Savings ... something of the past?

lippy1923

chucknorris wrote: »

It is even worse when you think of the number of people who earn very good incomes and still they neither invest or save. I was quite surprised when a few of my friends said that they had no savings (they also meant no investments either).

I know what you mean. The majority of my friends who earn good amounts save little to nothing is crazy.
Come to think of it, some don't even have pensions. None of my circle of friends know what investments are, let alone have any. Then again they all live at home with parents still.

iantojones40

It certainly feels like the idiots have won.
The over leveraged, the heavily indebted, the financially imprudent are being rewarded now and for the the foreseeable future, whilst the cautious, financially prudent people with savings and pensions are being hit hard now and will almost certainly suffer even more in the event of any future financial crisis...Whilst the debt ridden spendthrifts will probably be let off with some form of debt forgiveness.

Lily-Rose_3

Me and DH are in our early 50s, and since we moved in together (around 1989,) we have rented a council flat, (for 3 years,) had a mortgage on 3 different houses for 18 years, lived in private let for around 3 years, and are currently in a housing association bungalow that we have been in for 3 years.

I can honestly, categorically say that we have never been so financially comfortable and stress-free as we are now, in a little low-rent housing association bungalow. When we were 'homeowners' we never had a penny to spare. And we not only had no savings - ever, we were also constantly in debt, as we never stopped paying out for repairs and maintenance, along with the mortgage that was quite high, and all the insurances that went with being a 'homeowner.'

Each one of the 3 properties we 'owned' needed multiple 1000s spending on them. Our first home needed 1000s spending on it as soon as we moved in because of a leaky roof. As soon as we moved into our second home, we had to replace the entire heating system, including the boiler. And the third house we had, needed all the electrics updating, and dozens of huge trees chopping down because we couldn't get insurance until we did. That was just the at the beginning! Thing is; we never had the 3 to 6 thousand we needed each time, so we had to take out loan after loan.

We constantly worried about being out of work, because our mortgage would not be paid if we had no income. (The 'employment insurance' isn't worth the paper it's written on, because in our case, they refused to start paying out until 90 days after we signed onto benefits, but we weren't allowed to do that for 3 months because of the 13 weeks severance pay.)

So that would have been 6 months before it kicked in, and then it would only be paid for a year. And the SECOND my husband lost his job around 12 years ago, the insurance company phoned him and said they were going to send an advisor around to our house, to help him find work! Because God forbid they should have to pay us a PENNY! We paid £20 a month for 10 years for nothing. They should have paid our mortgage the SECOND my husband finished that job. Absolute waste of money. Needless to say, we cancelled the policy shortly after they refused to pay anything.

As I said, in the 1990s and 2000s, we had a fairly high mortgage, all the repairs and maintenance to pay for, and all the insurances and suchlike that go along with it. When we rented in the late 1980s, we were always loaded, and then when we had a mortgage, and also a child (and childminding fees,) we were always poor. (Plus we had high loan repayments to fork out too!)

18 years we tolerated the poverty that being a 'homeowner' created for us, and then we sold our house and paid off all the debt we had, and went into private rent. Then after 5 years on the social housing register we were offered a bungalow with very cheap rent. My husband has a pretty well paid job now, I have my own income, and we have almost 5 grand in savings now. It's been a quarter of a century since we had that much in savings.

We do intend to buy a driving course for our daughter's 21st later this month though, so that will see off a bit of the money! But we will still have plenty left.

As I said, since we rented, we have plenty of money left over, meals out twice a month, a holiday abroad twice a year (not expensive, just coach trips like a long weekend at £200 each, and a week's holiday at £350-ish each, but still good holidays,) lots of day trips, and hotel stays in British resorts. And we can easily afford theme park trips now, that used to cripple us financially when we had a mortgage. Also, we can go to the pub and have a night out without worrying about if we will have enough money left in the account to pay our gas bill, and we can happily go and spend £30 on a box set of DVD's or £40 on a haircut and colour.

For many years, I dyed my own hair, because I couldn't afford the hairdressers, I shopped at Primark because I couldn't afford anywhere else, and regularly wore the same clothes for 5 years, because I couldn't afford to update the wardrobe. We didn't even decorate our last house for 10 years, because we couldn't afford it.

Some may say 'come ON, you must have been able to afford this and that,' but we genuinely couldn't... we constantly struggled for years and years, and were always in the mire financially. All through being a 'homeowner.'

