I have £5000 savings at 35. Is my life over?

appletree89

I don't have much of a social circle so I'm going to try the internet. I have no debt or financial issues, I rent, I have a stable job, and have £5000 in savings (roughly the same for my pension).

Recently my plan has to start saving aggressively, but on asking around tentatively and looking online, it almost sounds like this is the end of the world. Apparently I should have at 9 or 10 times that by now, plus the pension, plus a completed mortgage, plus alternative property, plus vehicles, plus children who should now be completing their university degrees and so on. This is devastating to me, because I have nothing at all like that.

Yesterday I thought by planning ahead and budgeting, I can easily double my reserves in 12 months and start looking at higher interest savings accounts. But seeing as I'm not going to be a multi-millionaire in 15-20 years should I just cut to the chase and jump off a bridge? I'm only half serious of course, by the time I'm 45 I could be looking at £50k if I never take holidays or buy anything. So what do you think? Keep "at it" and explore my limited financial choices, or are my real choices really whether or not to jump in front of a train against jumping off a building?

aw77

I think your situation is probably more towards the average than things you might have read online about what you 'should' have right now. Many people (I think I read 15-20%) have credit card debts etc so are in a far worse position. Do a bit of research and if you can, start contributing to an employer contribution style pension as soon as possible

Alistair31

Alternatively, you have no ties or burdens (wife,kids,mortgage,debt, etc) and are free to do whatever you choose.

Spread your wings and make the most of it. Whatever you do though, going forward, make sure to pay yourself first and you will already be doing a lot better than a lot of other people who do nothing and sail into old age with nothing.

35 is not too late. Not at all.

adamh87

I often feel like this (am 34) but don't beat yourself up at all; often people with these 'things' (car/kids/house/wedding) have other 'things' to match (PCP payments, childcare bills, large mortgage, CC debts).

Take the positives from your situation - you're debt free, have the potential to be mobile for new opportunities (hard to move for work if kids are in nursery and OH has a steady job!) I remember watching The Wright Stuff once and the host said he hadn't thought about a pension until his 40s and the other panellists were all nodding; you're already ahead of that! I expect they're all higher rate taxpayers, so to not have made pension contributions in their situation is loco.


The other thing to consider is: what do you actually want from life? (another one I struggle with)

Once you know that (ie house, kids, work abroad, make more money) you can set a budget and move forward. You say you're not going to be a millionaire in 10 years time, but you don't know that for sure. If it's your ambition, go for it!

If it's the lack of a social circle, think about what you enjoy/enjoyed doing and look into that. There are websites like meet up, and make contact with old friends and family to start building relationships. Not always easy to do, but very rewarding once you have

Good luck!

Brookside88

Don't panic. I'm 30, unmarried, a 2 year old, 35 years left on the mortgage, zero savings and nearly 18k unsecured debt. The chances of me having even 5k savings in 5 years are slim let alone 9-10 times that amount. And a 35 year old having a child graduating university would have to have given birth at 17 ish so the maths of having a mortgage paid off simply doesn't add up unless they got an amazing job or won the lottery.

I'd kill to be debt free and 5k savings right now

FatherAbraham

appletree89 wrote: »

I don't have much of a social circle so I'm going to try the internet. I have no debt or financial issues, I rent, I have a stable job, and have £5000 in savings (roughly the same for my pension).

Recently my plan has to start saving aggressively, but on asking around tentatively and looking online, it almost sounds like this is the end of the world. Apparently I should have at 9 or 10 times that by now, plus the pension, plus a completed mortgage, plus alternative property, plus vehicles, plus children who should now be completing their university degrees and so on. This is devastating to me, because I have nothing at all like that.

Yesterday I thought by planning ahead and budgeting, I can easily double my reserves in 12 months and start looking at higher interest savings accounts. But seeing as I'm not going to be a multi-millionaire in 15-20 years should I just cut to the chase and jump off a bridge? I'm only half serious of course, by the time I'm 45 I could be looking at £50k if I never take holidays or buy anything. So what do you think? Keep "at it" and explore my limited financial choices, or are my real choices really whether or not to jump in front of a train against jumping off a building?

Don't jump off the building yet.

By coincidence, I was just reading a report about UK households' wealth before the financial crisis of 2007 onwards, by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (google "The wealth and saving of UK families on the eve of the crisis").

Even in those pre-"austerity" days, half of UK households had liquid wealth of less than one thousand pounds.

You are well above average, and your plans to save more sound very positive.

Congratulations!

dividendhero

Cheer up mate!!

Unlike many of your age you're not in debt! You say you're planning to "save aggressively" this suggests you're not already doing so, therefore some room to improve that. Here are some tips

Consider moving to a cheaper location, housing costs vary a lot more than wages.
How about a second job or overtime and devote the extra income solely to savings.
Cut back on some luxuries, do you really watch all those satellite channels?

I know it's a cliche that's often falsely attributed to Einstein, but never under estimate the power of of compound interest...

xylophone

You are employed? What are the pension arrangements?

Do you intend to buy a property at some point?

Consider LISA?

https://www.skipton.co.uk/savings/isas/cash-lifetime-isa

Alexland

I expect there are many in a similar position but it sounds like you are starting to seriously consider your financial aspirations and now need to build a reslistic plan to achieve them.

At 35 you probably have circa 30 years of work ahead to apply yourself which is plenty of time to build substantial wealth if you focus your efforts.

Alex

binaryuniverse

Absolutely not. It's getting harder and harder to find a stable footing in life, these days, with house/rent prices getting more and more absurd, whilst salaries remain fairly stagnant. Having £5000 to your name is nothing to be ashamed of, and gives you good starting point to kick on. Those 'targets' sound like lofty ideals that probably some small percentage of UK adults will actually achieve, if they want such a thing (I've never wanted kids, for example).

I'm in the same age bracket, and I only just started putting away cash in the last couple of years, for a mortgage deposit. I also only really started paying a fair bit in to my pension at the start of this year. It helps I've had a nice change of career in to something that is well paid. And yes, at times I do feel like I've started a bit late... but starting late is always better than never starting at all. If you feel like this at 35, imagine how you'd feel at 65. Any by then it really could be too late to do anything about it.

A_T

Sounds to me like your probably in a better position than most your age.

Don't believe all the lifestyle crap you read in the Mail, etc. about how you should live your life and how much material wealth you should have by now. You're doing fine just keep saving and investing.

And most of all enjoy your youth the way you want to it's your life not anyone else's.