Do you have savings?

Now that is one thing I do think is a waste of money -new cars!!!

Welshwife why is your car sadly rarely replaced? I have had my current car 10 years and see no reason to replace it. It is reliable and gets me from A to B when required including some quite long journeys - and it was 5 years old when I bought it. DH works on a similar basis. We could afford a new car and possibly changing it every few years, but why bother? We have better things to do with our money.

Growing up, my parents rows were always about money and lack of it. They both worked hard in poorly paid jobs and although we were not "poor" , there was never any money for a holiday. I worked Saturday and Summer holiday jobs from when I was 13 and bought my own clothes. I'm now a retired teacher and lucky enough to be "comfortable". It has left me with a real phobia about being poor and I have always had to have a savings pot. I appreciate everything I have but I still watch pennies although there is no real need now. We enjoy lovely holidays and meals out together and with family. I only wish my dear parents could have had the same life. I can spend now but only because we have been savers.

If you have no cash savings, or assets you can convert to cash if needed, how do you pay for replacements when you have stopped working? We have an income which is enough to keep us and pay for our trips back to see the family or visit those in USA. However we cannot really add to our savings pot so although if it was something like the washing machine or fridge which needs replacing that we could most likely do that OK, but not if it is the car. We do pay cash for our car which the people at the garage tell me is now very unusual and most people have HP or have a lease agreement which still entails monthly payments. Therefore we need some money behind us but sadly it is rarely replaced.

Re care home fees and deprivation of assets, I think that as long as you give the money away well before you are getting decrepit/demented and therefore likely to be in need of care soon, it's probably OK.

From all I've heard the problems arise when the person or their family realise that a care home is likely to be on the cards soon, and then try to save assets by giving them away.

There is more to saving than cash in a savings account. DH and I are serial house renovators and improvers. As a result we now own a quite valuable house, not cash in the bank, but a resource we can draw on should we need to. Any one who had a mortgage was saving because at the end of the day they own their house.

Similarly, I was not in pensionable employment until I was 40, so I paid maximum AVC's (Additional Volontary Contributions) into the company pension fund from the start. This meant that I have a substantially larger pension than I would have had, had I just paid the basic amount, that was part of my saving, which pays out each month with my enhanced pension payment.

devongirl the biggest problem Social Services face when seeing how money was spent is the need to prove that if you gave a lump sum to your DGC to buy a house, for example, you did it deliberately to qualify for free care. The longer ago you did it, especially if you did it when you were in good health, the more difficult it is for them to prove you did it to avoid care costs. If they cannot prove that they cannot act as if you still have the money.

I agree it is prudent to have some "rainy day" savings, (if possible), but when does this kick in?
My parents were loathe to spend anything on luxuries but did not skimp on food, heating etc. I inherited a small amount and my late husband and I enjoyed good holidays and reliable cars.- Skodas, not `Mercedes.
Now at the age of 74, widowed, remarried, living in a modest house in France I am starting to wonder about dipping into the small savings pot and enjoying a few more holidays etc. whilst we are fit, or leaving it in case we require a care home.
Mind you, a broken central heating boiler has just wiped out £5,500 , the 7 year old car is showing a few aches and pains so the drizzle, if not the rain has begun !
One consolation is the price of excellent French wine , good food, plenty of sunshine so the need for exotic holidays is fading.

So true "Foxyferret* (great username btw!)

It may be true that money can't buy happiness but at least you can be miserable in comfort.

I have brandy ideas and shandy money.?
Don't save as much as we used to, as others say, life is for living.

Exactly grannyqueenie how can anyone be happy when they can't even afford the basics in life, like keeping themselves and their family warm? Eating well? Paying the rent or mortgage? Never mind luxuries .

Anniepops....well done you. I hope your current contented state continues indefinitely and even flourishes.

The little I have put by is my security blanket. I was only able to begin to save not long before my retirement. My priority became paying off my mortgage. This I managed to achieve all on my own which makes me feel so proud. It's also so reassuring that I can help my children out with small amounts if needed and Christmas is now such a joy not having to worry about being unable to afford gifts. In my past life it was my ex who enjoyed spending our joint income on himself. Things have certainly turned around for the better since then.

