To be shocked that 50k in savings is seen as ‘ not much in savings’ - maybe on mumsnet - but think about how people are struggling to put food on the table.

[Ginandbitterlemons]

I posted about our savings of £50 k for a specific reason , and was asking advice .

A number of mums netters appeared to mention that that was not a great deal of money.

Now- its not a question of me being offended by such responses- but it has hugely struck home to me just how much society is divided.

There are people who consider this hardly anything - yet I am aware that so many sections of society would be glad to have this , or any, savings at all .

Am not sad for me that I have this ‘ insignificant ‘ amount of savings- but I am aghast that some people do not seem aware that its something than actually may be out of reach for many ,and how such comments may sound to those folk .

I was aware that mumsnet can be elitist- but for goodness sake- there are people really struggling out there.

I am not expressing this very well , but how do people think it sounds to others who are living day to day hand to mouth?
Its been really thought provoking- and made me both aware of what I do have , what my values are , and to up my donations to the local food bank.

Hope I don’t get slated for this - its just really made me think about the wealth divide .

A lot of posters on here don't seem to understand having literally nothing.

"Just use some savings"
"Just use your credit card"
"Just take in a bit of ironing"

It's a different world sometimes.

If I say I have £20 left that means I literally have £20. No option for credit and no time or money to set up a small business and advertise either.

I do think a lot of it is people lying though. Nobody is that out of touch to think £50k isn't much..... surely.

Mumsnet is full of Walter Mitty characters and always has been.

I don't automatically believe anything I read on the internet anyway, but it's so much easier for people to lie on a forum that allows name changing.

I wouldn't give it another thought OP.

I understand what you’re saying but I would also say if you’re the kind of person who for whatever reason is fortunate to have 50k in savings, you’re also going to be the kind of person that is going to have to spend that money sharpish if needs be. My bills before anyone has eaten or gone anywhere are 2.5k a month so 50k wouldn’t actually last me that long if there was no money coming in. And I imagine a lot of people would be in a similar situation to me, with or without 50k savings.

So yes it’s better to have 50k in the bank than not but it’s not actually that much of a buffer if something terrible happens. And that’s shit for everyone really, how hard it is to be financially secure and how much money you’d really need to have options and choices available to you.

I guess it depends what your thread was. It’s not a lot if you were posting that you were buying a house that needs absolutely shedloads of work, for example, because you’d run through that fairly quickly.

JDM625 · Today 17:09

What response do you want from this thread OP? Should everyone with more savings/earns a bigger wage than you, pretend they don't because others in the country or on MN don't earn the same?

What I want is to highlight the fact that many people have struggles getting by - And for people who are wealthy and/ or privileged to be aware of that and perhaps give some recognition regarding the reality of the life of many . To have some sensitivity.

Exactly. A lot of folk dont have a penny in savings and are in debt as well.

£50k is a lot in savings. Anyone who says otherwise is bragging. An emergency fund is generally seen as 6 months outgoings so £50k presumably is way over that. Lots don’t have that even so yes it is insensitive and providing you have a pension and a home plus your savings you are doing well.

You are right. Tax bill savings, mortgage overpayments and general savings are all a very movable feast for me as a self employed artist. Need to VAT register in the next few months, will have to make a huge effort to ring fence VAT money 😬

People being told to not feel a certain way because other people have it worse only breeds resentment. Many of us who are on these very low incomes with little to no savings are on benefits; we don't need to deal with any more resentment from people.

llYoursBabooshkaBabooshkaBabooshkaYaYa · Today 17:13

A lot of posters on here don't seem to understand having literally nothing.
"Just use some savings"
"Just use your credit card"
"Just take in a bit of ironing"
It's a different world sometimes.
If I say I have £20 left that means I literally have £20. No option for credit and no time or money to set up a small business and advertise either.
I do think a lot of it is people lying though. Nobody is that out of touch to think £50k isn't much..... surely.
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SomethingFun · Today 17:14

I understand what you’re saying but I would also say if you’re the kind of person who for whatever reason is fortunate to have 50k in savings, you’re also going to be the kind of person that is going to have to spend that money sharpish if needs be. My bills before anyone has eaten or gone anywhere are 2.5k a month so 50k wouldn’t actually last me that long if there was no money coming in. And I imagine a lot of people would be in a similar situation to me, with or without 50k savings.
So yes it’s better to have 50k in the bank than not but it’s not actually that much of a buffer if something terrible happens. And that’s shit for everyone really, how hard it is to be financially secure and how much money you’d really need to have options and choices available to you.
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OptiMumm · Today 17:14

Mumsnet is full of Walter Mitty characters and always has been.
I don't automatically believe anything I read on the internet anyway, but it's so much easier for people to lie on a forum that allows name changing.
I wouldn't give it another thought OP.
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ShesTheAlbatross · Today 17:14

I guess it depends what your thread was. It’s not a lot if you were posting that you were buying a house that needs absolutely shedloads of work, for example, because you’d run through that fairly quickly.
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Ginandbitterlemons · Today 17:14
JDM625 · Today 17:09
What response do you want from this thread OP? Should everyone with more savings/earns a bigger wage than you, pretend they don't because others in the country or on MN don't earn the same?
What I want is to highlight the fact that many people have struggles getting by - And for people who are wealthy and/ or privileged to be aware of that and perhaps give some recognition regarding the reality of the life of many . To have some sensitivity.

