Does Anyone Not have Savings?

chucknorris

markwilkinson wrote: »

They are very different terms, in the financial world but just because that's how it is in this world does not mean the same is true in the world of English language. If you look at a dictionary and find the word "invest" you can see that the definition could quite equally encompass someone who "saves" for their future.

But this isn't an English language forum, it is a savings and investment forum!

Ray_Singh-Blue

RyanEzio wrote: »

There really is no point saving more than that because of the current awful interest rates. IF the banks aren't going to reward you for having your money, why should they have it?
I also have some of my money in investments and made between 20%-25% on my money in 2015, so that's something worth looking into.
I wouldn't worry about having any savings. Saving money isn't as rewarding as it used to be.

In a year where your investments lose 20-25%, a savings interest rate of 1-2% might start to look quite attractive though.

markwilkinson

chucknorris wrote: »

But this isn't an English language forum, it is a savings and investment forum!

Of which I am well aware! I hope you are happy with the point you think you have scored.

My point was, in that wider post and others in this thread, that newbies coming to this board are innocently asking, for example "I have £1000, which is the best savings account to invest it in". They are not incorrect in their use of language, they just don't know enough about the change of the language, to fit the world of finance and banking. In my mind, one of the things that makes me laugh about this board is when someone asks a question, like the made up one, in this post, and the first response is, you are saving not investing, with no explanation, just a smilie. I just think, lol, you just posted that just to try and make yourself appear far better at this stuff than the OP.

chucknorris

markwilkinson wrote: »

Of which I am well aware! I hope you are happy with the point you think you have scored.

My point was, in that wider post and others in this thread, that newbies coming to this board are innocently asking, for example "I have £1000, which is the best savings account to invest it in". They are not incorrect in their use of language, they just don't know enough about the change of the language, to fit the world of finance and banking. In my mind, one of the things that makes me laugh about this board is when someone asks a question, like the made up one, in this post, and the first response is, you are saving not investing, with no explanation, just a smilie. I just think, lol, you just posted that just to try and make yourself appear far better at this stuff than the OP.

In this context, they are incorrect. I wasn't trying to make myself appear far better, if I was, I would have mentioned my wealth (which I didn't). I think that I was quite reasonable the way that I said what I did, it certainly wasn't expressed aggressively, what I said was:

chucknorris wrote: »

Please trust me, I am not saying this to be argumentative, savings and investments are completely different, they are not the same.

Also 'I wasn't saying it to a newbie innocently asking' (as you put it) I was saying it to someone else that was taking the same stance as you.

datlex

Maximum_Saving wrote: »

Hello. I think that you made an excellent suggestion with this bank account. It is still paying 5% interest for money up to £2,000. I began a monthly saver with TSB in December last year.

I have one of these too. Unfortunately the rate has gone down for some customers. Accounts open after June appear to only be earning 2%. Fortunately the rate for accounts opened in December is still 5%.

black_taxi_2

I'm single

never saved/invested till this year

im 55

mainly because I took a bank loan every year --3k but deadly if you add it to monthly expenditure

smile88egc

The interest rate on my student loan has now gone up to 1.25% so I will be overpaying that for now rather than putting extra money into savings.
I think it's disgusting that the government profit from people putting themselves through education, the base rate is 0.25%!!

mgarl10024

Referring to the number of people who have no savings, I also think that financial education has a role to play here.

Firstly, if people aren't convinced (educated) early about the 'savings habit' and the importance of keeping money back for emergencies etc., and of not spending everything you have (and more), then it may be some time if this lesson is learned, if at all, and during that time there will be a lot of wasted opportunities and arguably bad decisions made. Having no reserves and funding an inflated lifestyle through servicing unnecessary debts is not sensible behaviour but is seen as the norm by a growing many.

Secondly, in the modern world especially, basic knowledge about finance is more and more essential if one is to be a succesful member of society. I went through almost 19 years of state and university education and whilst in school there was apparently enough time to teach me about ancient Greeks and how to sew a juggling ball, but sadly not enough time to impart these essential life skills.

At age 23, I had no idea how a mortgage or a credit card worked. I wish at 16 I knew what I know now about finance.

Herzlos

Dird wrote: »

What if your car breaks down? Can you take your mortgage overpayments back out from your provider?

Indeed. I have a bit of a running buffer, in that I try to overpay credit card bills if there's nothing else needing done that month. Failing that I can put it on credit card and take care of later.

Terribly poor planning on my part, but with a small child and a single income some compromises are needed.

I can take a mortgage payment holiday, up to the amount I've overpaid. I can also pull money out of the kids ISA :rotfl:

Proxima_Centauri

foreversummer wrote: »

You can't save if you don't earn enough to save.

I think this about sums it up! We also live from payday to payday, but I would very much like to build up some savings.