Average amount of savings for a 30 year old...

I'm nearly 30, but I earn minimum wage so as you can imagine, I don't have much savings!

I have been trying to save towards a house deposit which seems to be a required amount that is continuously more and more demanding.

At 26 years old, I have about £4k credit card debt and two savings accounts labelled 'Uni savings' and 'House Deposit' along with a FTSE ISA tracker and a personal pension. I have decided that regardless to my debt amount which I am paying back interest free at £150 a month I must have some savings which shows i am actually working towards something.

on a £23k salary I have disposable income of £500 approx each month:

Pension - £80 pcm (+£20 from tax relief) - I want to increase this when I can.

ISA Tracker - £10 a month (have had this for years not really focused on it)

ISA House Deposit - £100-£400 a month, I plan to save at least £5k a year and my partner does the same so in three years we will have a £30k deposit

Uni Savings - To complete my OU degree this is £175 pcm and a £2.5k target in two years.

lalman wrote: »

We are all individuals that want to change our lives or develop in one way or another.

This is so very true!
I'm a 30 year old female and have no debts (not even student loans thanks to my wonderful parents) other than 2 mortgages. I have about 100k equity in the properties I own (worth about 300k in total so 200k mortgage), about 85k in savings (in offset accounts effectively earning the same interest as the mortgage rate) and about 40k (net of tax) in employment benefits (shares) which I've yet to cash in. I let out a flat so the tenant is effectively paying the mortgage for me (around 800 a month). I'm hoping this will provide a 200k to 250k retirement fund when the time comes.

This is only after 5 years in work, because I was in full time education until 25. My husband has just left Uni after getting his Phd at 30. He wouldn't have saved anything, however, since he's been living on scholarship, which is only 24k net a year (10k pays for tuition so really only 14k). He's got a temporary job that pays only 24k gross but I expect him to earn 50k at least in the near future. Part of the reason that I don't spend that much is the 2 of us can maintain the same lifestyle.

I don't normally budget for anything and I travel a bit - 3 to 5 countries each year and I pay for 2 people - but I do earn a 100k ish gross salary (from 2 years ago) and don't live in London. I cook all 3 meals every single day and bring my packed lunch to work. I even shop at Lidl and Tesco for my weekly groceries and not M&S like most of my colleagues do. The 2 of us spend less than 80 a week on groceries. Our utility bills are as low as 120 a month including gas, electricity, broad band, and 2 phone contracts. Our 2 mortgage payments are less than 1000 a month in total. I bought my 2nd hand BMW with 16k cash (should I treat this as additional 10k in savings?). I don't wear any luxury brand. I have many credit cards but haven't paid a penny in interest because I pay off the full balance every month.

I have work colleagues who earn half as much as I do, but eat out every day and pay rent in excess of 1000 each month. Unsurprisingly they're the ones who complain that it's too hard to save a deposit for a house. I have colleagues who are 10 years older than I am - the so called golden generation who bought their homes cheap 15 yrs ago with 100% loans - but don't have savings apart from their home and pension.
When I bought my first house, I was saving 2000 each month out of a 2500 net salary and my mortgage adviser couldn't understand why I asked whether interest rates would be lower if I put in a higher deposit - he never expected a 26 year old to want to put in a 25% deposit.

Nowadays, I haven't got a clue how much I spend each month. I don't waste money but I don't normally take too much notice of prices when I shop - I just keep a mental note that I don't want to fill up all my space which is already a strong deterrent :-). Sometimes I punish myself of overspending on cheap stuff (hence need replacing soon) by replacing them with good quality ones only when I absolutely have to. I'm not stingy when it comes to study/qualifications, sports (I go skiing every other weekend and swimming in between) and travel - all of which I see as investment in myself and are what really matters.

I save whatever is left so saving doesn't bother me. My life is almost unaffected by how much I earn.

The aim is to save 100k every 3 years. Even then it will be hard to realize my dream of retiring at age 45 without my husband's help. The plan is for him to catch up in earnings, provided that it's something he loves to do, and then he can support me, as I have supported him in the past 5 years. From then on I'll have freedom to do whatever I want.

anotheruser wrote: »

It also depends entirely on your situation:
Parents helping out with this and that (buying a car).
...not to mention good/bad luck with work.

This is very true our parents paid for our university tuition and living costs in full, including our Masters, even though we left home since 19. My husband then had full scholarship for Phd so he never had to work a single day (properly) before his 30th birthday!

They even contributed 20k, between the 4 of them, towards our deposit for our first home, as gifts and not loans.

We're planning to do the same, for our future kids.

Keep up the good work getting out of debt. As others have said savings depend massively on circumstances: I'm 30, I earn £28k and I save 2/3 of my income. Mainly because I'm super tight and I don't pay rent: I get accommodation as part of my volunteering role. Don't worry about everybody else and save as much as you can!