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Original poster

What savings did you have by age 27?

121 replies

Sweetdisposition91 · 03/05/2018 10:51

Starting to panic a bit as I’m nearly 27, I have absolutely nothing in savings and still live at home!
Been quite frivolous with money I guess and enjoy nice holidays and cars etc, but think now I need to start being sensible and think about the future!

So pure nosiness really, how much do you aim to save per month? And what position were you in when you were 25-30?

OP posts:
mrjoepike · 03/05/2018 12:25

you are young still.
but to answer your question quite a lot.
husband and i worked our backsides off to do it.
did without alot from 20-25 to be able to buy our house and 2 income houses.
took alot of work and a no frills lifestyle.
these days can barely make the bills.
a one income home now so have alot of stretching with the cash i have.

TeeBee · 03/05/2018 13:45

It didn't take long to save for my house deposit because I took 100% mortgage, which was a gamble at the time but it was a gamble that really paid off. Obviously it's more difficult to get a 100% these days but there are various government schemes for first time buyers which are worth looking into.

Racoon10 · 03/05/2018 13:46

Nothing. But had just bought a house so all my money went on that.

saving up for the house we had no proper holidays for a few years, no new cars, and hardly spent anything on going out. Luckily all our friends were saving for houses too so we all did cheap things like walks and film nights round each others houses.

Very glad we did that, we are now in a much better position with some savings and starting to think about our next house.

bettybyebye · 03/05/2018 13:46

I had quite a lot of savings at 27 as we were saving to get married. After the wedding we carried on saving as wanted to move house, which we did when I was 29.

How much do you earn OP? And what are your monthly outgoings? That will give you a better idea as to what you could/should be saving...

specialsubject · 03/05/2018 13:48

at least start a pension!

blueskyinmarch · 03/05/2018 13:50

Nothing. I was married and we owned our home but we had no money spare to save. I was desperate to have a baby and we had to wait a bit. We still had no savings when we had out first when i was 28 and it was hard as i gave up work. We have lots of savings now that i am 55 .

Racoon10 · 03/05/2018 13:52

To give you an idea of how much we saved, we aimed to save around £800 a month. We were renting at the time so couldn't save more than that.

If you are currently living at home, do you have to pay rent? If not, maybe you could set aside £200 spending money each month for you to spend as you wish. Then work out how much you need for car insurance and other bills, set that aside each month and put everything else into savings for a house deposit.

stressedoutpa · 03/05/2018 13:53

Thing is, do you want to go travelling? If so, do that now!

At 27, I was finishing uni and living with a boyfriend (in his flat). Left him just before my 30th Birthday and moved back to my parents. I had already saved some money and saved like mad because I was desperate to get away from my parents. I bought my flat when I was 31 with a 5% deposit and mortgage 4.25 times my salary. It was quite hard and I didn't have any holidays/real luxuries.

DH moved in when I was 35 and we sold when I was 37. Rented for a year and bought our current house. By a sheer twist of unexpected fate we inherited enough money to cover our offset mortgage. House is now worth around £500k and we are mid forties.

In your shoes I would travel then come back and make a serious effort to get on the ladder. The hardest step is always the first one but once you are on the ladder it does seem to get easier.

BertieBotts · 03/05/2018 14:03

Nothing! I had a child so I didn't have the disposable income. Still don't have any savings now.

This is a pretty good step by step guide, IMO - Martin Lewis also has a great one. I don't know why the title is about lump sums because it talks clearly about budgeting.

www.reddit.com/r/ukpersonalfinance/wiki/lumpsuminvestment

GlassSuppers · 03/05/2018 14:08

I'm almost 27, no savings a such but I do own a house and am part way through purchasing my second home.
Getting on the property ladder was the best thing I did. I first brought a run down ex council house and spent two years doing bits and bobs to it.
Now selling it for 20k more than I brought it for.
I plan to do the same to the house I'm currently buying too.

C4Envelope · 03/05/2018 14:12

27 now;
Own home, mortgage of £110k will be paid by age 48 joint mortgage wit DH
DD age 2
£2.5k savings (mine)

'D'H has about 14k debt - his issue. We pay equally to household bills but he earns more .. this is fine until he pays his debt off then bills will be paid in equivalent to what we each earn. Non issue really as by the time he's debt free il be earning about 28k so will have evened out significantly.

Don't panic, it seems like I have achieved a lot and I have in a way ( worked 60hr weeks nightshift during 1st degree ) worked hard for it. But we are still so young and I often feel sad about not, 'living it up' before we settled down.
To be a bit blunt;
There are no pockets in a shroud

19lottie82 · 03/05/2018 14:55

At 27, nothing. I think I started saving a little each month shortly after that though. Just putting £50 a month aside and that motivated me to put a bit more aside whenever I could. By the age of 34 I think I had about £11k in the bank.

