Whatever happened to "saving for a rainy day"?

I think that families with disabled children are often overlooked in these kinds of conversations. My granddaughter is quite severely physically disabled and needs 24 hour supervision although at first glance she is a normal teenager. To support her to enjoy life in a half reasonable way they need to pay for her to go places and do things plus the rest of the family - eg mum and dad plus sister. The free things which so many young families do - play parks, walk in the woods, day in the beach etc are not accessible for her so other, usually more expensive activities have to be found and usually paid for. Being the full time care and parent of a disabled young person puts a huge strain on the family both physically and emotionally. Should her DLA be means teated? No of course it shouldn’t. Our society should be there to support families with these kind of needs.

What are special about yellow labels?
I don't shop at Asda because we don't have one near and the last time I went in one it was huge and terrifying! There were no checkout operators but staff were having to stand beside each self-service till to help customers who got into a muddle putting their groceries through and trying to pack at the same time.
The staff thought they might lose their jobs.

Millie22

I'm happy to shop in Asda and don't care what colour the label is. Yellow is my favourite colour.

Tea is a better option than coffee and it's cheaper.

Have you tried the yellow sticker strawberries?

They are absolutely delicious, the best I have had for years.

I don't know if it was just pot luck, but every single one was sweet, no soggy or sour bits.

betts

There is an old fashioned concept called 'living within ones means' that is no longer considered important.

I completely disagree.

Why so hostile to the young?

I'm happy to shop in Asda and don't care what colour the label is. Yellow is my favourite colour.

Tea is a better option than coffee and it's cheaper.

Phew!
That's a relief!

I've worked bl**dy hard all my life, had a mortgage as a single person when I was 30 and worked full-time when my children were babies. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of life's lucky winners and I now live in rented accommodation. I have a few thousand in savings - just about enough to pay for my funeral, I would think.

PS. Maybe I've been lucky now and have met a partner and we intend to live together. There's a possibility I'll be able to save, but I'm not going to be smug about it.

Blane

The more you save the more they take off you when you need help, I've seen it with my parents. If you have nothing you get a lot of extra benefits. My parents saved diligently thinking they'd have a nest egg for their children but have spent most of it on care and living, and so far a third of the value of their home on nursing home care for my Dad who had dementia. I don't begrudge it at all, I tell my mother to spend her money now when she's alive, not to be stressing about us. It is sad though to see, they were ordinary working class folk who were sensible, it didn't pay off for them. My.dad was in a nursing home, others there got it for free, he didn't.

To be accurate, it did pay off for them because they have had some choice over their care home. Their children are the ones who will lose out, after their parents die.

Some peoples days are more rainy than others.
There is room for all to be supported with care in older age.

If not, then look further than the next person, and put the blame where it belongs.

I'm afraid a lot of these posts smack of people complaining that others are getting something over on them.

The country I grew up in took care of its inhabitants, and wouldn't begrudge looking after others in their old age. I'm sorry if people feel hard done by that they see others whom they believe to be the "undeserving poor", but what exactly is your solution? Stop people going on holiday unless they have half a million in the bank? Close coffee shops to people who don't appear sufficiently affluent? Ask for proof of assets before you can buy a bottle of wine?

Should the putative people in care homes who don't have any savings be refused care? Should they be told "Sorry you don't have any money, out into the gutter with you?"

The more you save the more they take off you when you need help, I've seen it with my parents. If you have nothing you get a lot of extra benefits. My parents saved diligently thinking they'd have a nest egg for their children but have spent most of it on care and living, and so far a third of the value of their home on nursing home care for my Dad who had dementia. I don't begrudge it at all, I tell my mother to spend her money now when she's alive, not to be stressing about us. It is sad though to see, they were ordinary working class folk who were sensible, it didn't pay off for them. My.dad was in a nursing home, others there got it for free, he didn't.

Farzanah

Good post Dickens and HousePlantQueen.
I find some of the posts on here quite smug. How many people through no fault of their own have found themselves unable to save. It’s not a moral failing.
It would only take an unforeseen disaster for any of us to be living in a precarious situation, savings or not. I’d rather live in a compassionate non judgemental society than an obsessively acquisitive one.

How many people through no fault of their own have found themselves unable to save. It’s not a moral failing.

I am financially 'comfortable' and mortgage free. I have worked hard, during one period, very hard. But - there is one thing that I will always readily admit to - along with the hard work, there was luck. I didn't achieve that luck, I just got the breaks. They didn't come until much later in life, but I got them, and without this luck, I would most definitely not be in the position I am now. Fortune could have so easily gone the other way, as it does for a lot of people. Events over which they have little or no control will force some into a cycle of impoverishment. So I will never judge nor condemn anyone for their poverty, or their inability to save, or indeed their willingness to save.

We all know that there are those who are, for want of a better word, work-shy, or who 'game the system', but a little bit of research will indicate that they are not the majority.

And there are others who work and - just spend what they earn. As others have pointed out, if a mortgage is out of reach - why would you not? Do we live to work, or work to live?

Another thing. My 'success' in the workplace was based on the fact that I, and my then single-parent, divorced mother were in receipt of "handouts". My mother, training to be a nurse, was eligible (1950s) for a grant which enabled her to send me to an independent boarding-school. She trained and worked on the job - a thing of the past. Putting the name of the school on my CV stood me in good stead when I left it. And when I left, I had the opportunity for further education and day release from the civil service - all publicly funded. I was given Luncheon Vouchers (another handout) as a young working teenager. Protected tenancies was also another benefit some of us were able to enjoy. Along with others of my generation, I climbed the ladder to moderate success - one many of my generation were happy to pull up behind them and deny others the same opportunities.

