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Original poster

Am I the only 26 yr old with no savings???

57 replies

Toothache · 09/06/2004 12:40

This question has been triggered by many things. One being someone posting on here that they would rather not dip into their savings for £15,000 for something! I nearly fell off my chair!

We have no savings (well.... about £300 in an ISA). We did have about £2000 but spent that on appliances for the kitchen and furniture when we bought our first house. Ds was born 2 mths later and we've never really managed to save since then!

I fully intend to start saving after I return to work fulltime early next year, but am I the exception???

At 26 yrs old I wouldn't imagine many people who have a mortgage and kids have much in the way of savings...... or do they??

Opinions please....

OP posts:
lars · 09/06/2004 12:42

No I'm sure your not. My savings not much I'm afraid all the spare cash I have appears to be going on the kids.
larsxx

Northerner · 09/06/2004 12:43

Hi Toothache! You are not alone, I'm 27, and dh is 34 and we only have a couple of hundred quid in an ISA. Again, similar to you we have never been in a position to save, something always seems to crop up. We live pretty much hand to mouth.

Original poster
Toothache · 09/06/2004 12:44

Thats what I thought. Any savings we have accrued have usually been spent on something we've saved up for... such as the household stuff, then the wedding.... and Christmas!

OP posts:
jampot · 09/06/2004 12:45

We have money put away for things like kids' further education etc and have 2 savings accounts for "emergencies". However, we don't consider it for day to day living and more often than not my dh tells me we're broke!!!

spacemonkey · 09/06/2004 12:48

LOL! I'm ten years older than you toothache, and I have no savings, only humungous debts! I don't think you are the exception

katierocket · 09/06/2004 12:48

we're 32 and we have no savings at all. you are not alone, it's always on my 'to do' list but we never have any spare cash.

eefs · 09/06/2004 12:53

we have savings but also have debts. I think they cancel eachother out at the moment but hopfully in a few years we'll be rich -rich I tell you.
we have savings we don't touch so we don't consider them to be ours yet (long term savings) and we have the credit union account that builds up for months then get's spent on car insurance/christmas etc.
try puttin a samll bit away were it's not easy to get at - you'd be surprised at how little you might miss it and it will build up over time.

sooz31 · 09/06/2004 12:57

last year we had to sort out our finances to move house and get hooge mortgage, so got some advice and he said, wait for this, hold on to your chairs, that ideally everyone should have 3 times their monthly take home pay tucked away for emergencies... yes, 3 times! good grief!

we're working on it... very slowly!

spacemonkey · 09/06/2004 12:58

I think the relevant word there is "ideally" sooz!

Original poster
Toothache · 09/06/2004 13:00

Sooz - I'd heard that too!

Scary!!

Jampot - that's exactly what I mean. You have money put away for schooling and emergencies.... we don't have any!

OP posts:
oliveoil · 09/06/2004 13:11

We have savings (I am 34, dh 33) but it wasn't always the case. I used to have huge debts, partly due to an ex who I was supporting, and once I cleared them, I was determined never to be in debt again. We have about a grand on visa and that is it. Made a wedge on selling our last house though so even though we have savings, they weren't actually 'saved' monthly iyswim.

In fact dd has more in here account than us!

oliveoil · 09/06/2004 13:12

ahem, HER account

codswallop · 09/06/2004 13:13

you will when all recovers after maternity leave - now dh has new job

NomDePlume · 09/06/2004 13:14

I'm 22 and I've never earned enough to really save, anything I've earned has had to be spent in the here and now.

Now we're lucky enough in that DH earns a very good salary and so we can live a comfortable life and I can be a SAHM. Our income still doesn't allow us to put by a huge amount (£50 a month), as our standard outgoings (mortgage, car, pensions, bills, insurances etc) are almost as much as our incomings. However, when I return to work there will an additional salary coming in (not huge, but it'll certainly make a difference). I hope that we'll be in a position to put a susbstantial percentage of that money away 'for a rainy day', so to speak.

So no, you are certainly not alone !

Galaxy · 09/06/2004 13:26

message withdrawn

Blu · 09/06/2004 13:27

No Toothache, I'm A LOT older than you and my savings amount to about £750! And I have no sensible pension.

DS is being brought up to be a plumber or barrister......

marialuisa · 09/06/2004 13:30

i've just turned 26, DH coming up 36. We do have savings but have lost about £5k on them in past 4 years (should have just stuffed it under the bed!)and the only reason we have them is because DH had lots of compensation when he was in a serious car crash at 21. The rest of the money from the compo went towards house deposits and DH went travelling when he was younger.

We do have an instant access savings account we put money into every month but the balance is usually pretty low because it gets used for things like house repairs, holidays etc. We probably could save more but TBH neither of us is that worried about things. We have all the life insurance stuff sorted and awful as it sounds we know that we will get a chunk of family money (via my dad) at some point. similarly if disaster did strike my family would cover many of our expenses (e.g. DD's school fees) as they have already offered to pay anyway and been turned down.

Of my closest friends (age 26) only 2 have mortgages (one with her big earning consultant boyf) and everyone has massive debts.

maisystar · 09/06/2004 13:31

i'm 26 and have nothing i'm going to start saving for ds when i return to work in the next year or two but daren't even think about my future!

Original poster
Toothache · 09/06/2004 13:32

Not that I'm basking in everyone else's financial traumas.... but it does make me feel MUCH better to read that I'm not alone.

Coddy - Yup that's what we're hoping for.

OP posts:
Tommy · 09/06/2004 13:34

We spent all ours on a new car - I think we have about £20..but I'm saving that for a rainy day

suzywong · 09/06/2004 13:50

I am I the only 36 year old with no savings?
or mortgage
I agree with spacemonkey, don't worry about it

aloha · 09/06/2004 13:53

Ha ha ha! (hollow, hysterical laughter). I am a 40 year old with no savings, a mortgage and a tax bill coming up ....oh, dear, feel a bit sick now.

Original poster
Toothache · 09/06/2004 14:03

lol Tom and aloha!!

I didn't mean to depress you all by making you think too much about your savings.... . or lack of them.

OP posts:
serenequeen · 09/06/2004 14:12

oh am i not allowed on this thread as it was me who made you fall off your chair?

well if it is any consolation, i didn't have any savings at all when i was 26 - i'm 36 now.

started earning a decent salary when started working in the city at 28 - since then we have built up savings by consistently living below our income.

serenequeen · 09/06/2004 14:13

but will probably be hunting behind the sofa cushions for coins next year when paying for bigger mortgage and nanny (due to really stupid entrance criteria for local primary school - loooong story...)