Oops
I just meant to send the copy of the post by llYoursBabooshkaBabooshkaBabooshkaYaYa.
I agree .

But 50k for a couple in their 60s is only 25k each, so represents about 625£ a year saved over the last 40 years of working life. Or £312 each a year.
I can’t be alone thinking this is a very small amount for the stage in life you are at.
£50k would buy a new roof, a new car,, a new boiler a rewire of the house and a takeaway
It really isn’t much for relying on in retirement.

I know the child care years are expensive, but surely you managed to save more than £300 each a year

My husband and I are in our 50s and don’t have a penny in savings! We do have a decent ish pension when we retire and we will be mortgage free by then so may sell and downsize to free up money. On the outside looking in we have a decent wage between us and take nice holidays so I think people would be surprised we have no savings and if boiler broke it would be a credit card job to get it fixed. We have 2 children at university in the next few years so I don’t see it getting any better. It doesn’t worry me though - we get by fine without savings. When I read on here of those with their hundreds of thousands in savings I often imagine those people on a whole different standard of living to me and that’s just life.

I think posters were more surprised you were giving 20k away to dc which imo is absolutely fine but some obviously though you should keep it for yourself!

It depends on that person’s circumstances. I have a little more than that in savings and pensions, but I’m single, 50 and privately rent (for now). So I could understand if I were to post about it that some people would say £50k isn’t much, because in my circumstances it isn’t.

Op this is the internet, not all on here are as they seem!!! Do not believe every post where op says they earn 150k etc. re: your post on 50k savings, there will always be people on here who can’t wait to brag on how much they have compared to the op, and those who are lying anyway. I’ve learned to take a lot of mumsnet posts and comments with a pinch of salt. Ignore OP

You assume that they never had any need to touch their savings over their life time.

Oh it was that thread. Yes I’d probably agree that £50k is not loads in the sense that if someone told me they were giving £20k away to adult children, I’d assume they had a bigger pot to give from. Not because of the actual amounts, but because 40% of your savings is a lot to give away.

Thats ridiculous, 50k is TWO YEARS of monthly expenses for me. And I live in the expensive south east. And I rent!

Of course its a lot of money

You've really misrepresented the other thread, OP. You were talking about giving away £10k of your life savings of £50k, as a retired person, and people were very reasonably pointing out that that is quite a large proportion of savings that you need to rely on. They weren't saying that they consider £50k a small sum, they were giving you sensible advice.

Your post was about someone close to retirement planing to give away nearly half of their £50k life savings.

In that context £50k is not a lot. Of course it's a lot to many, especially at a different life stage but it's not enough to be making grand gestures as you approach retirement, imo.

50k is not a huge amount, especially if you’re giving away 2/5ths of it.

JHound
you are correct! !!! We have used some up -
we have helped both dc move to first rental and bought them furniture .
we have helped them travel .
we have just paid cash for a new boiler and a 4k car.
we went abroad for a month in the camper van last year .
we are both together getting over 2k a month work pension and are still working pt.
we moved house to the seaside and have no mortgage for the last 8 years as used lump sum and savings to pay it off

we both work in our local community maintaining it - which is socially contributing to the life of the village and we get paid .
We do not aspire to retirement atm - as we both think being active is good.
Yes - we could have saved more in our younger years , but we travelled , dd had a pony( killled us !) , ds had his much loved sport he still plays in his late 20s-

the poster was making assumptions I guess .

Yes the majority of people have nothing like that on savings - for a mixture of reasons from not enough income to being reckless spenders , with sky high mortgages somewhere in the middle of that.

however if you do have money coming in , then aiming for savings of that sort of level is possibly sensible and will protect you from a lot of life’s shit moments

the thread I think you are referring to was a woman being criticised by her mother for prioritising savings over spending when the OP was happy to not spend on things she wasn’t that bothered by

just because some people have no savings doesn’t mean we should all aspire to that . It doesn’t mean we should all spend every penny we get in - that keeps you trapped.

instead we should be aware of what a reasonable amount of savings for a particular life stage might be ( you need most just before you retire , you will have least just after buying your first house for example )

and fight for everyone to be able to access decent paid work and affordable housing to make that possible

and until that happens keep up with the charity and food bank donations

If this is about the thread where the OP was talking about giving her adult children £20k out of her £50k life savings, I didn’t comment but I think leaving yourself with £30k life savings is obviously more than many people have, but less than a lot of people would hope to have approaching retirement.