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 .

I’d take their bragging with a pinch of salt. I find it hard to believe wealthy high fliers even bother with MN at the times of day a lot of them post.

We now have plenty of money but we're old, downsized, retired. But when we were raising the children managed to save £40k for a house move. Then we were broke again.

It depends on your age in our case.

I agree!

I don’t even have a fiver in savings, no doubt there will be some rich people on here but take mumsnet uber rich with a pinch of salt, there’s been some bs in the past with people pretending to be rich, a poster years ago showed her very fancy rich person bedroom in some show me your bedroom thread or something, it turned out to be a hotel room picture from Google 😂

The thing is, you will never know if anyone is telling the truth, which is why these kinds of threads are pointless. If I said, I have £500,000 in savings, am I telling the truth? If I am, or if I am a total liar, and actually live in a tiny flat with 3 children and on UC, is mainly irrelevant, as nobody can verify either way.

Generally TAAT don’t work because there’s no context.

I don't think of it as being a great deal of money. Not because I have more, in fact I'm on UC so have bugger all. But in this day and age that amount realistically wouldn't last that long, especially in London. I'd be very happy to have it though.

Are people relying on cash savings in retirement though? People have pensions.

So judging by MN people should be able to afford at any given time a new roof, or a new car, or a new boiler or three, or a round the world cruise, or several Rolex watches. I’m not saying they want these things but they should be able to afford to buy one of them at any random time? And on top of that don't forget to replenish those savings back to the original amount.

Meanwhile back in the real world most of us are just trying to pay the bills.

How do they do that? If in their opinion £50k is not a lot and they have more than that's their opinion - it isn't fact it's just opinion. Should they not respond? It's hard isn't it as you run the risk of policing threads. It's a bit like the opposite ones where people who can't afford a holiday ask how can anyone afford a holiday - because we all have different incomes and priorities.

My DH's elderly aunt in very well off. She is a self made millionaire, with various stocks, shares, ISAs, full amount of Premium Bonds, a house worth several million. It's very much humbling knowing how hard she worked, and became wealthy through good business acumen, selling their garage in the 80s for a good profit, not spending any of that etc..

I think my parents are quite comfortable too,with my DF having a final salary pension, assets, and savings, Premium Bonds etc. I have tried my best to emulate their hard work and abilities to earn but unfortunately I don't possess the skills or business knowledge/brains to be as driven or successful. Life has been harder health-wise too which hasn't helped. (Concussions, and a movement disorder).

I'm not rich at all, very much the opposite in fact - so £50k sounds a huge amount! 😬😳🤔

I think it depends what people mean by savings. To have sitting in your fixed rate isa, yes it’s loads!

However if that is all the “savings” you have across your savings account, your pension and home equity then it’s not very much.

Unless you are very young…in which case it’s loads again!

The OP has completely missed the context of that thread/those comments. It was about a couple (nearing retirement I think) who wanted to give £10k each to their 2 children. This would leave them with 30k savings for their retirement before pension. 50k really is not so large that giving away almost half of it doesn't risk negative consequences

50k is healthy enough to live for a small family for a year.
Objectively, there would be a number of people who have more than 50k in savings, and there would be a much larger number of people who has less than 1k. It's not offensive or insensitive to express views coking from either group. I personally can't stand fake "we feel fortunate and grateful to have x" whatever that x is.

It's a life changing amount for many.

I see posts like that all the time, for instance, as if a £300/400 coat is not expensive, sort of humble bragging.

That is a huge amount of money. The people implying it’s not are either stupid or they are bragging.

50k is a lot of money for most people. Depends why they have it or what it’s for though. 10 years of saving for a house deposit it’s probably not great. Having 50k just for emergencies is amazing!

It's context bound OP. your other thread said you were retired (early 60s) with a pension income just over 2k combined between you, you have 50k in savings and were giving away 40% of it. People were saying that's a lot to give of what you have, in that 50k to last another 30 years isn't much, especially as if your DH dies first you have limited income

I’d love to have £50k. Some people are just oblivious to how wealthy they are.

however @Ginandbitterlemons

i saw your earlier comment about your life/home/work and it sounds ideal but my only question would be in regards to your savings is your home secure in terms of your jobs? In other words it’s not “tied to employment” in which case you may need more savings later (financially realistically) but if your home is your own then you’ll probably be okay.

The thing is everyone is comparing with different baseline.

For example I am in my 20s and earn £50k, it’s not that much money and I wouldn’t say my lifestyle is that great. Yeah I’m not claiming benefits but equally I’m not going to buy a house anytime soon given my yearly bills are probably £25k at least.

Secondly, I suffered from horrendous treatment at my last job where I could have successfully pursued an employment tribunal, I was on a similar salary so just say I could have had a £50k payout. I didn’t feel it was worth the impact to my health or the legal costs to pursue that amount of money, the strings involved were not worth my energy.

Finally, when I was growing up my mum was on £50k, my dad earned more and my mum’s salary grew as she was promoted. So I guess £50k as a figure is something I’m somewhat desensitised to. It’s a lot of money but it’s also not life changing in 2025.

Other people will have different perspectives based on their own experiences.

That’s crazy, my dh and I live on joint income of £35k per year (no mortgage) and we manage very well.

Ha, we have about £5k in savings and I think that’s plenty!
Cost of living means we cannot afford to top it up all that much, but we get by!

I've got investments and shares - I have a stocks and shares isa and put in £50 a month and my work also runs a share save scheme where they take £25 a month from my salary and put it in shares. You don't need loads of money for stocks and shares but you do need to be happy leaving it alone for 5 years.

I have about £9 in my current account until the 5th Nov. So I also think £50K savings is a lot of money.