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 .

Or a play house... a shed! If youre really lucky. May need work though

Im one of those mnetters with a 6 figure salary etc... and i think 50k is a bloody good savings pot!

Now i do think context matters. If you said you had £50k saved and that was your whole intended deposit wanting to buy a four bed house in London, i would say you would find it tight.

If you were 60, and 5 years from retiring and thought that was enough in a pension pot for a comfortable retirement.... I'd disagree.

But 50k of just "rainy day savings"? Im willing to bet less than 5% of households in the uk have so much.

This is a good point, the closest garage to where I live is on at offers over £60k! Single but it has water and electric. (And I’m nowhere near London) madness

OP you are aghast at how comments about your personal savings situation may sound to people who have less, does this mean that no one can ever post about their individual situation in case it upsets others.

I do have more savings than you AND I understand others don’t. I am not unaware of others lives.
Purely saying that giving your children 40% of your £50k life savings doesn’t leave you much of a cushion in your 60s doesn’t mean I don’t think it’s nothing, or that I don’t realise many people won’t ever have that, but I do stand by my opinion, that for me it’s not a huge amount at your life stage.
I have also learned in this thread that it is less than the average for people your age of £27k per person.

Those who talk about money have money. That's all. It's self selection

I think this thread is pretty disingenuous OP. People have tried to advise you best they could. I don’t think it’s braggy to say that with ‘only 50k’ life savings it’s potentially unwise to gift away 20k of that so children who are taking out 30/35 year mortgages have 10k less deposit. That doesn’t make sense. It’s not a lot of cash for the rest of your lives. By the time they finish off paying off that last 10k in 35 years time you might still be here! It’s going to be worth nothing then; say the equivalent of 3k today to them. If you were to invest it that’s worth a whooping 40-50k to you potentially.

If you really want to do something then I would suggest gift 5k as a moving in present. This will be helpful. Could be used for window dressings and utilities, furniture, a new bathroom etc. that will be helpful to them and I am sure they will be very grateful.

There are plenty of people that live hand to mouth or are in debt. So 50k in savings is amazing. But there are also many that have well over this. To some 50k might feel like a lot and to others not that much. It is all relative. For example people sending kids to private school, and there are many....50k would only pay less then one years fees for two kids. Therefore, to play it safe I think you would only send if you had multiple years worth of savings for two kids. To those people 50k might not seem all that much. But then to the many that might struggle to get food on the table or to pay for one holiday a year etc 50k is a lot. It all depends on circumstances. Yes, it sucks, but it is the way of the world these days.

We have about 50k in savings... it's a lot of money yes, it's DH annual, Net salary so if things go tits up we will be ok for a while.

How ever if we decided to move, wanted to spend on house renovations, or whatever it wouldn't go very far and could very quickly be spent! So its value in regard to what it could be spent on is not great. But that's not what it's for. It's our safety net and I know how lucky we are to have it.

Not sure what you are trying to say. I would hope by the time we get to retirement we have a lot more than we currently have. We are in our early 40’s and have around 60K in savings. At one point we had 120K but then we bought a house. Now we have again worked on building up our savings. So it is important to keep saving but we still try to enjoy the good things in life like time with family, holidays, good food etc.

I think this demonstrates how we are all totally in denial about Class.

Class is something that we've stopped talking about.

The idea of Identity (for good and bad) has taken it's place in the vocabulary of why inequality exists.

But fundamentally - some people are born into a situation where +50K savings is the norm.

And the rest of us aren't.

There are a few minor adjustments that the rest of us might be able to make.

But at population level - if you're born into it, you're sorted.

I so badly wish that we could all step back and see that.

The fact that working class people vote Tory or Reform is testament to the fact that both those parties are prepared to name the problem (which Labour won't do now - hollow LOL) - and then blaming it on immigrants/experts/chemtrails/whatever.

It’s a big chunk of money but if you’re mid 30s and want to retire it’s not exactly going to go very far! Depends on your perspective. Some people just want want want.

It’s lot of money to me for sure

we take home £200000. We have a few companies. We have only about that savings.

im
more I’m alive now let’s spend it type of family!

The real issue isn't so much whether it is a large amount or not, but that so many people are in real danger of struggling through retirement due to a lack of savings. And should really be angry and up in arms about it, instead of claiming that others don't in reality have that much money....

I was similarly shocked by a recent post asking what you should aim for as an emergency fund, and the vast number of posters said less than £5k. To my mind that is one major expense away from debt and not very many months of expenses in the face of job loss. I understand that getting that much is a struggle for many - I have been there in life - but what was shocking was thinking £1-3k was somehow sufficient or secure. I was always taught the importance of aiming for 3-6 months of expenses in savings(which did take me a while to achieve), and in the current environment will not let us drop below a year of expenses, as I know many who have found themselves longterm unemployed in their 40s/50s. We prioritise saving over vacations, home improvements, clothing, etc. There are many who cannot build savings or afford luxuries, but there are also an awful lot of people who spend as much (or more) than they earn by choice.

Agree, and I would include children in the "spending beyond their means" category. People need to strive for substantial savings to safeguard themselves, and make sure they don't become a burden to society if adversity strikes, well before they take on the additional responsibility of safeguarding other human beings.

I don't resent wealth, but if 50k isn't much to have in savings, that doesn't make any sense in the context of it being almost twice the average annual wage. Everything about average incomes is just bizarre and is breaking everyone except the very rich.

This seems quite a weird take OP, you posted about £50k savings and are now offended on behalf of people who can't afford to have £50k savings.

Mumsnet is for everyone. Some people are well paid and some are not, some people have inheritances and some do not. Some people have nice husbands and others do not. Everyone is allowed to ask their question and give their opinion without having to second guess the views of other posters in attempt not to upset anyone.

I don't understand this idea that people can't write about their financial situation in case it upsets someone else. Nobody is being forced to read it!

I went in to the bank a few years ago to put some money in. At that time I had 30k in savings.
The bank cashier said well done having 30k, no one has that round here.
I think it is a good amount of money.

I have adhd and sometimes I am v v literal in my understanding!

Ahh. This explains some of your unusual/different replies to people making perfectly valid comments OP!

It might well not be enough for them- depends on their outgoings and aspirations.

Surely it depends on lots of different factors? Age, income, the amount left of your mortgage, your pension pot etc.

Quite. People actually earning what people on here claim to earn, don't have time to piss about on mumsnet.

And most of those who brag on here don't have any savings anyway - pure fantasy - sure a few might, but the vast majority are just living out a fantasy life on the forum.

They all seem to have massive pensions and plan on retiring at 55 as well. I can’t even afford to make the standard pension contribution!