We didn't have the technology we have now when I was young. But, we did have coffee bars, we also had transistor radios, records, dance halls and clubs, clothes and shoes. And I wanted all of these things that were available in the same way that young people now want smart 'phones, nice nails, coffee-to-go... and even the infamous avocado-on-toast. What's the difference?

I agree with your point, nipsmum, that no-one knows other people's circumstances. This being the case, no-one should judge anyone if they haven't been able to save. Living just within your income with nothing left to spare is the experience of many people in all age groups, not just the young.

Any savings I had were swallowed up when my husband left. My children were 17 and 14. I worked as a nurse in private Nursing homes. I retired when I was 68. I am now 81 and anything I had in the bank is long gone. You don't know anyone circumstances and I am not sure lots of you are qualified to comment.

Doodledog

My two both rent, and are both paying back student loans, so buying somewhere of their own is nowhere near as easy as it was for us, even though we bought at a time when prices were rising and interest rates very high.

I don't think it's fair to blame young people for not doing what we did - times are different. I also think that castigating them for buying little luxuries is unfair when they work so hard. We didn't buy fancy coffee* as it wasn't available, and also because saving the £3.50 every day might have moved us closer to the deposit for a house. It would be a drop in the ocean these days, so it's really not comparing like with like.

*insert 'frivolous' spending of choice.

A very good post, Doodledog.

More people than we realise haven't been able to save during their working lives and I'm not just talking about young people. It seems to be a misconception that if you do any kind of work you'll have enough to cover basic outgoings and money left over to save and that if you don't, it's your own fault and you must have overspent on, heaven forbid, some sort of luxury like a week's holiday or the odd trip to a hairdresser!

In my experience, most people do the best they possibly can and would save if they could. Most work hard and make sacrifices, but that doesn't automatically lead to being able to save enough to buy a house or be financially secure, even if you're a professional like a nurse or a teacher.

It would be lovely to think everyone who needs it would get a little help at the right time to enable them to plan ahead, gain a measure of financial security and then build on it, but life doesn't work like that and many are left behind through no fault of their own. For those people, saving is impossible.

While I admire people who can save by working hard and making sacrifices, I'd never blame those who work hard and make sacrifices to meet their basic outgoings but aren't in a position to save.

Doodledog

Ok. I'm going to leave it there, as it's entirely hypothetical and really not worth arguing about - I was speaking of the principle.

as for the house price inflation over the miserable caffeine, nice soap, avocado and fun free years..........It would feel like more than 8 years

A house for £100k? My DD and her brother have just bought a two bedroomed flat together, it cost them £264k. Neither could have bought on their own despite being amazing savers.

Ok. I'm going to leave it there, as it's entirely hypothetical and really not worth arguing about - I was speaking of the principle.

Doodledog The answer without any interest at all is a bit over 8 yrs, not much time really. Yes interest is on the way up.

Interesting point here: If you can tell them where to get a house for £100k close enough to their work to allow them to commute, I'll pass that on too.

I didn't set the cost numbers, you did. You said what a coffee cost and the hypothetical house cost - not me.

One of the best things you can do to save money is to stop paying for your tv licence.

Norah

Doodledog: I worked out that NOT buying coffee for £3.50 for five days a week for a 48 week working year would allow you to save £840. It's too hot to work out how many years it would take to save even a 10% deposit for a £100k house, but it would be a long wait.

Answer: between 7-8 yrs at interest. *Saving for wants is worth the goal.*

Where do you bank to get that level of interest? I'll tell my children. If you can tell them where to get a house for £100k close enough to their work to allow them to commute, I'll pass that on too.

As ever on here, any example of how things can be is taken literally and stretched to snapping point. I'm sure that if my children just had to do without coffee to buy a house they would do it. I was referring to the comparison between 'our day' when you could only borrow twice one income and half the other, and deposits were far more achievable and now, when a modest house costs more than ten times an average salary. I'm generalising, but probably most young people lived at home until marriage back then, whereas now they are more likely to rent somewhere after university and both rent and student loans make saving far more difficult.

Maybe we should agree to differ about whether they deserve to have any luxuries before taking on mortgages that tie them down for years. I approve of them enjoying their youth, even if that just means buying a coffee for the train to work and washing in nice product - I see both of these things as minor extravagances. You may not - each to her own.

coastalgran

Rain would be very welcome at the moment let alone saving for it. There is the famous quotation 'The poor will always walk among us.' I think that life should include things we all enjoy and something saved for bigger things. It is not a governments job to keep bailing swathes of the population out all the time. Food hubs, food banks etc are a modern version of what has always existed the better off helping out the less well off.

I don’t really understand how you equate that point of view that it’s not the job of government to keep bailing swathes of the population out, with the fact that the energy producers are being allowed to make obscene profits while very many people are facing the prospect of either freezing this winter or getting into severe debt to try to keep warm. Or the fact that they didn’t think twice about bailing the banks out during the financial crisis. Once more it seems to be one rule for the rich and another for the rest of us.

Doodledog: I worked out that NOT buying coffee for £3.50 for five days a week for a 48 week working year would allow you to save £840. It's too hot to work out how many years it would take to save even a 10% deposit for a £100k house, but it would be a long wait.

Answer: between 7-8 yrs at interest. Saving for wants is worth the goal.

Grandmagrewit, when I read your post, I thought it rather unrealistic. Although I think saving is very wise, I believe it's just not possible, for many people, to save anything much.

You mention the coming fuel bills - and the cost of future care - but have you really considered the vast sums involved? Few people would be able to save enough for those expenses.