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 .

But it’s not that simple, is it? I have always been a big saver - save quite a big portion of my salary every month. But ever since I started working and saving, I have always had big expenses that are a part of life - buying a flat, getting married, moving countries, buying a property with husband, becoming a lone parent and having to save to start all over again alone and buy a house, house renovations, unexpected private medical costs, etc.

i was able to do all of the above because I had savings - but now don’t really have much saved because of that.

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.

Someone who doesn't even have £50 in savings would find you and your £50,000 savings very privileged and wonder why you were posting for advice and think you should have more sensitivity.

@shuggles as mentioned above, for self employed people, pensions and savings are not always neatly seperated!

It's ok if they've been ploughing it into a pension, which can be a better return on investment than savings.

People on MN make stuff up. Some of them may well have far in excess of £50k in savings but lots of them claiming to won’t and just live in an online fantasy land.

It's a shit ton of money. We have about this, we have worked really hard to save this. It is for a specific purpose that will bring us back to zero in couple of years time. Having struggled for money for a long time, we do appreciate that we are now financially stable and know that there are many more struggling to save £1k.

Key information to leave out.

Thinking back, I’ve always had savings of some sort from back when we were kids and my gran gave us 50p pocket money a week!
i went to uni before tuition fees were a thing so between working during term time and holidays and parental support I made it through without a loan.
lived at home after graduating to save for a deposit.
admittedly timed it well to buy first flat and sold (after renovations) for nearly 50% more than I bought it for.
haven't moved house for 18years due to increases in cost of living and mortgage diminishing nicely.
changed mortgage deal before interest rates went up a few years ago
no kids (not entirely through choice but never met the right person at the right time)
no pets
don’t buy what I can’t afford - credit cards are for online purchases only unless on 0% interest with a plan to pay it off
always shop around for things like insurance deals and collect loyalty points for literally everything
I saved about £10k during the covid lockdowns as I was still working full time and didn’t have anything to spend it on!
my lifestyle is relatively frugal apart from travel and holidays (quantity rather than quality!) ……high street and supermarket clothes, car is 8yrs old, haircut twice a year, no beauty treatments apart from a haircut twice a year, no takeaways, no subscription services apart from Amazon prime, basic tv package, don’t have the latest tech or mobile phone, take a packed lunch to work…..
also never had a live in partner to share bills with (I reckon that costs me about £300 a month)
ok, I am comfortable, I put money into savings every month and have increased my pension contributions in recent years (private sector, our employee contribution is rubbish), but I don’t have the flashy lifestyle that many of MN would seemingly expect me to have if they saw my annual salary on paper!

I don’t think you can post on an anonymous forum and be annoyed that other’s opinions don’t match yours. However, the test of if 50k is sufficient savings depends on: 1) number of dependents it supports 2) mortgage amount and remaining term 3) other debt 4) outgoings.

People of all levels of wealth should be allowed to ask for advise

there is always someone worse off even if you haven’t got a penny to your name and no food in the cupboard - so this would be a very quiet place if only the poorest person could ask for help

there is no reason not to talk about what might be enough for security or to retire or whatever

there is a reason to avoid hyperbolic language , there is a reason to avoid a pity party - don’t talk about being poor when you are objectively anything but , don’t complain about what you don’t have as though it was some human right to have a long haul holiday when you have spent your money on the five bed detached / have some self awareness

give and take at both ends

50k is better than most people can afford, but as others have said depends on age and life circumstances.

It's suggested that people have enough savings to cover 6 months of outgoings should they lose their job etc (if they can save) I have always worked to that, though I prefer a year for added breathing space. We would be classed as low earners, we probably earn 30 thousand a year between us and live pretty frugally. Even so, you still have to eat, heat, pay bills like internet connection, pay for car expenses and so on. I try not to think about it too much, though DH does remind me to think what my plan would be (in sector where redundancies are likely).

Maybe they should have a separate topic section for multiple savings thresholds:

• 0-£99
• £100 - £499
• £500-£999
• £1,000 - £9,999
• £10,000 - £49,999
• £50,000 - £99,999
• £100,000 - £499,999
• £500,000 - £999,999
• £1m+

Everything is relative, If you'd saved 3 or 4 grand a yr in an ISA and invested it in the stock market for the last 10 years, you'd easily have £50k. Or if you earn £100k which in UK is top 4% or in London the top 15% of earners, you'd most likely see £50k as a normal amount to have in savings. For the majority of the population in their 30s/early 40s it seems like a huge amount.
I play tennis with a lovely American living in SW London, he took his family of five on a 3 week holiday (cruise to Galapagos and rainforest ecolodge) this summer. He was describing it and it sounded amazing, I said "I bet that wasn't cheap" and he said "no it was £80k", I mean I like nice holidays, but wow!!!!!

