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Original poster

16 million have less than £100 in savings

87 replies

Edhilaria · 30/09/2016 19:51

Is this surprising to you? I know loads of people in this situation. Just being nosy really, how much in savings is normal?

OP posts:
SillySongsWithLarry · 30/09/2016 19:57

I have £231 in savings. Better than 16 million it seems but still wouldn't go far in a crisis. We live in a culture of consumerism, debt and buy now pay later so I'm not surprised so many have so little savings.

elQuintoConyo · 30/09/2016 19:59

How can you guage what is 'normal'?

It depends on income, outgoings, size of mortgage, size of debts (student loan etc)... So so much.

We rent, we'll always rent, there is no way on this earth that we'd ever be able to save for a downpayment on a house. But we can save a little for emergency funds, squirrel some away for DS' future. He doesn't have school uniform and the extra-cutricular classes he does at school are very cheap (eg €160 a year for judo, 2 hours per week). We live near the beach and the mountains in a gorgeous part of the world so can do lovely cheap things and have nice family experiences without breaking the bank. But we don't go 'abroad' for our holidays.

However, neither do we have a centimo of debt, nada. Nor credit cards or store cards, or an Amazon wishlist or expensive tastes. We have a 1950s lifestyle and it is great Grin

Stoneagemum · 30/09/2016 20:03

I have £120 in savings, but when I say savings that's for xmas presents so come Dec it will be £0 again
Month to month or week to week living is a reality for so many, 16 million if this statistic is true

melibu84 · 30/09/2016 20:05

This isn't surprising to me at all. Did you see the latest article, that people in their early 30s have half the wealth than those that age a decade ago?

I have £1k in savings, but this is only because I got a good bonus before going on maternity leave, and my partner has pretty much paid for everything since I went on mat leave.

CaptainBrickbeard · 30/09/2016 20:06

All of our money goes on childcare. As that expense drops off over the next few years as the kids get older then we will be able to build up a buffer of savings quite quickly but at the moment we do live very much to the wire on our budget! We spaced our children so that we wouldn't be paying a full whack for both at the same time, but it has prolonged the pain! And I am lucky enough to only have to pay for term time childcare as well - I don't know how people manage the cost in the school holidays. So, we have zero savings at present but I see that as a temporary state of affairs.

OvariesBeforeBrovaries · 30/09/2016 20:06

No savings here. DD has almost £1000 in her savings but it's locked away and I refuse to touch that anyway. I'd rather save for her than for myself.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 30/09/2016 20:06

I think it's scary. No meat on the bone. If things go pare shaped economically we're screwed.

SunnyInMay · 30/09/2016 20:09

Doesn't surprise me at all. I have no savings and neither do many people I know.

I am saving for my children though so they will have a little pot when they're older.

chipsandpeas · 30/09/2016 20:10

i have 1k in savings, however i do also have a chunk of credit card debt (all on 0%) but in case of an emergency i normally rely on credit cards or my mum (altho this is rare)

SunnyInMay · 30/09/2016 20:11

Oh forgot to say I don't have any debt though so I'm lucky in that sense.

SellFridges · 30/09/2016 20:12

Not a surprise at all. Many people I know have some equity in their houses but I doubt many have much savings. And that's from a group of above average earners.

By the time you've paid bills and mortgage, nursery fees (often double mortgage payments!), pension, food and a little bit of fun, there's really not much left for many earners.

GoldPlatedBacon · 30/09/2016 20:13

It's not surprising given how much property costs these day, deposit, fees etc just wipe out any savings

yeOldeTrout · 30/09/2016 20:14

Not surprising to me. Not so long ago we were talking about financial exclusion, the millions who couldn't even get a bank account or credit card.

SauvignonPlonker · 30/09/2016 20:18

Yep, same here. Used to have good savings, then had redundancy which swallowed them all up, followed by finally buying a home & 8 years of childcare.... All gone.

I dread an unexpected bill, Christmas, trying to get money together for a holiday.

However I still own my property from my single days with a good amount of equity & could sell that if things got bad again.

fitzbilly · 30/09/2016 20:38

Not surprising to me either, people round here all have new cars and fancy iPhone though so my guess is some people choose to consume the latest things rather than save, and live on borrowed credit, spending beyond their means.

And then there are all the people who can't save simply because the cost of living, housing and child care is so high. Which is reality for so many people

StealthPolarBear · 30/09/2016 20:43

Ok I will admit to being surprised.

CremeEggThief · 30/09/2016 20:47

Not at all surprised. I have £100 in savings at the moment. I don't see the point in having more than £6000 in savings though, as it affects any benefits you might be able to claim.

Purplebluebird · 30/09/2016 20:49

£0.01 xD Hahaha. It is so sad. I have to go to the foodbank if I get any worse off than I am now. I laugh and cry, it's ridiculous. My other half works full time, and I can't afford to work due to childcare for our 2 year old.

Purplebluebird · 30/09/2016 20:51

Oh yes, and my normal account is £1150 overdrawn. So I'm in debt with a penny saved in a savings account.

fitzbilly · 30/09/2016 20:51

That's a stage way of looking at it cremeegg, surely if you have more then£6k in savings you don't need to rely on benefits?

CremeEggThief · 30/09/2016 20:53

I think it's a realistic way of looking at it, Fitzbilly.

Jaimx86 · 30/09/2016 21:01

I guess that doesn't take into account some of the debt people are in too. It's very worrying. A lot of people living beyond their means.

Purplebluebird · 30/09/2016 21:09

it's very easy to say "living beyond their means", but for some people the difference is renting a small flat for your family rather than a room in a shared house...

AndShesGone · 30/09/2016 21:12

We have not one penny in savings. Could easily access money through credit or overdraft if we had too.

I wish we could afford to save, my goal at the moment is to make sure we don't go overdrawn.

MrGrumpy01 · 30/09/2016 21:12

I'm not surprised that people have less than £100 in savings, I am quite surprised that the number of people is as high as 16 million.

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