Third of Britons can't last a week on savings!

opinions4u

Isn't it strange.

The time in life when I had the highest disosable income was between leaving school and buying my first home. Age 18 to 22.

You get a job and your income jumps from NIL to £hundreds a month. Anybody in that position, living with parents should pay the rent to their parents, save half of what's left over and live off the rest.

Within a year they will have 3-6 months net pay sorted and then start to save for more exciting things like cars and houses.

Alternatively, spend it all, borrow heavily and get in a mess. Sooner or later it catches up with you.

Accountant_Kerry

Good advice but a lot of 18 year olds don't think like this, i didn't, i had a job and suddenly had money!! and could get a credit card lol. University debts also play a part, a lot of people are too bust paying these back to be able to save much. Not that i think its sensible not to save, just a fact that lots of young people have other priorities.

rictus123

Kerry has hit the nail on the head. Anyone 21 and under(generally) have going out with mates/partners as their top priority. Then comes their cars/motorbikes. Then there is their shopping/buying clothes etc and so on, much further down the list is saving money. Especially just for being a safety net. I got paid yesterday and for the first time since i was 16 i paid myself first. I have a short term goal that runs until Christmas. Then i will review it, and make a new goal for easter/the summer. A realistic goal but at the same time a challenge. There needs to be more education at school on personal finance.

LeeSouthEast

If only everyone had your head RIctus, the country would be far better off.

snowqueen555

I think a big problem is that a lot of people come out of uni in their early to mid 20's with no money whatsoever, and more likely than not end up in a low salaried job/any savings/unemployed.

I'm one of those people.

Another thing I found was that those student loans that a lot of people got out, are often spent on holidays, ipods, macs and all that kind of thing. I always wondered how my friends often went on holidays during Christmas etc.. a lot of it was from their loans. Do not underestimate the ability of a student to live on beans on toast for a month, but spend their loans on other things!

vaporate

Call me a snob, but I always assumed most people have at least £2500 or more in savings.

Not counting mortgage debt, if any.

I only have chicken feed savings but I still lived like a amateur monk just to get that lol. That and crap employment opportunities in this country despite what I have.

edinburgher

Another thing I found was that those student loans that a lot of people got out, are often spent on holidays, ipods, macs and all that kind of thing. I always wondered how my friends often went on holidays during Christmas etc.. a lot of it was from their loans. Do not underestimate the ability of a student to live on beans on toast for a month, but spend their loans on other things!

Granted, a lot of us spent student loans on crap, but some of us needed it to pay the rent/bills Ooddly enough, my fiancee's big sister's boyfriend saved every penny of his student loans by living at home during university and graduated with £20k in the bank. Still, he's now got a £180k mortgage to pay, so I'm not too envious!

rockitup

edinburgher wrote: »

My fiancee and I have a months salary for each of us stashed in the best instant access account we could find. We'll try and grow it in time, but it's hard.

Kudos to those of you with large balances stashed away, but some of the comments come across as a little smug. Fiancee and I are like most young couples and are getting married soon, have to rent a home, hope to drive at some point and are saving up for a deposit on our first home. We're doing ok, but are lucky to have relatively well paid jobs, some security and no kids.

It's not so easy to save an emergency fund when you earn minimum wage, have three kids and a car to support (at least as expensive as another child!) Granted, your lifestyle choices aren't anyone else's 'fault', but it's not as simple as 'no emergency fund = !!!!less idiot'

Agree with you there Edinburgher, it's damn hard saving up a 5% deposit on a lower than average wage let alone 15% to 20% deposits being asked for nowadays.

When I eventually bought a cheap first house in a rough street it must have took 4 to 5 years to get back on my feet (out of credit card and loan debt) and that was riding a Honda 50 moped and no nights out on the town.

I only made it through taking high risk investments but if we had 3 kids that wouldn't have been possible to risk that money.

Best of luck to you with saving for the house...:beer:

snowqueen555

Okay I'm on a salary below £15, saving is hard!

I like to think of things in ratios

Bills,savings,free cash. For me that equals 50/20/30

Could be better right, but could be worse. I know I can live on this and if I happened to be earning £20k then that savings % would be a lot higher

vaporate

snowqueen555 wrote: »

Okay I'm on a salary below £15, saving is hard!

I like to think of things in ratios

Bills,savings,free cash. For me that equals 50/20/30

Could be better right, but could be worse. I know I can live on this and if I happened to be earning £20k then that savings % would be a lot higher

What are you saving for?

I'm just saving for the fun of it. Just to have something to my name.