How much do you have in savings?

[Lasvegas]

Saw thread about spending more than £130 on yourself without consulting partner and it shocked me how much DH & I spend on luxuries compared to the rest of you. Him about £400 a week on betting, clothes, eating out and drinking, cabs, presents for me. Me about £100 a week mainly on dinner out, baby sitters and cabs. We are not particularly wealthy just that we spemd just about everything we earn, but we don't have any debts at all except the mortgage. We have a total of 12k in savings which would cover the mortgage for 6 months. If car needed new engine that would be £6K. So 12K not a massive amount. Maybe we should save more given we have 3 kids to support but DH loves to spend on himself and on me and tbh I'm not that worried as we both have good pensions, life assurance, critical health assurance etc. Also bro in law died aged 38 so we both kinds think enjoy life while you can. Is my attitude different to the rest of you? Do you save a proportion of your spare cash each month?

if you are bringing home £7k a month and you are paying £2,200 on a mortgage then you really haven't thought things through. Savings don;t come into it. Absolutely no point in having savings and a big mortgage. You are wasting vast amounts of money on interest payments

have higher disposable income LV, and in the last two years have used it to pay off about £200k of mortgage, cutting our monthly payments by about 75 per cent. whilst you, if you forgive me, have pissed it up the wall. bit dippy if you ask me!

Savings? Ooooh, oodles and oodles - just don't know what to do with it all!

Can't believe this thread is still going!

Didn't watch the 'pay your mortgage off in 2 years' but if anyones got some tips.........

Lasvagas do you want to sponsor me..?

Or if not me then please think about sponsoring some children via Oxfam or the REd Cross!

hi lv

i would be embarrassed to post our household income on mn - but as i suspected there are m'netters who could buy and sell us 10 times over!

i agree with the other posters who have said that your savings relative to your outgoings are actually rather low. you have mentioned that they would cover the mortgage for 6m, but obviously you would need to consider the other basic expenses - insurances, council tax, utilities, food etc.

i also notice that your (household) disposible income is high (4200 on the main expenses v. 7000 coming in).

i'm sorry i haven't seen your other thread, but it seems inconceivable (sorry!) that you can't afford another child, provided the household - i.e. rather than your income alone - is taken into consideration.

i don't know how to answer your question really. do you have enough in savings? no, not really, imho - i think you need to budget for 6m total expenses not just mortgage. if you are planning on private school for 3 or possibly 4 children - then get saving now!

fwiw, and you did ask, i think your dh spending £400 pw on himself is - especially on betting - eek!

hth and good luck with whatever you decide to do with the replies here

If you spend spend spend without thinking much about it (like it sounds like your DH is doing at least), then nothing ever feels like a special treat anymore. You don't have to save all your money, but spend it wisely and spend it on things which lasts. holidays, experiences with your family....Not gambling

sorry, meant to say, i am very risk averse when it comes to the financial security of the family. i save a lot into pensions and savings accounts (relative to our income) and don't care about material status symbols.

I want to enjoy my life, but I also want to make sure that I'm still enjoying it when I'm 70 or if I get made redundant.
I'm another careful with money person. I earn sufficiently little to get tax credits, but I still squirrel away money each month into a pension & savings. If I am ever fortunate enough to get a windfall (say through tax back) then I make a payment to reduce my mortgage.
LV, I would strongly recommend that you get a recommendation for a good financial advisor. You'd probably be amazed by the amount you could put away, without it having a huge impact on your day to day life.

Does the following help lasvegas? :

Take home pay for dh (I don't work) after tax: £18,000 per month

Savings per month (including investments etc): £5k per month

and £3k per month into pensions.

Honestly LV I would be terrified if we spent all our income and saved nothing. we are both self employed and having enough savings to keep going if one of us fell ill is one of the things that helps me sleep at night

sparklemagic, thanks for your support!

I know I made the only choice for me by being at home for the last 8 years, but now I'm really getting worried about money. I was lying in bed this morning wondering about working as a cleaner, trouble I've got is that I've got no-one that could take my kids for even a few hours if I was working and dh was at work. My mum is 78 and lives herself and isn't up to two very lively boys! I always feel maybe now my boys are 5 and 8 I could earn some more money but not having relatives to help me with childcare nearby stops me. I am a registered childminder but I only want to work term time when the youngest starts school and I find that's impossible to get. I know lots of childminders round here who have their houses full of kids and make a fortune, I wish I could be more like them, but I just find having other kids in the house when my 2 are here doesn't work, they are used to having their mum to themselves.

Anyway, must go, thanks again and I'm sure we'll bump into each other here again!

BTW kingmidas, whatever does your dh do?

Is he a footballer or a pop star?? Or what else I can't imagine!

He's a very successful financial adviser (they don't all earn in that ball park). Footballers and pop stars earn way more. He earns circa £300K per annum.

It's a lot of money though and we're very grateful for it...particularly since neither of were born with 'silver spoons in our mouths'

Incidentally, he used to earn about £30 - 40k per year up until about 7 years ago (when he was in corporate banking). Just goes to illustrate - high earners are not more 'brilliant' or 'deserving' than others - just bloody lucky to have chose the right field

ah!!

well enjoy it, he must be very good at what he does!

Hmmmmm savings? Zero. Debt? Plenty.

OMG kingmidas how much tax does your other half pay!!!!!

Sorry not a serious question and I suppose being a finacial advisor he knows how to make the best of it (-:

Kingmidas, you sound like a lovely person! We earn what your dh used to earn, and we are fortunate in that we are aware that we have made a choice to earn at this level. We know there are careers out there that we would be perfectly capable of that pay loads more but that we wouldn't enjoy or that wouldn't give us the lifestyle that we want. You seem to have just the right attitude!

Fisil, i know what you mean. I know lots of families in my area who live in big houses, have good incomes, etc, but the downside for me would be that their dhs work long hours, often travelling abroad for work and so their families see less of them. For me, this balance wouldn't work (or that's what I tell myself when I start lusting after their houses!)

katyp, I agree. We earn piddling amounts but my DH is ALWAYS here for hours in the evening to play with DS, bath him, read him stories, put him to bed. Precious, precious time and that's EVERY day.

Worth paying for!

true!