Not being a homeowner and living in a housing association bungalow is a blessing. Our H.A. have offered us a right to buy (along with the other 5000 tenants they have,) but hell will freeze over before we give up our cosy, low-rent, semi-rural, housing association bungalow, with all the repairs included in the rent, and maintenance too (like painting the masonry and woodwork and suchlike.)

We don't claim any benefits, or have any housing benefit, but we know that if we lose an income, the rent will be paid. It's a massive comfort and we have a virtual stress-free life now.

Each to their own, and I know some people prefer to be 'homeowners,' but all it brought us - a working class family on a fairly low income, was poverty and stress. We kept it from our daughter, and made sure she had a good childhood, and didn't go without much (although she asked for very little,) but by the time she was 14/15, she began to realise things were very bad financially.

As I say though, we have never been so happy and well off as we are now, in a housing association bungalow, and with my husband with a better paid job.

Oh and we have NO debt. Not a bean! Just one credit card with currently no balance owing.

I am not saying anyone is right or wrong by the way, I am just putting across my point of view, and my experience.

Re the original subject, it comes as no surprise to me that almost 40% of people have no savings, what with high housing costs, low pay, expensive uni fees, high childminding fees, and high outgoings in general. It's very sad, but it's very typical in today's society. It's all very well people being aghast and saying 'I would just DIE if I had no savings OMG!' But some people genuinely can not save, because there is no money left over to save! It's great that you are in the position to save, but don't look down at people who don't/can't.

jimibaboza

Well yes, it is pretty easy to live the life of riley when someone else is paying your rent.

michaels

Not all the rent, only a proportion of it....

kabayiri

Until recently I used to follow a hifi forum. You definitely get a specifically biased demographic in such a place, and when you go to a show you can see it visually.

Lots of blokes; mostly middle aged or more blokes; probably more divorcees than normal (the perils of promoting your hobby above your spouse!).

Why mention all this? Well, the conversation in recent years has definitely turned to "spend rather than save". People used the low rate interest the bank were paying excuse to justify buying something esoteric they always secretly hankered after : spending thousands btw.

This sounds universally bad. But is it? These esoteric bits of hifi have seen a steady rise/stability in price, and have become a tradeable commodity to rival cash.

Are we seeing savings being replaced partly by other assets?

Mistermeaner

Lily-Rose wrote: »

Me and DH are in our early 50s, and since we moved in together (around 1989,) we have rented a council flat, (for 3 years,) had a mortgage on 3 different houses for 18 years, lived in private let for around 3 years, and are currently in a housing association bungalow that we have been in for 3 years.

I can honestly, categorically say that we have never been so financially comfortable and stress-free as we are now, in a little low-rent housing association bungalow. When we were 'homeowners' we never had a penny to spare. And we not only had no savings - ever, we were also constantly in debt, as we never stopped paying out for repairs and maintenance, along with the mortgage that was quite high, and all the insurances that went with being a 'homeowner.'

Each one of the 3 properties we 'owned' needed multiple 1000s spending on them. Our first home needed 1000s spending on it as soon as we moved in because of a leaky roof. As soon as we moved into our second home, we had to replace the entire heating system, including the boiler. And the third house we had, needed all the electrics updating, and dozens of huge trees chopping down because we couldn't get insurance until we did. That was just the at the beginning! Thing is; we never had the 3 to 6 thousand we needed each time, so we had to take out loan after loan.

We constantly worried about being out of work, because our mortgage would not be paid if we had no income. (The 'employment insurance' isn't worth the paper it's written on, because in our case, they refused to start paying out until 90 days after we signed onto benefits, but we weren't allowed to do that for 3 months because of the 13 weeks severance pay.)

So that would have been 6 months before it kicked in, and then it would only be paid for a year. And the SECOND my husband lost his job around 12 years ago, the insurance company phoned him and said they were going to send an advisor around to our house, to help him find work! Because God forbid they should have to pay us a PENNY! We paid £20 a month for 10 years for nothing. They should have paid our mortgage the SECOND my husband finished that job. Absolute waste of money. Needless to say, we cancelled the policy shortly after they refused to pay anything.

As I said, in the 1990s and 2000s, we had a fairly high mortgage, all the repairs and maintenance to pay for, and all the insurances and suchlike that go along with it. When we rented in the late 1980s, we were always loaded, and then when we had a mortgage, and also a child (and childminding fees,) we were always poor. (Plus we had high loan repayments to fork out too!)

