Savings - how much do you have?

[twinkletoesbluesky]

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....

@muldersspeedos

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

If you are working, universal credit offers 50% interest rate if you can save £50 per month. Ours is due to mature in summer and we have saved the full amount of £50/mth for 4 years.

Maybe 6 months of mortgage, bills and expenses. Its more than we had - covid helped us build up savings.

@OneRingToRuleThemAll where can I find more information about this please? I've never heard of it.

Quite a decent amount at the mo but car on its last legs and we're also hoping to move house soon so expecting most of it to disappear.

The savings that made the biggest difference to me (after getting out if debts) was saving up a months bills. I remember getting paid late one month and my colleagues were in such a tough position as they all had mortgages and bills going out. What I hadn’t appreciated was how much you can save on your costs once you have that first bit of cash: buying annual travel passes or annual subscriptions, being able to bulk buy certain things and save over the year or invest in things that will save money like low energy lightbulbs or better quality shoes. It’s taken a few years to get into a better position though.

@muldersspeedos

www.gov.uk/get-help-savings-low-income

We have 6 months salary saved in one account and £25k in another account.

Our day to day savings we have £8,000 in. I’ve just bought new furniture so haven’t added to it for the last 2 months.

My DH is self employed so a minimum for us is 30-35k, to cover periods of unemployment should they arise. We currently have about 50k.

I used to keep about a years expenses in savings but have recently realised this is OTT with how high inflation is. I now keep just three months in savings and everything else is invested.

I can usually pay for new white goods/ housing repairs out of income so the three months savings is really to give me time to find a new job if I needed one. I work in an industry where there's no virtually no unemployment.

So vulgar to talk about how much money you have. I never do.

@Viviennemary

So vulgar to talk about how much money you have. I never do.

Lol, most people on this thread didn't use any actual numbers

I have 6 months of “my half” of expenses put aside in premium bonds - that’s expenses, not salary.

I agree that the “right” amount for an emergency fund is very specific to individual circumstances though - if I was self employed or in an industry where it’s difficult to find work, I’d probably have more.

Also aside from emergency funds I could also fund my basic mortgage/bills on just minimum wage; and on my current salary I’m finally in a position to be able to afford to just about cover both of our monthly expenses if needed with a bit of belt tightening (minus the car, but that’s a luxury we’d have to get rid of if the shit hit the fan).

12 months worth of expenses saved in a very accessible account. Rest of savings in ISAs- about £300k. This will also form a buffer for our pensions, deposits for DCs houses when they are older etc

I'm getting increasingly uncomfortable. 6 months ago we had £115k, but an extension planned that was supposed to be £95k. But it has inevitably taken more and will be about £120k when finished which means we'll be in debt which I absolutely hate.

I like to have about £10k in the bank, which is about 3-4 months of minimal outgoings (mortgage, bills and childcare).

@Viviennemary

So vulgar to talk about how much money you have. I never do.

I never would in real life but this is anonymous.

I currently have a year’s salary saved. Although we have an extension planned, so it’ll mostly get spent next year. It did mean that I didn’t have any financial worries when DH was made redundant this time last year. (Fortunately he found another job before his redundancy money ran out).

I don’t think it’s vulgar to talk about money. In fact I’m pretty sure NOT talking about money is what has kept women on the lower rungs of financial reward for years and years.

Not talking about money keeps women in a financially vulnerable position and you see it here all the time. An OP on another thread is a SAHM and confesses her husband deals with the finances and she doesn’t know what’s in the accounts.

Nobody is bragging about their amounts, but general guides are helpful to others who are either starting out with savings.

Savings goals should always start off small and then increase as you hit each goal. Save towards a month of outgoing a, then save towards 3 months, then 6 and so on. Once you have a good buffer, start breaking down further into “pots”. One for Christmas, one for holidays, one for house extension, one for university costs and so on (if any of that is applicable).

I pay myself first. After my bills go out, I put a sum into our savings account and then we spend what remains in the current account.

6 x living expenses (bare bones…enough to keep lights on, food in bellies etc). Also have some other funds for home maintenance, car savings etc. I think 12k for a 2k net earner sounds pretty good!

About 10.5 months expenses- enough to cover bills, food and a little left over (we have a child so expenses vary) That's our safety net account and we're fortunate to have it and not need to touch it.

We have about £500k in a savings account. And we have investments that go towards our child's savings account.

Money isn't vulgar- we aren't 1950s housewives with not a penny to our name, we can discuss what we have.

2 years salary at present. But only because we had two family bereavements.

and tbh I consider equity in our house savings. because if the shit hits the fan we can downsize.

anyway, I agree that savings goals should start small. We started putting a weekly sum away for the Dcs when DS2 was born. I had always thought we could never do that but I cut out a couple of monthly magazine subscriptions and a monthly membership i was not making use of. Both DCs now have thousands in savings (they are 12 and 10). It was stuff I did not miss and would have just pissed away.

Mortgage paid off at 28 and about 50k plus pensions

Our current accounts usually have about 5-8k them.
Instant access Savings = 50k
Investments = 100k
DC's accounts have about 30k each so far.
The rest is all tied up in pensions.

DH has about £150k. I have about £60k.