How much is reasonable to give

[BeatrizViter]

If you have a decent income, but no assets or savings, what do you consider a reasonable proportion of your disposable income to give away? By disposable- I mean after you have covered necessary expenses such as food, housing- but not nice extras such as gym, holidays, meals out etc.

Prompted by a situation of my own where some acquantainces are in a desperate situation through no fault of their own and have no recourse to help other than me (not in UK). Its not likely to end any time soon. I've given some money but feel very guilty that I'm not doing enough, so wondered what others would do.

If I had no savings I would be hesitant to give any money. Everything should have their own emergency funds. I may invite them over for a meal a little more often .

Without my own savings, very little

I'm not sure I'd be giving my money to acquaintances.

Close family or best friend, maybe.

Don’t give away money that you would otherwise put into savings or a pension. It’s not spare money. One day, through no fault or your own, you could find yourself in hard times and you will need that buffer. You’ve already helped by the sound of it.

Absolutely agree to the above advice

It's tricky because in the UK we pay a reasonable amount of tax to provide welfare provision for those who are in difficult circumstances.

So, it is different to being in a country where those are not in place and people who fall on hard times have to rely on the charity of other.

You say these are acquaintances - not friends. So this would make it less likely that I would give much.

But then you say they are in desperate circumstances through no fault of their own - so that means I might be moved to charity.

I would be asking myself would they do the same for me in similar circumstances - because reciprocity matters to me.

Finally - do they have children? This would make a difference to me.

I am more likely to give food if that's needed rather than money.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts. To clarify- they are not in the UK, I am and therefore I can't really offer any help except cash.

I suppose the other thing that comes into play for me is that I could sacrifice my disposable income for savings for than the fun things I generally do- in which case the question becomes should I go on holiday or have my hair done, or help a desperate family- when put like that I feel like a terrible person for thinking I shouldn't do more.

As much as you can afford to never get back as you probably never will

I would be judgemental- why are they so desperate and who else could help?

I'd rather support a charity than an individual unless I was very confident in the person I was bailing out

I’d be thinking about where my primary responsibility lay, which is to my children first and foremost, then to wider family and then friends. What makes you feel responsible for this family? Ongoing help is a huge commitment to make, especially if it means sacrifices for your own family. I might give a little one off help if they were close friends but wouldn’t commit to anything on a regular basis for many reasons.

What other supports - friends, family, support services - can they access because if you’re their only source of support they’ll pull you under with them.

Thanks everyone, its really interesting and helpful to hear others takes. They are in an low income country going through massive disruption so all their friends, extended family etc are going through similar circumstances and there is no social support network.