It depends what it is though. It is a lot of money if it’s a rainy day fund or a house deposit. It is not a lot of money if it’s your retirement savings.

I'm confused by this.

First of all, self-employed people can easily open a SIPP from a range of providers.

Second, why would you not separate savings and pensions? There is a tax rebate available for money deposited into a pension fund. So anyone who is just saving cash for retirement, rather than investing it in a pension fund, is seriously harming their own finances.

And never understand comments like this. Is it really so hard to understand that some people, plenty of people in fact, have high enough incomes and/or lower expenses and therefore can afford to save?
It might be different to your experience, but there’s nothing crazy about it at all.

Exactly. We save/invest £2k a month. That’s simply because we are high earners and have a low mortgage.

50k in your 60s is very normal…..I’m just 60….many of my friends same age …..most work public sector so around 50k a year…..I would imagine most have at least 50k in savings ….I know many have much more…..at 60 we have had inheritances….we have downsized…..we have taken some of our lump sums …..we’ve been saving for a lot longer than a 30 year old

I thought exactly that reading your original thread.

I also thought it was quite funny that the people saying that were also saying why are you giving away a lot of it to your kids.. the rich are rich for a reason!

But you literally said that yourself in your other thread. I quote "We have limited savings cf to many (£50k)" (I'm assuming c/f means 'compared.')
So it seems a bit rich to criticise others for agreeing with you!

Also you are missing out the context that people in that thread were pointing you "only" had £50k savings because the thread was about giving nearly half of them away! Thus more relevant than if you had much more. Also the background about your pension etc. It wasn't just people saying £50k is nothing, full stop.

I'm confused by how so many people are shocked that others have any savings at all, let alone a significant amount. Surely anyone who has bought a house in the last decade or two has had to save up a significant whack, unless they've been lucky enough to have been gifted a deposit. Most people with savings are saving for something not just hoarding money because they've got nothing to spend it on.

Besides like anything else, it's all relative to our personal experiences. Someone who is 6 foot tall might be shocked that anyone could possibly consider a woman who is 5'8 tall, whereas to someone 4'11 she's a giant! If you have 6 kids you might find it inconceivable that someone with only 2 could be 'exhausted.' People living in Texas would find it weird someone in the UK considers 100 miles a long drive. etc.

If nobody said anything on a public online forum because it might potentially be read by someone who didn't have the exact same lifestyle as them who might find that upsetting, MN would just be tumbleweed.

I think this is one problem with our society now. Everyone is so sensitive to slights.

It's not "insensitive" to discuss whether or not X amount is adequate to support the old age of people who might well live another 30 years.

This is a big forum, and hopefully people who don't know any better will learn something. Or be inspired.

Common sense decrees that given what eldercare / care homes cost, for two people to have only saved 50k by their mid-60s, after a lifetime of working, is ignoring the reality of what they very likely will need in later life. Giving away 40 percent of that to young people with plenty of time to work and save is not prudent.

Oh the take on some ironing in the evening is my favourite. Oh yes thanks Susan! Thats my mortgage/rent sorted!

OP £50k is a decent chunk. I have £20k, im 37. I consider myself very lucky.

Im in a decent position financially now and a good paying job but I grew up, and have been on my absolute arse in the past.

The majority of people are a few pay checks away from having nothing.
if I lost my job tomorrow my savings would be gone in a few months.

Fuck off mortgages, fuck off rents, food prices absolutely mental... I think anyone right now with any money left in the bank after pay day os doing pretty well.

I mean this really kindly, but there’s a saying about glass houses springing to mind.

50k is so far beyond the realm of what will ever be possible for us, that it may as well be 50 million. I don’t begrudge you having 50k; well done you. But there will be some people who might say to you that talking about your 50k is bragging and that you should read the room because there are poorer people who will see it and feel shit. And am I supposed to shut up because I can have the heating on, in case someone poorer than me gets upset and thinks I’m bragging? None of us would ever say anything if we were always worried about offending someone. Where do we draw the line?

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. Why should they? Why should you? Why should I? There will always be someone worse off than us. There will always be someone richer than us. Are we all to keep silent on posts about savings in case someone feels crap because they haven’t got what you’ve got? I don’t expect you to stay silent because I’ll never have what you have. And if someone is telling you that 50k is nowhere near enough, all they’re really saying is that it’s nowhere near enough for them. If you’re reading a post where someone is claiming it’s impossible to live on less than 80k a year then, again, all they’re really saying is that it’s impossible for them to maintain their lifestyle on less than 80k. If you’re struggling with the fact that there are richer people out there, who have no clue about being skint, then I think there are some resilience issues going on.

Someone I knew died and had a million in the bank. Literally a million. Richest man at the crematorium that day. He was 63 and I'm sure he would have had less money for more life.

I think it's regional too, 50k in some parts of the UK will buy a house, others like where I live will buy you a garage.