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Original poster

Savings - how much do you have?

161 replies

twinkletoesbluesky · 27/11/2021 00:59

Just that really, trying to get a good lump saved in case of emergencies.

How much do you currently have saved and do you feel comfortable with it?

I know some people have hundreds whilst others have thousands so just interested really....

OP posts:
FlowerArranger · 27/11/2021 01:04

It's often said that you should have enough savings to be able to manage for 6 months.

ImInStealthMode · 27/11/2021 01:10

I have £7000, which would keep my mortgage paid (if nothing else) for 8 months. I appreciate I'm lucky to be in that position though, and until the last few years had a 0 savings balance.

I know people say that money's not everything but having been penny to penny in the past believe me a little buffer makes all the difference.

Strokethefurrywall · 27/11/2021 01:11

It depends what you’re saving for? “Enough” is subjective. What is your salary, what are your goals?

Start aiming towards 3 months bills covered, then move up to 6 months bills covered.

Weenurse · 27/11/2021 01:18

Another who has enough saved to cover 3 months wages ( DH and me ).
That is how long it takes our income protection insurance to kick in if unable to work due to illness or injury.

orangechairs · 27/11/2021 01:24

I have a years salary in savings. It's all relative though... what fo you need and what are you saving for?

Original poster
twinkletoesbluesky · 27/11/2021 01:26

Saving in case job loss etc. For context currently have £12k saved and earn 2k per month.

OP posts:
FinallyFluid · 27/11/2021 01:27

We have £25k in what we call the slush fund, new boiler, new second hand cars and so on.

Then we have £190,000 in a separate pension fund which married with the final salaries and a state pension should be fine.

It was hard at times, but it should all come to fruition in about six months.

And then if my Mother dies without needing nursing care, there should be a decent inheritance.

So between this and that, more than enough Thank God.

Original poster
twinkletoesbluesky · 27/11/2021 01:27

But don't feel comfortable should I become unemployed. Just wondered what kind of situation you find yourself in and if you feel comfortable with it

OP posts:
TedMullins · 27/11/2021 01:48

Nothing. I spent it all on buying a flat!

MintJulia · 27/11/2021 01:54

I was furloughed/redundant when covid hit and was out for a year. With my redundancy pay and a little bit of job seekers, I still needed £12k savings to survive, and that was watching every penny.

I've been back in work 8 months and have replaced £6k of savings.

Overthebow · 27/11/2021 07:49

We have a years income saved. I didn’t feel comfortable until recently when we reached that amount, now think we have enough to cover any job emergencies.

Gladioli23 · 27/11/2021 07:55

I have a bit over a year's income in total, but if interest rates go up significantly I'll want to convert a chunk of it into paying a load off the mortgage. I think I would want six months worth of expenses that didn't require making cut backs, but my job is fairly in demand so I don't think I would struggle for employment. I'm also in a position where I could afford to take a much lower paid job and still pay the mortgage, which makes a big difference to job security.

bowlingalleyblues · 27/11/2021 07:58

Enough to live on for 6 months, plus insurance in case I couldn’t work for more than 6 months. I do have some investments as well but those are for my kids and for retirement.

BeyondMyWits · 27/11/2021 08:00

Our savings are flexible, have occasional emergencies, and now have 2 at university so "flexible" is turned to "diminishing"

We currently have £20k in the uni fund. £15k in the emergency fund, £10k in premium bonds and £30k in investments for long term/retirement. The mortgage is paid and we both have civil service pensions coming up.

We feel comfortable. But... MIL has dementia and our house is becoming a bit of a money pit. Never know what's around the corner... currently lucky.

AugustSeptemberOctober · 27/11/2021 08:02

DH and I have £40k saved. I am a SAHM and he is a low earner, so it was important to me that we could survive for a year if he lost his job. We could make £20k last a year, £10k is for any big unforeseen expenses before I go back to work in a few years (car bills, boiler etc). The other £10k was an inheritance gift. We live hand to mouth but I won't touch the savings! We'd be entitled to over £400 a month in benefits if we didn't have all our savings... But we manage.

DentalWorries · 27/11/2021 08:03

Currently £40k but when we buy a house next year it will be zero! Although we’re currently both saving about £1,000 a month so once we’ve paid for everything and furnished the house we should be able to build it up again pretty quickly.

WhatsWrongWithMyUsername · 27/11/2021 08:03

6 months of bills/ essential expenditure.

Covid scared me - at one point I thought both DH and I would be out of a job. I’d never thought before that could happen as we are completely different roles in different industries. So I saved frantically from then on (helped enormously by no childcare or travel costs, no doing anything).

I do realise I’m very fortunate to be able to save something, and I’m sorry for those living hand to mouth.

I would advise people, if they can afford it, to have critical illness insurance.

Agadorsparticus · 27/11/2021 08:05

Our minimum is £10k but I prefer £15k. Currently we have our house sale proceeds but they will be going into our next purchase v soon.

Bagelsandbrie · 27/11/2021 08:10

About £6k but threads like this are a bit pointless in some ways because peoples finances are so complex- for example on paper we don’t earn much but we have no mortgage. So although we live a fairly frugal life we have no rent / mortgage / housing worries. Someone else might earn ££££ but their mortgage etc might be huge…!

nellly · 27/11/2021 09:12

I have about £5k dh has about £20k as he saved really hard to ensure there was no financial pressure on me while I was on mat leave. It will probably dip a bit while I'm off then we will save hard again once I'm back at work

PlinkPlankPlunk · 27/11/2021 09:16

We have six months combined salaries, plus one year’s school fees, in the bank. We figured if we both lost our jobs it could take a year to sort everything out, so that’s the amount we could live on if needed.

Anything over that I pay off the mortgage so gradually our outgoings are coming down.

muldersspeedos · 27/11/2021 09:20

50p. Universal credit doesn't offer much opportunity for saving anything.

Porfre · 27/11/2021 09:24

Well I'm trying to buy a house so have a huge deposit saved.

But after that is used will have about 2-3 months salary saved.

jendifer · 27/11/2021 09:24

I have always had nothing, and usually a huge amount of debt too.

DH has around £150k in savings and £200k in his SIPP. It’s all invested and his main “work” is as a value investor. He considers it all to be our/joint money although I now have my own SIPP too. The idea of having savings is a very new thing to me.

notacooldad · 27/11/2021 09:28

I've got the equivalent of 5 years gross salary.
I put more than 3/4s of my salary into savings 11 months of the year.