To think it’s very bleak to be saving this and getting absolutely nowhere? What’s the point?

[Wehah]

I don’t know if I’m being overly sensitive as I am a single parent (with maintenance as people seem to ask that on here!). But I can’t ever seem to get ahead financially. I have been fortunate to save 1,500 a month for the last year or so. I thought this was going to be great as it would get a good savings buffer going and me and dd could even go abroad perhaps and I could start to add to her savings too. I was looking forward to having 10k in the bank as a safety net and then a little extra to save elsewhere.

But no… what’s actually happened is 3k on a boiler… I know that’s more like a one off cost but it doesn’t stop there. I needed two trees removed which cost 1k, I had a huge energy bill from December which has wiped out 400 of this months savings already. I had to pay for extensive dental treatment with a root canal as I couldn’t get it on the nhs. Then finally I had to pay over 90 more for car insurance (no explanation as to why and despite calling round many many many places to get it cheaper).

The reality is that I am getting nowhere with savings. It will take me forever to save won’t it? What’s actually the point? I will never be able to save more than 1,500 which to be honest I thought was a huge amount! But perhaps I am very wrong about this. How do people get financially secure? I’m nearly 40 now and can’t actually believe I have this much money to set aside and it’s going nowhere. I just want to give up and the future feels so uncertain.

Your savings is s contingency fund: it’s very much needed. It might be one year is quiet and you can use the money for something else.
You can get some extra qualifications and earn more money that way?

@Hello2025helloworld
interested to know what you are invested in and how you made the decision to buy those products?

It's RBS/natwest "adventurous investor" fund, in an ISA wrapper. Has performed really well over past 18 months, much better than standard savings account. Of course, past performance no guarantee of future performance!

You should feel really proud that you could take the hit on all those unexpected one off costs, well done.

In my house, at least some of those would have had to go on a credit card. Rather boringly, savings are often for the shit stuff. Your saving have done their job and kept you out of debt.

Don’t give up, you’re doing things right.

You’re missing the point. If OP was just venting about unexpected costs arising, people would have sympathy.

But it’s the whinging and self-pitying along with the assertion that everyone else manages to save £1500 a month (and presumably nobody else ever needs a new boiler or root canal treatment) and she’s the only person who can’t manage to save £18K a year, that gets people’s backs up. It’s pure victim mentality, when in actual fact she’s more financially secure than the vast majority of the working population given that she can save 7.5 times the average.

No, they don't have it hard, but their money doesn't go as far as it did 5, 6 years ago and it takes time for that to sink in.

How much in debt would you be if you didn't save ?

Stuff like the boiler is an investment which should last you 10-20 years.

Thanks for giving my head a wobble!

i absolutely know it’s not a small amount to save 1,500 but that was really my point. It feels hopeless than even doing that doesn’t get you security. That was more my point. I thought I would be feeling really secure and calm about the future but I’m not. I know it’s not nothing though.

I'm sorry but are you for real?

You own a property.

You manage to save £1500 a month.

You've managed to pay a bunch of big bills from said savings no problem. You can now continue to put away £1500 a month.

You want to save for a 'buffer' so you can continue to pay your mortgage without working??

How is it that you can't afford to go on holiday?

You are financially secure by any metric - you have truly disposable income (savings) over and above your necessities. Yes sometimes stuff comes up you need to pay for and yes sometimes your necessities will get more expensive (insurance has gone up for everyone). Yet you can easily cover those those things. I don’t understand why that doesn’t provide the “comfort” you talk about? And there’s no reason why you can’t go on holiday - pay for it monthly if you don’t want to pay all upfront. Life is too damn short for you to have this level of anxiety over having more disposable income than many earn each month.

I can't save that much a month, so you're doing well, and yes I get fed up of how quick even seemingly little things eat into savings. I am not talking about holidays, just general boring stuff like a new washer for example.

