Savings… single and no kids

[whatsm]

I know that this might sound a bit specific, but I'm really curious about how much others in my situation have saved. Having savings has always been really important to me. Since I don’t have a partner to rely on and I’m not eligible for any benefits because I don’t have kids, if I lose my job, I’m stuffed basically. So far, I’ve managed to save up 6k. I know that’s more than some people have, but that would disappear in 3 months. When I was made redundant in 2024, it took me 2 months to find another job, so the money goes fast. My take home pay is about 2k a month, and my bills are around £1,500 (which includes food, gas, electric and petrol). I’m trying to save enough to cover 6 months of wages, but unexpected bills / repairs sometimes delay this.

You don't say how old you are, older people generally have higher earnings and so more opportunities to save.

Homeowners might need higher savings than renters to cover potential boiler breaking, roof leaking, etc..

Anyway little point in comparing, 6 months expenses is good to aim for. You could look into income protection but it might be costly and so impact the savings.

Do you rent or own?

How old are you?

Sorry! I’m 27 and I own my house. I rented for 6 years, but managed to save a small deposit and bought the house in June last year. I had to have a new boiler and a few other things replaced so that set me back a bit.

I'm a similar situation as far as living alone, home owner, no kids, about 6 years older than you. Saving is harder on one income, I managed to save a months salary and ended up needing it for an emergency, hopefully will be back up to £2k in savings by end of March

I think you’re doing incredibly well for 27

I’m married but we have separate accounts. I’m 42 and have £7,000 in ‘cash’ savings so you are doing very well.

To be fully transparent I do have £70k in my S&S ISA but that’s only because my dad died. And it’s for my retirement if I ever get there so I don’t access it

Why does everyone on mumsnet keep asking this??????????????

It's 6 months expenses, every knows this!

I would say more than 8 months savings at present, everyone I know who has been out of work recently took around 8/10 months to find a new job. Whilst you don’t have children if you are made redundant, you can claim for benefits.

At that age I had just over 2k but in today’s money it would be the equivalent of about 5k. I had also totally retrained having left nursing. You could however buy a small house for about 19k in the early to mid 90’s up North where I had recently moved to. I’m 59 now I’m not going to put exact figures but above average for my age group.

Average Savings by Age (UK, recent data)

• 25-34 years: Around £3,500 - £9,300
• 35-44 years: Around £6,000 - £7,400
• 45-54/55 years: Around £11,000 - £13,300
• 55+ years: Around £20,000 - £28,000

An overview taken from ONS.

I keep 6 months money in a cash isa for emergencies such as redundancy.

In covid, I was made redundant and it took 7 months to find another role, so I got away with it...just.

She was asking how others like her were doing with savings. Not asking how much she should have

I too agree youre doing amazingly well at 27. Keep going.

Im more than double your age, also single and no kids, have approx a year's salary saved.

I think the key question though is how's your pension? That's a very important 'savings' pot.

I keep £10k in an emergency fund at all times, any time I dip into it my priority is topping it back up - I've done that since I bought my house in 2018. However, my company has a really good redundancy payout based on years of service, so I'm not worried. All my savings go towards my mortgage overpayments.

You're doing really well, saving anything at your age is hard and you clearly have the right mindset!

How are you doing pension wise? That is also saving albeit not as satisfying as short term saving.

I think you are doing very well OP: just try and carry on building your savings.

6 months living expenses is a great starting point, but it’s also worth looking at what you could do if you were in a crisis (e.g future job loss). E.g is there a room you could rent out. Is there a driveway you could put on ‘JustPark’ etc. This might remove some worry if you feel your pot isn’t at an ideal level.