What % of your portfolio is in cash currently?

slapPCM

MaxiRobriguez said:

33 y/o. 
Only have a few hundred quid for emergencies and an unused credit card.

You must be single and having a simple life...

MaxiRobriguez

slapPCM said:

MaxiRobriguez said:

33 y/o. 
Only have a few hundred quid for emergencies and an unused credit card.

You must be single and having a simple life...

Married, first child on the way. 

We have a relatively simple life, our only major spending being on holidays which we'll curtail when the newborn comes along. We share a car, bought used for <£5k 6 years ago, house was cheap which we've been doing up etc. Cash flow wise I may soon choose to reduce pension contribution somewhat (currently c.40% of earnings) to give the family a bit more/up the emergency pot though. 

Alexland

MaxiRobriguez said:

Only have a few hundred quid for emergencies and an unused credit card. Work covers critical illness up to a point, and redundancy would come with 5 figure payout, so don't feel like I need 3-6 months emergencies.

You can't always rely on a fat redundancy payout as the employer may not be solvent or might change their policies down to statuatory or contractual minimum levels. We have been with the same employer for a total of around 30 years between us (so our combined redundancy might be 6 figures) but it lulls you into a sense of security that can be dangerous. Now stock markets are back near high again I am gradually rebuilding our cash position as I let it get quite low when the market was in panic mode as I judged the situation didn't seem to affect our employment much so took on a bit more risk.

MaxiRobriguez

Alexland said:

MaxiRobriguez said:

Only have a few hundred quid for emergencies and an unused credit card. Work covers critical illness up to a point, and redundancy would come with 5 figure payout, so don't feel like I need 3-6 months emergencies.

You can't always rely on a fat redundancy payout as the employer may not be solvent or might change their policies down to statuatory or contractual minimum levels. We have been with the same employer for a total of around 30 years between us (so our combined redundancy might be 6 figures) but it lulls you into a sense of security that can be dangerous. Now stock markets are back near high again I am gradually rebuilding our cash position as I let it get quite low when the market was in panic mode as I judged the situation didn't seem to affect our employment much so took on a bit more risk.

Fair point, although my employer is rather large and benefiting from recent tech disruption, and my skill set/experience should mean I'm able to find another role relatively quickly.

Like I said, might reduce current pension contributions to improve cash flow to help with an addition to the family and build some additional savings but I'm relatively content in my personal circumstances that it's not imperative for me. I don't disagree that for other people that approach may be too risky. 

HHarry

No big numbers yet, so I’ll add mine - 55%

We want to give up work and move to the coast in the next 5 years, and I can’t afford the risk of our money disappearing in a stock market crash.
 At a push I can just about beat inflation with cash.

Alexland

MaxiRobriguez said:

Like I said, might reduce current pension contributions to improve cash flow to help with an addition to the family and build some additional savings but I'm relatively content in my personal circumstances that it's not imperative for me. I don't disagree that for other people that approach may be too risky. 

By happy chance my plan was already to reduce sal-sac contributions around now as they had been set at a very high level (to push my weekly income low enough to save 12% NI on a some of it) to then follow by only contributing enough to get the employer matching (to pay 2% NI on the extra income on the weekly calculation) for the remainder of the tax year. This gives the same income tax position but a few hundred quid of extra NI saving compared to contributing the same amount evenly across the tax year (enough to keep out of higher rate and child benefit clawback) which would have only saved 2% NI. Next tax year to improve our proportion of accessible cash and assets I might do it the other way around and continue to contribute only enough to get employer matching at the start followed by heavy contributions later.

Albermarle

 At a push I can just about beat inflation with cash

On this forum we always mention inflation risk to savings but in fact some of the time ( like now) savings can beat inflation ( although not by much ) especially if you have a fix from earlier in the year . Even after Covid first hit it was possible to get over 1.5% for just a one year fix. I do not think I have ever actually seen a comparison between inflation and an average of the better end of savings rates , over a long period.