Does Anyone Not have Savings?

markwilkinson

bowlhead99 wrote: »

But the world we are in, here on this part of this website, *is* the financial world; the name of the board is Savings & Investments (two distinct and separate concepts) and the financial services industry - including the regulator and the industry compensation scheme and all regulated firms and advisers - sees them as two separate concepts.

So, it's doesn't really matter whether or not in 'the world of the English language' it is possible for one to be considered a synonym of the other - because we are not playing in that generalist world when we are larking about in a thread on a savings and investment website. We are holding our discussions here within the more specialist world of finance.

As such, if someone is looking for help or advice or is setting out their situation on a savings and investment thread, it is much better to use the terms as they are used in the savings and investment industry.

Similarly if you were explaining your personal circumstances on an LGBT discussion group, I assume you wouldn't expect people to observe that in "the world of English language" the term gay could just mean happy and not confer a sexual preference.

So, it should be anticipated that within a specialist online community, people do not need to rely on a generalist dictionary definition and see whether one thing could technically mean another thing if you opened it up to the whole world rather than the subject area of the community.

I agree. It's semantics. Hard to be able to be the first person to answer a question about investing when they mean saving, and come up with the same old line "what you mean is saving rather than investing" this is why I get !!!!ed off with this board at times. Members coming here think they are using the correct terminology (in a way, they are) and get ridiculed.

Eco_Miser

markwilkinson wrote: »

Members coming here think they are using the correct terminology (in a way, they are) and get ridiculed.

Not ridiculed, gently corrected (usually).
Incidentally, what investments do National Savings and Investments offer these days?

lippy1923

bigfreddiel wrote: »

I've saved £1,500 so far this month, I have to stop! I'm saving too much, but it's like an addiction now! So how do I wean myself way from this habit? fj

I will happily help you spend your cash fj. Just send it my way and I will relieve you from your burden. I'm in the same boat as you, I'm addicted to saving, but I can easily spend someone else's money

Dird

Public sector pay is generally lower than the private sector. You should thank him for being willing to do a job on less than he otherwise could have made

bigadaj

Dird wrote: »

Public sector pay is generally lower than the private sector. You should thank him for being willing to do a job on less than he otherwise could have made

That's not been true for the last fifteen to twenty years, your assessment is radically out of date.

This is partially due to outsourcing, but has realistically never been the case, and certainly not when you look at package value, final salary pensions generally represent a 25-30% uplift in salary, which is rarely acknowledged.

bigadaj

[QUOTE=Marine_life;71285451

In all seriousness I think its quite shocking that more than 50% of the population has less than £3,000 savings. Seriously?

I wonder whether a more revealing question might have been net wealth?[/QUOTE]

It's obviously too general a statement to assess, many people are literally working from week to week without the ability to save, increased housing costs are often to blame.

However many people should be saving and aren't, from smart phine and tech purchases to huge lease costs on executive costs a fair percentage will spend every penny they earn and more, where cards and loans fill the gap.

I'm not sure net wealth would be a better measuring point, most of those not saving will be renting, are unlikely to have investments and the only significant asset may be a pension that can't be accessed.

There's also the issue of liquidity, as most companies fail due to cash flow rather than not being profitable, the fact you have assets may well not help when an emergency occurs, meaning that assets may be realised at well below fair value.

jimjames

jondav wrote: »

Yes but you quoted my post
I didn't post to you?

You might want to check post #49. Not sure why you quoted my post if you weren't responding to me?

bigfreddiel

bigadaj wrote: »

That's not been true for the last fifteen to twenty years, your assessment is radically out of date.

This is partially due to outsourcing, but has realistically never been the case, and certainly not when you look at package value, final salary pensions generally represent a 25-30% uplift in salary, which is rarely acknowledged.

Absolutely correct, best move I ever made to the public sector.

Salary was half my private sector to start with, but after five or six years I was almost back to a reasonable salary. Then factor in the final salary pension. 3 times lump sum you need to add at least £2k to your salary. Then add on the 70 days leave you can get each year, and all on a 37 hr week, for work thst can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it, stress free in my case. Fantastic.

Cheers fj

Broken_Biscuits

Marine_life wrote: »

I remember a friend of mine many years ago said that he had "savings" whenever he had unused limit on his credit cards ;-)

In all seriousness I think its quite shocking that more than 50% of the population has less than £3,000 savings. Seriously?

I wonder whether a more revealing question might have been net wealth?

Net worth can be misleading. House prices go up and I'm worth more but in no better position day to day. The markets go up and so does my pension, but I'm in my 30's so again it's no use to me right now if something like my boiler breaks and I need money now.

The articles that talk about savings usually talk about families living pay cheque to pay cheque. Without some savings, high or low net worth may have no bearing.

Dird

bigadaj wrote: »

final salary pensions generally represent a 25-30% uplift in salary, which is rarely acknowledged.

A pension is only good if you live long enough to receive it. My current 2 years in public sector (2 year minimum to receive pension) have probably knocked 5 years off my life; they slowly kill you through boredom