Average amount of savings for a 30 year old... 3 April 2014 at 1:37PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in How much have you saved? 118 replies 322.6K views

CharllieSays

Thank you! I always feel I need to justify why I haven't saved more. Everyone around me seems to be doing so much better than me these days, so it can sometimes feel like I must have done something wrong to be where I am. But realistically, I think I'm doing pretty much the best anyone could have in my situation, so I try not to get too down about it. It's good to see others here are doing well! Keep up the good work! :beer:

savingwannabe

Everyone's path is different. You might be looking at their end whilst yours is near the beginning. Also the life skills you have gained at such a young age (I'm an old git so I can say that!) are priceless. Have you read the Millionaire Next Door and heard of Dave Ramsey?

CharllieSays

I've heard of both, but Dave Ramsey is my hero! I've been following him for a while now (he was my main motivation for paying off all my debt so fast). He's a great guy!

a_silver_lining

I only have about 3k savings, but about 90k equity in my flat.

I saved well between the ages of 18-27, never earned more then 25k, rented during that time and put myself through uni. I saved about 45k plus buying costs, was lent 10k and bought my flat.

It has been two and a half years since buying and I am 30. Since then I've paid off almost 3k of the 10k, overpaid mortgae by 1k and saved 3k. A Have also spent a few k on diy. A low mortgage and my partner living with me has made this possible. I'm now at a 16k job as have had a career change. I have some big diy coming up so anticipate struggling to save for a few years now.

Before buying I always saved over 25% of takehome pay and then any money left over at the end of the month or overtime went into saving pot. Occassionally dipped into the pot and saved nothing at Uni really.

My friends at 30 vary. Some have been given money from parents to buy, some are in debt.

savingwannabe

That is vvv inspiring. I wish I had saved in my younger years. I blooming threw it all away on travel, meals out and clothes. I would love to have that now so I didn't have to panic whenever redundancies were announced.

ShuttleBUS

I am 21 years old and here is my savings breakdown.
Lloyds Club:£5,000
Help-2-Buy ISA:£4,850
TSB: £1,500
Nationwide Plus acc: £2,500
Other: £1,900

Total: £15,750

Before Uni I saved £2,500 which I spent from my McDonalds job. I carried on there which helped pay for things and I also got £9,000 each years as part of the Loan and Grant. I went to uni for two years and quit.

5,000 x 4% = £200
1,500 x 3% = £45
2,500 x 5% = £125
1,900 x 1% = £19
Total: £389 interest

TomSurrey

I'm 36, I've looked back at where I was at age 30.

I had at 30
> £75k pension saving
> £20k ISA saving (performed really badly)
> £6k cash
> no debt, paid off student loan, no mortgage

Six years later (now) at 36
> £205k pension saving (saving additional£16k a year)
> £7k ISA saving
> £80k share of mortgage equity
> £10k company shares
> prerty huge mortgage
> no other debt, other than flipping money (20k) through interest free credit cards and stashing the cash in risk free bank accounts paying a couple of % interest

The saving I did in my late 20's and early thirties have allowed me to buy my dream house with my (now) wife. Her net worth is perhaps three times mine and we have been able to leverage our joint savings to do things we wouldn't have been able to alone.

My advice is save early, invest aggressively if you can take some risk. Put money into your pension if you can using company matching payments and tax breaks.

My net worth now is circa £300k, wifes £750k, joint saving rate of 60% across pension, ISA, mortgage equity payments etc.

PhilStation

misskl wrote: »

Ok, so I know this question depends very much on circumstance, but I'm trying to get a general picture of what is considered 'average' in terms of how much a 30 year old (no mortgage) has.

I'm almost 30, and slowly getting out of debt, but have a VERY minimal amount of savings. I've always been boom/bust when it comes to money, and I love spending money- a habit that will have to change!!

I wish I could do a straw poll amongst my friends to see how much they all have saved up, but I don't feel I can (we keep our finances so under wraps in this country!)

Basically, I'm clueless. But I'm thinking as a good start, to have:
Emergency fund: 3-6k (six months expenditure)
House deposit: 10k
Fun fund (holidays, etc): 2k

I'm basing this on the average UK salary, which I think is 25k.

Any advice??

Thanks

For us (I'm 31, wife's 30) it has been very up and down and we are now on the down with the wife going part time after the birth of my son. We had savings but since getting married, buying our current home, a second car and income changes, we have less that £1k now but building up slowly.

We save in categories - Reserve fund, holiday fund, home improvement fund, christmas fund, long term savings (that the plan is not to touch) and an annual expenditure fund (for car insurance and bills that come up only once/twice a year)

The annual expenditure / Christmas funds are easy as we estimate expenditure and just put that away. For the others, we save £80 per month into each.

The important thing is to budget and give yourself enough to live on. If you can reduce expenditure on things you don't need, or outgoings that you are paying too much for, then that makes it easier. Once you learn to live on whats left, you don't notice the money going out and it builds up fast. We even have money left over to top up savings most months.

linzeeloulabelle

I'm 32 and literally have no savings. I have got married and bought a house in the last 4 years though and had a baby!

[Deleted User]

How much equity do kids count as?