Is it true that 99% of people have less than £50,000 in the bank?

edinburgher

would you say this is right or wrong? just a quick question, thanks for answering.

Sounds about right! As other posters have said, why on earth would you want to have a big pile of cash shrinking by the day? I'd rather spread the risk between pensions/cash/equities/others..

missile

I have over £50K cash reserve, but not so silly as to keep it in one bank account.

snowqueen555

I think that statement would refer to all investments and cash, not specifically £50 000 in one account.

I would think that stat is true, for me to acquire that capital through saving would take me many many years

sandsy

The Institute of Fiscal Sturdies have done some interesting research on household wealth. They only collect data every 5 years and the most recent report is based on data collected in 2000 and 2005. They're collecting 2010 data at the moment.

But the 2005 data showed that the median (typical) level of liquid assets (ie. across all types of accounts, including investments but excluding pensions) was £1100 per family unit.

Only 25% had more than £16k and less than 10% had more than £60k.

Where the head of the family was under 45yo, typical liquid wealth was around zero or less.

So liquid wealth is very much concentrated in the hands of middle-aged to older people and, even then, probably largely restricted to a smallish proportion of people in those age bands.

amcluesent

Didn't we have a poll once on MSEers net worth? IIRC there were some £1M+

LongTermLurker

snowqueen555 wrote: »

I think that statement would refer to all investments and cash, not specifically £50 000 in one account.

I would think that stat is true, for me to acquire that capital through saving would take me many many years

I disagree. That statement would be meaningless. The only way £50,000 becomes meaningful is in the context of FSCS protection, where it applies to cash savings per financial institution. There would be no point in anyone quoting a £50k savings & investments figure.

LongTermLurker

amcluesent wrote: »

Didn't we have a poll once on MSEers net worth? IIRC there were some £1M+

Yes I remember that. However, remember all it takes is for someone to have been lucky on the housing market.

edit - here's a couple of posts

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1840321

http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=132404

Edinvester pulled up €200k last July and Daily Mail :rolleyes: reckoned £204k last December, but I like SarahBell's take on that

Posted 11 December 2009 - 10:00 AM
They're not using figures like £15k a kidney are they?
Average family's net value for organ harvesting is probaly about £204k

snowqueen555

LongTermLurker wrote: »

I disagree. That statement would be meaningless. The only way £50,000 becomes meaningful is in the context of FSCS protection, where it applies to cash savings per financial institution. There would be no point in anyone quoting a £50k savings & investments figure.

Well the opening thread did not mention any relation FSCS protection, I suppose I took the thread opener at face value.

I thought thread was just about savings for households/individuals, in which case I think it is meaningful, as sandsy also presumes.

LongTermLurker

snowqueen555 wrote: »

Well the opening thread did not mention any relation FSCS protection, I suppose I took the thread opener at face value

You're right, it's not mentioned, but as I say, that's the only sensible thing the £50k could refer to - of course, I'm only guessing.

Loughton_Monkey

News article from Friday, 23rd March 2001. [BBC Website]

"Twenty-one million adults in Britain have less than £500 in savings, according to research.

The Great British Savings Survey, conducted by the M&G Investment Group, indicates that most adults have less set aside than the average worker earns in a week............"

I was staggered at the time, and happened to be working in South Korea.

Showed it to my Korean secretary (extremely nice slip of a girl, aged about 26) and she was more staggered than I. She thought us British were 'Rich'.

Not wishing directly to ask her how much she had saved, I asked her to ask all her friends (of a similar age) working in the office as clerks etc. what sort of savings they might have. The answer came to the equivalent of around £30,000 each on average.