Grateful always to have savings, and to be able to use them, I just think the problem is everything is so expensive now that savings soon disappear when you have a couple of things to pay out for - and often not nice things - just boring house stuff. It can feel a bit 'what is the point' when all you have to show for the dip in savings is a boring household item. But as others have pointed out, at least you had the money to fall back on and didn't have to panic as to how you were going to pay for your boiler. So savings are always a good thing, even if they end up being spent on 'grown up' stuff.

If you set yourself the target that to be financially secure you need to go from £0 to £60k in the bank, you're always going to feel like that is too far to reach.

Targets need to be achievable in stages.

1. Have £1,000 in the bank. (Sounds like you are here already)
2. Have 3 x monthly salary in the bank
3. Have 6 x monthly salary in the bank

Or which ever milestones work for you.

If you want a holiday with DD you need to factor that in.

• Once I've got 3x monthly salary in the bank, future savings go into the holiday fund to £2,000 then back to the next target.

Yes, you will have unexpected bills that come up - being able to pay them from this fund is financial security. I don't think you understand how many people live pay cheque to pay cheque and would be in significant debt if faced with the costs you've incurred.

Not having to use to debt for these costs is being financially secure.

Well going by your extra spends you have still managed to save some money. £1500 a month is a huge amount to have spare, I don't understand what you are worried about
Yes, so of it will need to be used for emergencies but you are still saving some

I think that you are

a) being very defeatist, and
b) are too focussed on instant gratification

I also think you need to reconsider your definition of financial security. Saving up enough money to have a couple of years paying the mortgage whilst not working isn't financial security. Because at the end of it you will have no savings and no job - basically, financial insecurity.

I would have thought overpaying your mortgage would be a better way to go, with a view of being able to reduce your working hours without reducing your lifestyle once it's paid off. It won't be instant gratification though. It will take time.

And you ARE secure!

You do realise that's more than many people have to live on?

You are in a very fortunate position.

I don't think you have a good grasp on how money works.

I think I just wanted enough to pay my mortgage for a few years without working, so I wanted 60k in the bank ideally.

OP ... come the eff on. This is nice and everything, but hardly anyone can afford this. You are financially secure – you've achieved that. Some years will be worse than others for unseen expenditure. That's life.

How would you feel if you allocated your savings jobs . I used to have one pot and I got upset of I had to spend any .

So I now have holiday fund and house fund and it's ok to spend from those .

But I also have a much smaller amount ( £150) a month I put away that is not to be touched unless I lose my job . I ve been putting some money away since 2016 although I think I started at £50 a month - I have 11k in there now . That's not 60k but still a short term nest egg

I save £150 a month for emergencies and felt quite pleased I have got up to £2000. I am awaiting the big expense, I'm sure any minute now !! But at least I'll have something to contribute.
I'd love to be in your position. Bet you've got decent pension too ! 🥴

You could put £25 (or more if you want) of your £1500 per month into a unit trust or something that you cannot access until it matures in 20 years. Then you have savings for emergencies, and a lump sum as you get towards retirement.

Won't solve your feelings of security now, but will help in future. You have to watch when you cash them in though - the can go down as well as up (and also depend on how good the fund management is), but overall the return is usually way better than standard savings.

Your bank will probably give you investment advice for free, so it's worth contacting them for help too.

lots Of people are in the same boat. Cost of living increases and emergency funds needed, it’s a cycle of never getting ahead. Lots of people feel the same way.

I understand completely how you feel about managing to save so much, and feeling secure, if only for a short while. Pre Covid, Pre Supply Issues, Pre Shortages and then the dastardly COL crisis, many of us could save a decent amount, and it felt so good, such a nice secure feeling, and it motivated us to do even better, make the little sacrifices that would allow for more savings.

All that is off the table now, for many of us, if not the majority,
All the BS that's being thrown as us now, the frightening amount of money one should have 'in the bank' for the future, for when things go wrong, is quite frankly, not only sobering but very concerning.

Best of luck OP, hopefully the bigger expenses you've had will ease up for a bit, and allow you to reach your comfort zone once more, but to get ahead and stay ahead will be very difficult.

Fuckin hell, £1.5k a month and moaning. You’re just deliberately winding people up now.

Saving 1500£ a month. I feel so sorry for you. Lol.