18 years we tolerated the poverty that being a 'homeowner' created for us, and then we sold our house and paid off all the debt we had, and went into private rent. Then after 5 years on the social housing register we were offered a bungalow with very cheap rent. My husband has a pretty well paid job now, I have my own income, and we have almost 5 grand in savings now. It's been a quarter of a century since we had that much in savings.

We do intend to buy a driving course for our daughter's 21st later this month though, so that will see off a bit of the money! But we will still have plenty left.

As I said, since we rented, we have plenty of money left over, meals out twice a month, a holiday abroad twice a year (not expensive, just coach trips like a long weekend at £200 each, and a week's holiday at £350-ish each, but still good holidays,) lots of day trips, and hotel stays in British resorts. And we can easily afford theme park trips now, that used to cripple us financially when we had a mortgage. Also, we can go to the pub and have a night out without worrying about if we will have enough money left in the account to pay our gas bill, and we can happily go and spend £30 on a box set of DVD's or £40 on a haircut and colour.

For many years, I dyed my own hair, because I couldn't afford the hairdressers, I shopped at Primark because I couldn't afford anywhere else, and regularly wore the same clothes for 5 years, because I couldn't afford to update the wardrobe. We didn't even decorate our last house for 10 years, because we couldn't afford it.

Some may say 'come ON, you must have been able to afford this and that,' but we genuinely couldn't... we constantly struggled for years and years, and were always in the mire financially. All through being a 'homeowner.'

Not being a homeowner and living in a housing association bungalow is a blessing. Our H.A. have offered us a right to buy (along with the other 5000 tenants they have,) but hell will freeze over before we give up our cosy, low-rent, semi-rural, housing association bungalow, with all the repairs included in the rent, and maintenance too (like painting the masonry and woodwork and suchlike.)

We don't claim any benefits, or have any housing benefit, but we know that if we lose an income, the rent will be paid. It's a massive comfort and we have a virtual stress-free life now.

Each to their own, and I know some people prefer to be 'homeowners,' but all it brought us - a working class family on a fairly low income, was poverty and stress. We kept it from our daughter, and made sure she had a good childhood, and didn't go without much (although she asked for very little,) but by the time she was 14/15, she began to realise things were very bad financially.

As I say though, we have never been so happy and well off as we are now, in a housing association bungalow, and with my husband with a better paid job.

Oh and we have NO debt. Not a bean! Just one credit card with currently no balance owing.

I am not saying anyone is right or wrong by the way, I am just putting across my point of view, and my experience.

Re the original subject, it comes as no surprise to me that almost 40% of people have no savings, what with high housing costs, low pay, expensive uni fees, high childminding fees, and high outgoings in general. It's very sad, but it's very typical in today's society. It's all very well people being aghast and saying 'I would just DIE if I had no savings OMG!' But some people genuinely can not save, because there is no money left over to save! It's great that you are in the position to save, but don't look down at people who don't/can't.

. I found out I had more money when other people paid for my stuff

wotsthat

I can't imagine how grim life must be if scoring for a HA bungalow is a highlight.

Lily-Rose_3

Wow, what nasty posts there are on here. I was only posting my experience of our struggle with debt, and how much better we are renting a housing association home, than we were when we were tied down as 'homeowners' with the ball and chain that is a mortgage.

There sure are some bitter and envious people on here! :rotfl:

We pay our own rent in full by the way, and don't have any benefits whatsoever. Also, we live in a H.A. bungalow that is owned by a non profit organisation so it is not subsided in any way.

But I expect you already know that.

And our lives are far from grim, in fact we have never been happier. .. or better off financially... As my long post stated very clearly. Of course, you will choose to not believe that, because it suits you to.

Jealousy and bitterness are not nice traits.

Shame on you all.

By the way, our bungalow is £73 a week, with all maintenance and repairs included, and a tenancy for life. It's in a cul de sac that was built for private sale in the 70s, and the housing association bought around a dozen of them in the 1980s for their housing stock.

I am not posting a pic of mine, but it's the same as this.



And yes, it IS detached!

Try not to let the jealousy eat you alive.

And on that note, I shall sign off. We are off on a trip to Eastern Europe for a week tomorrow. We can afford it these days. Probably go to NYC later in the year. We'll see. YEP we sure have a grim life; travelling abroad, no debt, 5 grand savings in the bank, and living in a lovely little detached housing association bungalow with a tenancy for life, in a semi rural area... :whistle:

michaels

I do wish the coumcil here would use taxpayers (who are often much poorer than me) money to buy a property and then rent it to an above average earner like me for way below the market rate. Can't say 'fairer' than that