[horseyhorsey17]

I realise this is going to get a whole range of different views and experiences and I am interested to hear them all, but I recently read some research saying that most families in the UK have less than £600 in savings. This got me wondering - I am a single mum with two teens and a mortgage, and I don't have savings as such but I do have a private pension (had it for nearly 20 years now) that I pay roughly 5% of my salary into (as well as a work pension) and I overpay on my mortgage. I consider this a more effective use of my money than saving, which I can't afford to do as well. Do most people have pensions AND savings? Or neither?

Just really curious as I spend my salary every single month and all my friends do the same. That might be just my peer group! I suppose I could save if we never went on holiday - but I'd rather have the holidays tbh. You only live once and you can't take it with you, etc etc.

You just get the bank details for the overpayment, make sure you put in the correct reference, which is normally your mortgage account number, then make the overpayment as a bank transfer, much easier and quicker. The amount you can overpay depends on your mortgage terms, if you're in a fixed-rate period you can usually only overpay up to 10% but check your terms.

Also Gen X but older end.

Both DH and I had quite decent careers, he is still working I have retired at 55, he is younger so can’t draw pension just yet. We bought at the right time in 1999 in a slightly grim so very cheap area that has become gentrified as people push out further from nearest city and London. We have been together for close to 30 years, defined benefits pensions but mainly it’s all those shared expenses. We met working at the same University as junior staff.

Also made some investments that did really well in the early 2000’s, paid off our mortgage in 2008 due to investment performance. We have had holidays overseas every year apart from about 4.

Lots of my friends have retired early, we are the fourth couple who will be retired by 60. All very long relationships and professional salaries. So I know they have all done well, one just bought a house outright for 800k without finishing the sale on her current home. Of the six other people, three got huge redundancy payouts in 2021.

@Carebearstare12e exactly definitely some virtue signallers, I think.

This is how people get into debt. What happens if you put something on credit card then get made redundant the following month

But some people will decide it's worth the risk. Sometimes the risk of redundancy is so low, or loss of income due to illness, it's not worth worrying about. Sometimes it's the only way someone will ever get a holiday.

But everyone manages their money differently and it's a combination of what comes in and how it's spent and saved that makes a difference.

Spending every penny you earn vs always saving something
Saving up and earning interest vs borrowing and paying interest
Shopping around to get the best price vs just buying as you need things from the first place you see
Spending a lot of money on day to day bits and pieces or not doing this

Even with very similar incomes and essential expenditure, people at each end of the above scales can have differences of hundreds of pounds a month or more on what they actually save. And if they manage to put money aside and not touch it, it will add up to thousands of pounds a year, or tens of thousands of pounds a decade.

and exaggeration/fabrication*

I don't know why I ever open threads like this because I already knew it would be stuffed with posts saying " I'm 33 and can't sleep at night unless I know I have £200k in my savings account."
Honestly, some people I know probably have some savings. Knowing what they earn I doubt it's more than 20 k or so.
I have anything between a few k and a few hundred depending on how profligate I have been/ what has broken down.
I take my kids on holiday most years (thanks 0% purchase card) because one day it will be too late to do that and I want a life before I'm dead.
I know I will work until I am really old, and I'm happy with that. I saw how retiring at 60 shrank my mums life and I want to remain active.
I am, however, insured up the wazoo for all eventualities, so hopefully I won't end up a bag lady.

Yes i strongly suspect there are many who make up everything they post

Ha! Yes lots of fantasists, but I think also lots of highly cautious and very straightlaced people, which is odd because mn used to have some really fun characters.

There’s an extraordinary number of six figure earners on MN. And somehow they find time to post extensively throughout the day … 🤔

Hayley0203 · Today 15:35

People overpaying on their mortgages - may I ask how you do it (if you do it regularly)? I did it last month and spent about an hour on the phone explaining what I intended to do and how much. When I said I wanted to pay an extra £5k the lady on the phone snorted and said "Oh! Oh well that's no problem then, you're nowhere near your limit for the year!" I felt really embarrassed...is that super low?!

Can't imagine putting myself through that every few weeks (not that I have 5k lying around every few weeks but you know what I mean).

I don't know if the same in UK but in the US you can make your payments every two weeks for 1/2 the amount of the mortgage, doing it this way you make an extra (monthly) payment each year and as interest is generally calculated daily, you get the principal amount down quickly without really feeling a pinch. Depending on length of mortgage/rate/etc it generally knocks about 1/4 to 1/3 off the total interest paid to the bank. The mechanics of extra payments, in the UK I use the on-line banking and just make an extra payment per month with a note of "extra principal payment" and the balance is going down fast (but within the allowance for early repayment that I'm contractually obligated to meet).

I STARTED the damn thread and I knew it would be like that!

