Should I be worried about my savings?

[Sosomuchpain]

or lack thereof

We’ve got 20k between us. I don’t know, it hit me today that some people might consider that incredibly low. Is it? Should I be putting my sole focus into building back up my savings.

2 adults 2 children (one nursery- 15 hrs)

atm it’s a moderate focus. Spare cash goes towards travel and savings

from my old financial advise days it was around 6 months living expenses in savings which I think that is. Am I flapping over nothing?

(we just shelled out 40k for our htb and 20k for a new car)

HTB?

Depends what your outgoings are? I would feel comfortable with a year expenses as savings, some people say 6 months, but I feel like a year should be enough should you and/or your partner lose your jobs.

Well when you consider a quarter of UK adults have less than £100 in savings I would say you are doing. 🙄
Some people don’t even have spare cash at the end of the month

Some people may consider that low, many would think it's a fortune, OP.

Doing ok*

Help to buy equity loan, 20% of the cash value of the property

Most people don't have any. You are ok

I don’t think that’s true,

ive seen different figures, that the average is 11k or 17k and as a PP said about a 1/4 have basically none

You be fine, just build it up again.

Around 3k (if we kept the youngest in FT nursery, which would be a questionable decision if one of us lost our jobs).

so we’ve got about 6 months, but tbh rather than go into savings one of us would just take any job.

we could just avoir manage As is on one wage (more so on dh than mine as he earns about £200 more a month)

I would say you are ok then but if you feel comfortable build it up to £30k, there are good rates on easy access savings at the moment too.

It really is true

I absolutely hate these baity posts in the middle of a cost of living crisis.

Spending £20k on a car that depreciates in value seems absolute madness to me if you're concerned about your savings.

General advice is to have 6 months of living expenses accessible in case of job loss, illness etc.

Me too.

It’s not a baity post, people from all walks of life do worry about money

There's always an increase before an election. Bots commenting that it's not so bad because... savings, add in it not being true that very few have no savings therefore we must all be living the high life - job done.

It was a necessary purchase as our other car was no longer fit for purpose.

the car itself was 18k, but then with like extras and warranty it was the best part of 20k. It’s not a fancy car and is 5 years old and the cheapest that met our needs, one that can fit 3 people in the back with 2 car seats.

What is your point OP?

Just here to show off are you and make others feel bad ? I think that is a very good amount of savings. I also think it's odd you spent £20,000 on a car (and then came on here complaining you had less savings)

Honestly, zero sympathy from me.

Could you link an article please, as I’ve only seen sources say 25% (obviously that’s not great either)

Didn’t ask for sympathy.

asked should I be worried

This, from www.money.co.uk/savings-accounts/savings-statistics
, suggests that a third have under £1K and two thirds have less than they need to survive for three months:

You’re asking how long your piece of string should be …. so this is a meaningless question.

It’s not for anyone to say if you should be worrying or not. Without knowing what you and your husband do for a living (clearly not used cars salesmen), risk factors etc, how on earth would anyone else be able to advise on YOUR comfort level?!

I think a 6 month buffer would be a good idea for most couples if it’s unlikely you’d both be jobless at the same time

I’d say in general if you are spending enough less on a month to month basis to be able to save up for annual expenses and put something in long term savings you are fine 🤷🏼‍♀️