Saving as much as possible or enjoy life a little?

[Namila]

Hi all!

I was wondering what approach other mumsnetters take when it comes to savings.

Assuming you are in a lucky enough position to have spare money at the end of the month, do you prefer to save as much as you can or save a little and spend a little? Or save nothing and spend it all?

In an ideal world, what % of your income would you like to save?

I'll start with my two cents:

I try to save 1/3 of my income each month. Sometimes I hit that number, sometimes I don't. I could save more than that if I lived more frugally and cut on some small treats, but I find that hard to do. So I take the approach of "save a little, spend a little".

When I think about it I feel a bit guilty though, knowing that I could save more and I don't

Curious to hear other people's thoughts on this!

We save and invest about a quarter. Plus pay into pensions and over pay the mortgage which is a way of saving.
We used to save more but are on track for a reasonably good early retirement so are splashing out on doing more things now.

I save £600 net a month into a private pension to get 40% tax relief and allow me
to retire a bit earlier. I don't really save anything else currently other than to save for holidays. I think we save around £500 a month for them and that pays for 3 a year. 2 abroad and one uk. Don't really need to save any more than that as both have DB pension schemes.

We never go without for the sake of saving. My mum is a saver but takes it too far. My OH works as a financial advisor and has seen people have their savings wiped out by care fees. One client spent £96,000 on this in the last 12 months of their life.

We are fortunate to be able to save.

We currently save 700 a month plus over pay our mortgage by 700 a month. Pensions are on top of that. We really could be saving a lot more but I really like our lifestyle of being able to eat out whenever we want or book a holiday on a whim so we don't tend to put more away. I lived very frugally for a very long time so I'm making the most of being more comfortable but it does play on my mind that we should be planning for the future a bit more

But what are you all saving FOR. I get saving each month for a holiday, or saving for a home improvement (or deposit) but other than that why? You can't take it with you.

frenchfancy we have short term savings for home improvements/holidays etc and long term savings/pensions for retirement. We also aim to have at least 3 months living expenses in case of redundancy/long term illness etc.

DH is a spender who has 0 left at the end of every month, sometimes overdrawn.
I'm a saver and squirrel away as much as possible.

We try to find a balance. DH is of the 'you can't take it with you' mindset and that has rubbed off on me to some extent, we don't deprive ourselves and have fab holidays. I do still save (including pension) about 30% of my income into what I call 'untouchable' savings, i.e. long term savings for retirement or if we found ourselves unemployed. I also put aside whatever I have leftover each month into short term savings which, when there is enough, get spent on holidays, cars, home improvements, that sort of thing. DH always laughs at me when I say we haven't any money, when I mean we haven't any in the short term savings.

We're both happy with this balance.

We both have pensions but no other savings.

Having been through cancer with my husband (twice) which ironically was a real struggle financially, it made us determined to live life to the full. We have 3 young-ish children and think it's more important to have/ have had holidays / experiences / days out and weekends away than have money sitting in the bank. Cheesy as it sounds, memories are more important than financial security.

We're very fortunate to have an income greater than our day-to-day spending. We don't have a budget, but are both naturally frugal. It's a very rare month that we spend more than comes in, and there are some bills we pay up front (Council Tax is the biggie, but also car/house insurance), so our spending can vary quite a bit month to month.

However I'm learning to spend small discretionary sums without feeling guilty - I met up with a friend and her children today, and we ended up eating out. Once I would have left to go home, but I really don't need to now.

In response to those asking what we're saving for, DH's parents both died of hereditary conditions well before retirement age; we'd be fooling to assume that DH (the bigger earner) will always be able to earn. And either of us may need care towards the end of life; I'd prefer to be able to choose (and therefore pay for) that care.

We are in the very lucky position that we can afford to save for the long term as well as have holidays/days out/weekends away/experiences.