To think that if you’ve got savings, you’re not poor?

[CleverTealGoose]

I’m not saying that having savings automatically makes someone wealthy or financially comfortable, but I do think there’s a difference between being poor and having money set aside.

If you’ve got savings that you can fall back on, even if you’d rather not touch them, surely you’re in a different position from someone who has absolutely nothing to fall back on?

I sometimes see people describe themselves as poor or broke while also mentioning that they’ve got thousands sitting in savings accounts.

I appreciate that savings can be earmarked for particular things but ultimately that money is still there.

Like there is a difference between being genuinely poor and simply not having much disposable income.

There's how you got your savings as well. The only reason we currently have over 10k in savings is that I was made redundant. We couldn't have saved that much money ourselves, and that's also why I'm desperately clinging on to it as we're not likely to be able to replace any of it if we did have to spend it. It literally feels like our last chance to have significant savings.

These days care homes cost around £60 to £70k a year. People also live much longer due to advances in medicine. Anyone relying on inheritance unless their parents are hugely wealthy is taking a risk.

I think you are trying to make it too 'black and white'.

When our dc were little, I might well have said we were broke, as in, we balanced our bank account to the penny every week, and we had to work really hard to not go overdrawn each month, and used to use coupons out of the paper to get 30p off here and there when shopping, and only every bought clothes in charity shops and definitely put extra layers and blankets on before the heating. BUT we were paying a mortgage, so every month we were taking a tiny step towards buying our own home, and not the landlord's. So we had that as an asset. We weren't going hungry. So people could look and say we weren't broke, completely, as we 'owned our own home'.

My ds has worked since 16, and put money in the previous scheme before LISAs to gain a bonus when you buy your first property. He is currently unemployed, so is turning down invitations to do X, Y, or Z, because he understandably doesn't want to use those savings, and the bonus he will get from 8 years of saving small amounts every month, just for the 'buzz' of going to a gig or a match, or a curry that night. So he says 'no' because he can't afford it, because, to his way of thinking, that saved money isn't available to him. Obviously if he were starving, he would have to use it, but for now, it is a choice which, for all intents and purposes means he is 'broke' as he doesn't have any money he can spend.

How do you define 'poor' ?
Obviously, it is a lot nicer to have a 'comfort blanket' - even if that is knowing you have a relative who would give you a roof for a month or two, or buy you some groceries in a bad month - but it doesn't mean only people without that comfort blanket can feel poor.

Poverty means where an individual "lacks the financial resources for a basic, dignified standard of living" so a person with savings wouldn't meet the definition until their savings had all been used up, and also any assets they could reasonably liquidise (such as by downsizing).

We have a lot of savings 100k+, we also have a mortgage. I would never call myself poor BUT if my current account goes under 250 I would say I’m broke…

That is a very different definition from official definitions of when someone is 'below the poverty line' though @5128gap

We are not poor, because we are 70 and we have worked since our 20s to pay for what we wanted, and because we have saved anything left over for our old age. How could anyone think badly of an ordinary couple who made sensible financial decisions, legally? Yet, because we were pretty competent at doing so, we are verging on the territory where we are going to be plundered to fund the incompetent and improvident.

True. Its difficult to marry up the poverty line, which looks only at disposable income and not wealth, with the JRT definition which was the one I used. Because a person who could access sufficient resources to live a basic dignified standard of living, simply by accessing their savings account, doesn't sit easily within that definition.

I'm considered to be poor by essentially every official metric - dcs on free school meals, pupil premium, uni contextual entry,
free prescriptions, concessionary discounts, warm home discount. Yet we have a small amount in savings, currently about £5k, I have a modest pension pot and dcs have their own savings because I've paid in every year since they were born. I don't think anyone can claim I'm not poor though, unless they're going argue against the definitions used by government and statisticians. I'm just extremely careful with my spending despite a low income and I feel insecure unless I have money put away.

I would disagree somewhat. We are financially fairly secure, but not because we lucked out with a huge inheritance. We started businesses, and worked every hour possible for 20 years, and now we don't work the same hours. DH had his first heart attack 20 years ago, and has had a cardiac history ever since, but he is still paying income and dividend taxes totalling roughly six figures. That is £x00,000 for anyone who struggles with maths. Would you like blood with our financial/tax contribution?

I guess it depends what the savings are ear marked for.

If that question is for me @ThePerfectStormBird the savings are there to fund our future life, when we are no longer working. We might need a care home: DH is 6'5" and I am 5'3", so I can't physically move him alone. Anything left over, I would wish to go to our only child.

But you don't describe yourself as poor, do you?
Most people don't get inheritance and most people work hard when they can.
Maybe you were replying to a specific post because I don't really understand the point you're making.

You've got lots of money so you're not poor. So what is the relevance to this thread?

A person with £100,000 in savings and no other income could expect to have to live on a pittance because they wouldn't be eligible for benefits.

Well, that's why people work.
If they are unable to work there are measures to protect them.
If they choose not to work then yeah....that's kind of how our society works.

You aren't rich if you get nothing and have nothing

People with no savings get generous benefits and a lot of free stuff

How do you know they have lots of money?

They are paying 6 figures worth of tax each year....

And there we have it.

I have very small savings hundreds not thousands & I try to save each month. It is getting harder & harder I’m 67 retired small private pension still have a mortgage for the next two years. It’s not to do with being frivolous or spending on designer things. The reality is the cost of living is high food fuel bills. Most people on an average wage or pension can’t save as most people have no surplus income . More so if you are single than in any type of partnership. My very small pension I get taxed on as it takes me over £12,570 per year which isn’t even minimum wage for a 37 hour week. You can’t save when you can barely afford to live. Could I go back to work probably not as i have a long term health condition. I’ve worked 51 years I think that’s enough & am one of the many women affected by the rise to pension age.

Do they?
Can you tell me how? I would love more money and free stuff.

Free transport free council tax free entry to various things

If you are eligible and not aware you need to check it out

Free school meals social tariffs free prescriptions

What free transport? I still have to pay the same bus/taxi/train costs as everyone else. Ok, I do get a third off the train because I go with my DP... anyone can do that. Costs £30 a year though.
I pay council tax. There are a very limited pool of people who do not pay any at all.
Free entry to what? I do not live near any of the attractions that offer this.

You made the claim, so it is up to you to prove your point.. not expect others to do that for you.