ChickensGoBoak · 03/05/2018 14:58

Owe 95k on mortgage,
Jointly we owe about 23k student loans,
No other debts.
16k in the bank, but we're planning home renovations which will use a lot of our savings.

budinbloom · 03/05/2018 15:04

I had £6k when I was 27 which took a year to save. Living with DH(30 at the time)in a rented 2 bed flat. He saved a similar amount so that we put down a 10 % deposit on our first house (£98k) that year. We both had decent graduate salaries and had been working for a few years by then. We also got married in the same year and weren’t keen on getting a big mortgage (a mistake in hindsight) but we had had quite a few years of exotic holidays pre kids and enjoyed every minute of it.

LP17 · 03/05/2018 15:08

I had a few grand at 27 as I spent most of it on travelling for nearly a year when I was 23. Bought our first house at 24 (DH had a deposit saved at the time - he's my age and put £28k down plus money for us to redecorate and buy furniture - we are up north so probably cheaper here than where you are. Also DH was a contractor at the time and only ever spent money on our social lives rather than stuff so he found it very easy to save much more than I could). I usually save 'for' something (eg to pay for my degree, furniture etc). Currently renovating our second house after selling the first so savings focus at the moment is on furniture and holidays (gotta have a life!!). DH's savings pot this time around has enabled us to put quite a big extension on the house and fully renovate the existing house as well. My savings are being used for furnishing as we will need double the amount of furniture we had before. I have 2 small pensions (started my first at 20) but the plan is to sell this house and downsize when we are ready to retire, as well as continuing with both of our pensions until that point.

It's never too early to start saving, especially if you are currently living at home! I find it easier to stay motivated when I have an end goal/product in mind. After we have completed the extension our savings will be for rainy days....holidays...emergencies.

FluffyMcCloud · 03/05/2018 15:14

At age 27 id been married 3 years and had a 2yr old son. No savings left because they’d gone on flat deposit and the year I was on mat leave - I returned to work part time which paid the bills but left nothing to save! So at 27 I had no savings but did have a mortgage.

AngelsWithSilverWings · 03/05/2018 15:15

Probably had about 2.5k invested in a series of 5 year share save schemes through the company I worked for. Had no other cash savings at 27 as I had bought a house and got married the year before so hadn't built up my savings again. Had started paying into a pension at 20 though. This was in the mid 90's and it was all a lot easier back then.

TinkysWinky · 03/05/2018 21:41

I'm 33 now. At 27 we were 2 years married, bought first house with DH, we had about 12k which we put into it (6 as deposit, 1.5k fees and the rest on some immediate work as it was a fixer upper). House cost 106k, we now owe 86k and it was recently revalued at 138k which is nice although we have zero plans to sell as it's a large 5 bed so we shouldn't outgrow it (can you tell we don't live in the south!). Between then and now I have had 2 maternity leaves and been working part time since so we find it harder to save. still slowly trickling money into the house too.

Racheyg · 03/05/2018 21:44

Sweet fa. Lived in a house share in London. The money I early went on nights out. I didn't even drive.

I'm now 35, have 2 kids and mortgage and the savings I do have are all going towards our wedding.

Enjoy your life, it goes so quick once you reach 30 Shock

RedB0at0nshore · 03/05/2018 22:16

I worked 2 or 3 jobs for several years. I didn't live at home, house shares, bedsits, small flats, moved around alot. I drove and still drive an old banger, cheap car. I had strong motivation to save ! It takes time and effort to save. You are very fortunate to be able to live at home.

redastherose · 03/05/2018 23:06

No savings at all. Had a house with a mortgage and a car loan and a 3 year old! Definitely no savings 😄

rosesandcashmere · 03/05/2018 23:13

Around 30k but I had been saving since I left uni and went into a six figure role so I appreciate I was incredibly fortunate.

Leatherboundanddown · 03/05/2018 23:29

Zero. No house, no car, no partner and a single mum of 1. Only a bike to my name.

By 30 however this had significantly changed due to retraining and employment and in those three years my situation has changed significantly so it really is possible.

mizu · 05/05/2018 21:24

Was teaching abroad, no savings.

CountFosco · 05/05/2018 21:34

I was still a student building debt. Luckily in those days it was possibly to walk into a very well paid job post PhD (ancient university) so DH and I spent £1000 a month paying off debt after we graduated for a few years then once that was paid off we paid the same money into savings before we had kids (then paid minimal into savings for a few years now building up savings again now childcare cost decimated). 20 years later we have pensions (DH public sector so gold standard) and other savings plus a very nice 4 bed house. Will downsize when we retire to free up more capital.

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