Savings

Lizzie513

Hi,

New subbie

At 30 years old how much should one have in savings? Single and No Kids

kev2009

I think this would depending on your income, if you have a mortgage etc.

Kev

jimjames

Lizzie513 wrote: »

Hi,

New subbie

At 30 years old how much should one have in savings? Single and No Kids

About £30,001. Approximately.

But it's not really a simple question of how much. It really depends on your situation.

masonic

The general guideline would be 3-6 months living expenses. But as others have stated, it depends on many different factors.

short_butt_sweet

george4064

Lizzie513 wrote: »

Hi,

New subbie

At 30 years old how much should one have in savings? Single and No Kids

I think you're going about this in the wrong way. You should be thinking about how much YOU need in savings, and as previously mentioned this should start with establishing an emergency savings pot that covers anywhere between 3-12 months of your monthly expenditure (again this depends on your personal circumstances, some people stick with 3 months others 6 months and others as much as 12 months).

Terry_Towelling

Lizzie513 wrote: »

Hi,

New subbie

At 30 years old how much should one have in savings? Single and No Kids

Welcome to the forum.

How much have you already got in savings? Maybe if you say (and also tell us what your plans are for the future) we can all offer opinions as to whether we think it is enough/too much.

The basic answer to your actual question, though, is 'as much as you haven't managed to spend'.

pjcox2005

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4938373/average-amount-of-savings-for-a-30-year-old


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5949223/emergency-fund-poll-how-prepared-are-you-for-an-emergency


Two threads you may be interested in although they will be biased compared with the general population as the focus of the website is saving money.


It basically comes down to how much comfort you need to sleep at night (i.e. size of emergency funds if things went wrong or really wrong), and what are your plans for the future in terms of progress made to fund them (e.g. own home, comfortable retirement).

PRAISETHESUN

It really comes down to personal preference in my opinion. Some people will stress the importance of holding a few months of living expenses as an emergency pot whilst some won't bother with it. Personally, I think it's good to have some capability to cover an emergency (either through savings or cheap lending, such as a low rate credit card with a decent limit) and put aside as much as you can manage without impacting too much on your quality of life. There's no point forcing yourself to save if it means you can never go out for a drink with your mates, or can't go on holiday now and again.

whatkatysaved

The answer to that is subjective and will depend on how much you'd need in an emergency, your current income, your current living costs and your plans for the future.
Once you figure out what you're saving for (safety net, rainy day, any specific purchases), you'll find it easier to determine how much you should have.

Bravepants

Time to deploy my ever evolving set of beginner bullet points based upon my own experience and non-expert findings (comments/adjustments always welcome)...

Start with bullet point number 1 and then choose other bullets as appropriate, or consider them in order:

• Pay off any non-mortgage debt first, then

• Start with 3, 6 or 12 months outgoings (maybe even swap the word "outgoings" for "salary") as an emergency fund in some sort of (or several) instant access account. Find out about current accounts, regular savers etc. and the interest rates they provide. With all savings and investments use the principle of "pay yourself first", that is, put money aside when you get paid, not at the end of the month saving what's left over - because there probably won't be!

• Make sure you have any cash needed for expenditure in the short term, such as house purchase deposit, replacement car, wedding (don't overspend on this) etc., and

• Figure out how your work pension works, and how much extra your company contributes for any additional contribution you make, pensions (work, private or SIPPS) are particularly good if you are a higher rate tax payer. On the subject of pensions…

• Be very aware of pension transfer scams! Even the ones that mention bone fide financial companies. Anyone promising you "guaranteed" returns is likely a scam artist, especially if the returns they are promising are double figure percentages, i.e. 10% or more! Remember you cannot, and nor can anyone on your behalf, legally take money out of a pension before pension age!

• Buy or borrow a copy of Tim Hale's "Smarter Investing", and once you have point 2 and point 3 in place:

• Check out www.monevator.com, particularly the passive investing section, and,

• Read up about the tax advantages of Stocks and Shares ISAs and SIPPS, and

• If considering retiring early check out www.mrmoneymustache.com and https://theescapeartist.me for inspiration, then

• Stash as much as you can, monthly (taking advantage of "pound cost averaging"), in a global index tracking fund , or a multi-asset index fund (or fund of funds - read up online about these). As you get older switch to funds that contain a lower percentage of equities and higher percentage of bonds (read up online about these, but Tim Hale talks about it too) depending on your tolerance for risk. Keep it simple and stick to one or two funds until you have £100k or so.

• Whatever fund(s) you plan to invest in make sure you don't pay too much in annual fees; a good passive index fund should be around 0.5% or so, including platform charge, active funds (those managed by humans) are around 1% to 1.5% but try to keep close to 1%. In no way pay 2% in annual fees for any of your investments!

• If having considered the above you are unsure about making your own investment decisions then seek the advice of an IFA (Independent Financial Advisor) - the word "Independent" is very important here, avoid Financial Advisors who want to sell you a product owned by the company for whom they work!

• Learn about the concept of a "phased" retirement, using certain pots of money to carry you through periods before work pensions or SIPPS become payable at Normal Retirement Age (often referred to as "bridging the gap") and/or think about actuarial reduction if appropriate.

• Learn to use Microsoft Excel (other spreadsheet software is available) and write yourself a retirement planning spreadsheet, and finally…