Starting to suspect the majority of people on MN are either trust fund babes or has had some serious help from the bank of mum and dad along the way. Although maybe these threads just draw out the more conscientious types and the ones who feel no guilt about using a credit card (again, nearly everyone I know) just avoid threads like this like the plague!

I save for everything, the rainy day pot has enough to pay mortgage , bills and essentials for a year. I save for holidays,clothes etc...
We also have pensions and investments.
Financial security gives us peace of mind and to us that is invaluable. To achieve all this we downsized Christmases and holidays for quite a few years,we still drive a car that is 20 years old (which thankfully is Ulez compliant and still going!).

Was that the Lloyds nunbers? Because they are quite different to UK numbers and that 600 sounds like the former

@BIossomtoes · Today 16:26

"There’s an extraordinary number of six figure earners on MN. And somehow they find time to post extensively throughout the day … 🤔"

Haha yes, they're obviously from old money 😂

Or nepo babies*

We have savings. TBH we have a lot of savings. I’m pretty sure most of my close friends also have decent savings but we are in our 50s, mortgage free etc.

I think we should all know to never talk about money, food/drink or cleaning anything on here, lest it bring out the extreme views on all of these.

I was definitely thinking that yesterday when someone asked if people normally drunk more alcohol on holiday than they did at home and amongst all the people who said that yes they did, there was the predictable 'why would you need alcohol to enjoy your holiday' or 'I have one small glass of wine with dinner on a couple of nights, no-one needs any more than that' type comments that people can't resist posting.

You sound a bit like me!

I also have a very secure job with a good pension - deliberately did this because I know I’m not good at “optional” saving and a pension deducted at source, with employer contributions, makes me think I’ve never had that money.

I have savings funds for the kids for Uni/ post 18 too.

I have always had budgeting pots for Christmas, insurances and big one-off purchases. I’ve done that whatever my income even as a student. We had a period where we were obsessed with pension savings and think we overdid it at the expense of the here and now. Im now in a mindset of life is for living and we’ve dropped our pension contributions down to make it easier to do nicer holidays. Probably not a financially wise decision but one I’m happy with and it feels like a better balanced life.

We’ve also become a bit more relaxed about credit. We’ve moved from saving in advance for something to actively looking for interest free deals. Have also slowly (not quite there yet) become more chilled about mortgage debt given that it’s being inflated away and we’re on a low interest deal for the next decade.

@HideTheCroissants · Today 16:34

We have savings. TBH we have a lot of savings. I’m pretty sure most of my close friends also have decent savings but we are in our 50s, mortgage free etc.

I admire your comment, alot of people in their 50's and 60s forget the 'but.' Thank you for being real.

Yes that's what I was getting at. The extremes. And I'm sure some people just like to be contrary.

The number of poster's who claim to have never even heard of someone doing something mundane but different to them, is astonishing. "You only wash your sheets once a week? I've never heard of anyone not washing their sheets every other day".

A stand-out a few months back was a poster who had supposedly never heard of the idea that adults sometimes give adults money in their birthday or Christmas cards. And decided it was 'immature and pathetic'.

And don't get me started on the poster's who were seemingly poleaxed by hearing some people put butter on their crackers before adding the cheese 😂

All these higher-educated, high-earning, well-travelled, middle class, sophisticated and stylish women (that is said by some to be the MN demographic) seem quite sheltered and lacking in life experience sometimes.

Thinking about it I do know a few (vey middle class) couples, in their late 40s who I know earn quite well (uni lecturers and the like) but have had their house for 20years, go on camping holidays and are always mentioning how expensive things are...I think they are the type of people posting here- they think they are broke when their current account dips below 5 k..and most of their money goes into investments and savings pots.
Whereas I think I just have a deeply embedded working class mindset and I don't think I'm broke until I'm standing in Cash Converters with a box of old phones 😂

God Barbara don't mention washing sheets, red rag to a bull!

Personally, I really love financial posts, so am drawn to these threads. I can confirm that:

1. I am not a nepo baby
2. Have never had a trust fund
3. Have never been given sums of money from the bank of mum & dad, or anyone else!

I've just always grown up with a savings mentality, no idea why as my siblings are the opposite. Also, lucky that my husband and I are the same when it comes to savings and being financially responsible etc.

I promise I'm not one of the people who make shit up for entertainment and I'm not exaggerating!

There are people of all types in life, some are like me, some are like you, we're all different!

I was booted out of home at 18 and experienced my 20s full of debt as I tried to keep my head above water as a single girl working in journalism (shit pay) in London with no safety net if it all went tit-up - so the idea of actually saving is something that's only been possible since my 30s. I didn't think I'd ever own my own house so am still quite chuffed with myself that I do. I also thought all this was normal - seems not!