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

snowqueen555

Because its wise to save money and not squandor it!

I'm not a kid anymore, it worries me to think I have little savings, I know a lot of my friends are in the same boat, but then there are some who are doing very well.

My only saving grace is that I have no debt whatsoever, but I didn't really enjoy much of a student lifestyle, no holidays, trips, expensive clubbing etc.

Who did better? I think they did tbh

vaporate

snowqueen555 wrote: »

Because its wise to save money and not squandor it!

I'm not a kid anymore, it worries me to think I have little savings, I know a lot of my friends are in the same boat, but then there are some who are doing very well.

My only saving grace is that I have no debt whatsoever, but I didn't really enjoy much of a student lifestyle, no holidays, trips, expensive clubbing etc.

Who did better? I think they did tbh

It was a genuine question regarding what you are saving for?

I'm in the same boat as you savings wise. Living frugally as possible.

edinburgher

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

Is that weekly or monthly, before or after tax?

Loughton_Monkey

I think the climate has changed significantly. I have retired 10 years early - thanks to having saved well - wanting now to spend the rest of my life spending what I have.

Although I am ashamed to admit it, for the first 10/12 years of my working life I didn't really 'save' in the true sense of the word. I remember being so poor, I had to spend £80 to keep our old boiler going for another year simply because I could not find the £350 to buy a new one.

BUT. My accounts show me that at that time I was worth about 5 TIMES my (then) salary

You see in those days, I had a non-contributary final salary scheme, AND I bought a house on 100% mortgage 9 months after starting work. I have 'back-filled' my accounts with 'true' pension fund values and always kept a record of house prices since I moved a lot - each time increasing the mortgage to just above what I could afford.

So, in effect, if you take the large employer contributions to my pension, and the 'returns' from investing heavily in porperty (i.e. our house), my 'savings' were actually brilliant.

These days, of course, pension contributions are far more mean, and getting onto the house ladder is far more difficult - not to mention the millstone of a student loan (which I didn't have). Only in the last 20 years of working life did I "save" as in deliberately put money into a bank or PEP/ISA etc. And when I got to a total balance (including pensions and house equity) of about 15 times my salary (which I was nowhere near to spending all of), it was time to reverse the trend, and start reducing the savings to zero before we die.

Trouble is, I don't know how long I've got!!

worried_jim

I have no savings for a rainy day, I do have a pension but that's it. Life is so expensive saving is not an option I have been this way since 2003 and if I am honest it hasn't been any great problem. I do live on the breadline every month and have to prioritise I haven't had a holiday for over two years and I run a banger of a car but I am a home owner and I have paid 7 years of my mortgage off, I have everything I need and I wouldn't have it any other way, I could have rented something small and grotty and have savings or stretched myself to the hilt and have a really nice home to call my own. It's one or the other in the modern world if you are single and live in the south.

Accountant_Kerry

i think there are reasons for and against, i have only had a reasonable amount of savings over the last year, due to various things i have squandered a LOT of money over the years including a five figure inheritance and over £20k from the sale of a house, all before I was 23. However i wouldn't change a thing, i had a great time!! I have more responsibilities now and want to retire early at 55, which is the only reason I have decided to grow up in my thirties.

LeeSouthEast

I just worked out that on a full time minimum wage income (£733), I can (if I get rid of the car, which I won't need), still save £850 a year. And that's living in one of the most expensive cities in the south east of England (albeit not alone). To do this I stopped my regular share trading investment, cut back on my food spending (down from £100 to £50), and that was about it.

The secret as always is live according to your means, not up to your expectations.

CharlesCooper222

Why save?
Think of all those Flat Screen TV's that need to be bought, the car wash people who need jobs on Sunday, the sports millionaires who need our continued loyalty to whatever product they're advertising, the Xmas presents that have to be wrapped 3 months before Xmas, the NEW cars going for a song at £30 grand a piece, house prices that consecutive governments allow to artifically rise and rise giving the 'illusion' of wealth and savings, the long weekends we need in New York and not to mention the latest fashion accessories.
WE Need these things - there isn't time for savings.

Savings are for losers!

rictus123

LeeSouthEast wrote: »

I just worked out that on a full time minimum wage income (£733), I can (if I get rid of the car, which I won't need), still save £850 a year. And that's living in one of the most expensive cities in the south east of England (albeit not alone). To do this I stopped my regular share trading investment, cut back on my food spending (down from £100 to £50), and that was about it.

The secret as always is live according to your means, not up to your expectations.

Great post Lee and great line at the end..Iv been working withen a budget for the past 3 weeks, im getting addicted to that sort of stuff and this site again. My wage being so much more than my expenses it really shouldnt take me long to save up 6 months worth. Id like a years before i think about a house deposit.

sarflee

Have to admit I don't have any savings as such but I do save for things, just saved for half the house to be double glazed, now saving for the other half. We have insurance for the mortgage, death benefit to cover mortgage and £20-30k excess, and a few hundred in a rainy day account. Don't have any loans or credit cards, live month to month with a hundred or so spare a month. I really don't see the need to have much in the way of savings?? I pay my taxes/NI and would expect some help if we fell on hard times as I thought that's what I pay it for or not???