What savings did you have by age 27?

[Sweetdisposition91]

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?

Just to clarify - the expense account - e.g. I would estimate that the car might cost me £500/yr in maintenance - I put in 500/12 to allow for that, Christmas and birthdays £650 so £650/12 and annual professional subs £54 so £54/12 a month for that - then round it all up to the nearest whole amount.

Op you have quite a few unneccesary items in your budget, your car costs are eyewatering especially as cars depreciate.
For almost everyone it becomes a choice, go without to gain savings or enjoy treats and holidays. One thought though, it all becomes much harder to save once children are on the horizon in fact often impossible.

Ask yourself do you want to rent forever? if so then fine but if not then think carefully about your future

Set yourself a travel budget per year (split into monthly) and stick within that for holidays. You could do one big trip a year or a couple of smaller ones. Or another idea would be to take a year off from travelling after these trips, not forever, just temporarily to clear the debts and get some of those big expenses gone.

Martin Lewis says if you have access to credit still, then you should clear high interest debts before saving. If you encounter an emergency you can then use the credit to cover it.

If you don't have access to credit, then it's better to save up a £1000 emergency fund and then put spare money into overpaying debts in order to get them gone quicker. If you have an emergency and need to dip into the £1000, stop overpaying the debts and recover the savings first.

Another idea to save without it being too painful to do so - think about what amount you'd happily spend without even thinking about it - for example on a new item of clothing or a night out. Set up a direct debit for that amount per month into a savings account. After 3-4 months, do the same thing again except increase the direct debit by the amount you won't miss. Every time you get a payrise or drop an expense (e.g. a debt is paid off), don't just see it as a gain in income, add a percentage to the direct debit. Whether it's 100% or 90% or 50% - decide if you want the income boost or the savings boost more!

YNAB is supposed to be an excellent tool and worth paying for if you know you tend to "fritter" money as it saves more than it costs. Apparently they'll extend the trial to 3 months if you ask towards the end of the first month - this tends to give you a better idea than using it for one month, anyway.

Nothing but we did have a house that we rented out for extra cash and three kids

Fuck all, but did own a house (which was where all the savings went)

Absolutely zero accessible savings but £60k tied up in the first house we'd bought 5 years earlier (made up of our original £10k deposit and £50k increase in value in 5 years.)

1. Pay off any debts as they'll be costing you money in interest.
2. Once that's done, set up a standing order to go into a savings account on payday every month. Build up a safety net - usual advice is to aim for 3 months of expenses, in case of job loss etc.
3. Live below your means. Make it a competition with yourself to see how much you can't spend. EG if you currently buy coffee on the way to work, get a travel mug and take it from home. Take a packed lunch to work. Swap your phone for a giffgaff sim - I've just saved £40/month by doing that - I get 4gb data plus unlimited calls and texts for £12/month using my old contract phone. Shop around for car insurance once you've got some no claims.

Had no savings at 27. I was 6 years in to a huge mortgage, interest rates had just sky-rocketed, and we were in a huge amount of negative equity. DH’s salary was cut by 20%, and I’d just lost my job. We were completely skint and just about paying the mortgage each month.

I’m 35 now and things are so much better. Managed to get a new, higher paid job which allowed me to save a lot towards overpaying the mortgage so, while it’s still large, our loan to value ratio is very good and we have a lot of equity. Also started a pension at 32, and started saving very aggressively- moving into investments once I was confident I had enough put away securely.

You can absolutely turn this around for yourself, you just need to be very disciplined. You’re young, and it sounds like your aim is to meet someone and set up a home with them. If your parent(s) is/are happy with you living there, I think you should remain as you are now, but saving aggressively so that you’ll be in a position to buy in the future (with a partner, if that’s what you want).

Sorry, skimmed the thread now. We were hugely fortunate. DH (DP back then) was given the deposit by his grandparents, and the house went up in value by about 66% in 5 years (75k to 125k - we're talking mid 90s.) Independently I'd have taken forever to save a deposit - even that relatively small an amount - and now you need so much more. I really do feel for anyone trying to get onto the housing ladder now.

At 27, I had no savings, but that was because I'd used them all the previous year buying my first home.

I think it's pretty odd that you bring home £1850 a month, only pay £200 a month rent / housekeeping, and yet, not only have no savings, but are actually in debt . That is very poor budgeting and prioritising for an adult of 27.

I mean, up to everyone what they spend their money on, I know, but doesn't that make you uncomfortable in any way that, on a pretty decent salary, and hugely subsidised living costs, you are still spending more than you are earning ??

Pretty much nothing. I saved for my tax bill, but no savings that were mine to spend. I'd just completed my postgrad qualification and was earning just about enough to pay the rent, go to work and eat.

Honestly OP - you need to save more! You’ll never in your life be in a better place to save up than £200 rent per month on a salary of £24,000. That’s less than £50 per week.

Write down everything you spend for a month. Everything. Then decide to save first, spend later.

Or you’ll end up very poor.

For most of my 20s I was either travelling or saving to go travelling. I'd save up a few thousand then go off around the world, so my bank balance would fluctuate between about £400 and £6,000. I always made sure I had a few hundred left when I returned to the UK. I bought my house when I was 30.

Life was easy and fun back in the 90s, we seem to have lost that in the UK.

I am 27 and have £13k. I was lucky to have loads bed with my mum and dad for a while though so saved up. Now living with dp and did.

That was suppose to have said lived with mum and dad !

I’m 27. So is partner. I earn 30k and he does too. This has built up from starting on about 20k each four years ago.

Have about 17k in savings.

Bought flat with partner 2 years ago (25% deposit on 210k flat). Previously rented for a year.

Own car - paid off now.

Getting married in a few months so we’ll be able to pay for that too without going in to debt.

£0 and I had a flat with £10k's worth of negative equity which is ridiculous to even think about now because I paid £65k for my flat in east London, sold it for £54,950. I took the debt with me to my next house with a more than 100% mortgage!

Interestingly the flat has not sold again since 1996 and must be worth a fortune.

I feel for everyone trying to get on the property ladder these days.

@hotpasta

*At 27, I was a single mum and had no savings and about £70k of debt.

I'm 38 now, and have a 7 figure sum in savings/investments.*

Keen to know how you did this, would you share how with us?

Not that old yet but about £30k and homeowner.

I’ve always saved. At 27 we were going on our first nice holiday after years of saving to pay for a wedding and buy a house. We had one second hand car, and very budget or no holidays at all- even our honeymoon was pretty budget.

None. But I had lots of student and credit card debts from my interning days.

I'm married (26) and we have a few k in savings if you net off the interest free credit cards. In our second mortgaged home, otherwise we'd have more savings. We were in Essex too, not a bad place to buy for sure if and when you can. We are in Suffolk now, more house for less £. We also have dogs and coincidentally lived with my mum before buying the first house.

Op - having read the thread I have to - respectfully - say I wonder at your position. Good job but at nearly 30 you are still living at home? Do you have a boyfriend or any general aspirations to get your own place?

You do come across as floating through life without much direction... surely there is more to you than that!?