I would feel very uncomfortable spend, spend, spending then sitting back and expecting the state, ie the taxpayers, to pick up the tab for my care costs if I have any.

win that's really sad - yes, spend what you have and enjoy yourself as much as you can

I have saved all my life and was looking forward to a lovely retirement. My husband had a huge stroke and died after 11 years in a wheelchair with me caring 24/7. We could not spend much during those years but I am determined to spend my savings now and live for the day as long as I have enough to do that I will be happy, just wish we could have spent it together.

Going back to care fees and savings, the article I read differentiated between MHRC who can only go back up to 7 years, and councils who can go back as far as they want.

I presume they're not relying on your information, but info from bank accounts - lets face it, the state seems to know everything abpout our finances from day 1 (even though they make us fill in forms for e.g. child tax credit and penalise us if we make a mistake).

I don't think money can buy happiness but the constant lack of having enough of it and the worry of always having to watch every penny can make a person feel unhappy

Have to gently but firmly disagree with that gillybob

Whoever said "money can't buy happiness" was a liar .

Both my husband and I have always been savers, and although interest rates are currently dire, we still save money.

Glad we have savings behind us as we have seen a bungalow that we like, and if we decide to buy the property our savings will help.

I used to try to save when my DS was young but after divorce found this was impossible while trying to pay a mortgage. So sold my house, wish I had not & kept on struggling. Managed some savings then my brother hit rock bottom & I 'lent' him my savings to help! This was several years ago & still no attempt to repay. Learnt a lesson there but in 70's now see no way of building savings again so any spare cash goes on my lovely GC. Love seeing their happy faces then so well worth it!

I put some of my lump sum into premium bonds and have had better returns on those than I would have had in a savings account. Still hoping for the top prize though!

Gosh.....on reading these posts I feel positively antediluvian. I keep a daily/monthly/annual spreadsheet of my finances. I watch the bank rates and put my meagre savings (for the proverbial roof collapse) into whoever will pay me the most. In my present case, why accept an interest rate of .02 pc when 1.9 is available? Changeover took me five minutes online. I think I have a full fun life. I socialise regularly. I get out and about and I travel regularly. I cannot understand the 'spend it' philosophy in that we cannot spend for spending's sake. I certainly do not deprive myself of anything I want but neither do I have Rolls Royce tastes.
My great joy is that I have no debt and on my meagre income I am one pretty happy bunny and I confess that my savings are a comfort cushion against unforeseen house repairs, nothing else.

When the OH and I were first together we were told by the most pennypinching, childless couple we knew that it had taken them eleven years to become solvent (not in the red by payday). It was a salutary lesson and the same thing happened to us, it was almost eleven years to the day until we moved from red to black.

The minute we could save we did. We started some Co-Op ten year savings' bonds and a long term (35 year) bond, put money away from our salaries each month, saved every payrise we had, banked redundancy payments and the DH's inheritance and set about paying down our mortgage with a chequebook mortgage account that calculated interest daily. Neither of us has touched our retirement lump sums. At the same time we eschewed the luxuries others couldn't seem to live without and lived frugally.

We haven't amassed the sum one might have expected from all this prudence and we are actually losing money as interest rates are negligible and inflation is running ahead of the official figures.

Nevertheless, we feel safer for having some cash in the bank and know that if the car breaks down or the boiler explodes we can put it right. Logic tells us that we have saved fruitlessly and this will certainly be true if care home fees eat our 'pot'. However, I think whether ones saves or spends is very dependent on what sort of person one is.

The OH and I are risk averse. We have seen others crash and, while one cannot see the future, we feel more confident with a reserve behind us. This sounds like a smugathon but I think it is borne out of fear.

The OH's mother was obsessively frugal and prudent and I was extremely poor at times during my childhood and these circumstances have rubbed off on both of us.

I have a sibling who reacted in completely the opposite way and is a bit of a spendaholic. If she were given £10,000 she'd have it spent by the end of the month.