Am I the only person who doesn't have any savings?

Bluemeanie_2

NewKittenHelp wrote: »

For everyone like him there are hundreds of pensioners struggling to survive because they didn't adequately plan for their retirement. It's only going to get worse for the rest of us.

I know, but personally, I would rather struggle in retirement, when my body has slowed down anyhow, than go without going to Florida, Rockies, Kenya, Amsterdam, out on the town etc when I am young. And then have the money to done stuff but struggle. But #i guess whatever works for you. I do pay into my works pension BTW, I am lucky, mine is still a relatively good one.

Taadaa

I think the trouble with having no savings is that when you get an unexpected bill, with nothing to fall back on you will have to resort to borrowing. Living completely hand to mouth is never a good idea - I have learnt this the hard way!

bluebeary

i have no savings and ive been living in my overdraft forever

thehappybutterfly

Before we got into debt, my hubby was obsessed with "saving for the future" as he didn't want to end up like his parents - on basic pension and doing nothing with their lives. I was the opposite - I wanted us to live our lives now, going out, having days out with the kids, family holidays abroad etc while we were young enough to enjoy it.

The trouble for us both was that we just didn't have enough money to do either - hence the debt levels. So we're goosed. We're not enjoying life to the fullest nor do we have any savings for our old age.

I think a balance is needed. You need to enjoy life while planning for the future but that's not just retirement. Planning for home emergencies is essential if you don't want to rely on credit. £200 or £300 savings is a nice cushion to have and shouldn't take too long to save.

Friends of ours used to complain they were skint but they had £10k in the bank in savings! How is that skint?

aliasojo

We had no savings to fall back on due to overspending on a house refurb and when the !!!!!! hit the fan as it invariably does, we had to move to keep afloat.

We're still dealing with the fallout from that and are in the process of dealing with the last of our debt but the minute it's gone, saving will be my No1 priority.

Saving never seemed all that important when I was younger but with age comes a certain amount of wisdom.

quintwins

19lottie82 wrote: »

I have my own flat, car and have a decent ish job (£22k pa), but as I live alone, and hence pay all the bills myself, I have nothing in the bank! I have a credit card for emergencies, but no savings..... It's something I worry about quite a bit, but I'm not really in the position to change it at the moment.

Please assure me I'm not alone!

If you have a creditcard for emergencys how do you pay it when theres a emergency? if you can pay for your emergency after the fact surely you can save for it before.

savingmummy

I`m a sahm and have small savings, i save everything i can and sell on ebay for my savings. BUT i dont own my own home - hence me saving now
I would love to beable to say i do one day.

I do have emergency fund set aside incase of anything going wrong indoors or with a bill not being paid for some reason or another.

Sammie_03

I don't have savings either. Me and dp are hoping to start saving in the new year.
I have always wanted to be in the position to have savings and now things are looking up for us we are hoping to have a nice amount put away for emergencies etc.

Xxx

happy35

i now have savings as my mortgage is smaller in comparison to income than when i took it out 11 years ago.

I had my son when I was young so am hoping now that he is older that I will be able to keep on with my savings and get a decent little nest egg

I have a decent income but until the last couple of years have only really had enough to live on

msb5262

Hi OP,

Interesting thread.

I started saving as a kid with cheques, postal orders etc for birthdays going into a post office account. When I was 17 and had a weekend job, that money went in too and when I was 19 and off to university, I used most of my savings to buy a decent bicycle which was my main transport for the next 4 years.

Since then I've always saved a bit - using direct debits etc to make it painless - and this enabled me to buy a new car a couple of years ago. It also meant I had some money when I needed emergency repairs on the house...and whenever I get some unexpected money, most of it goes into savings while I decided what to do with it. I like having savings so sometimes I just leave it in a savings account!

However, I'm an amateur saver compared to my friend. She saved and earned and saved from being a kid until she actually had £10000 as a deposit for her house!

You'll probably say that you don't need that as your housing is sorted - but what if you're ill and don't get paid, and can't pay the mortgage or bills? The least you need is 3 months' mortgage and bills money put away, then you can relax. Think about it a bit.

HTH

MsB