Do you have savings?

I used to love seeing my savings pot build up and see how much interest I accrued. Since the rates went down to a pitiful amount I no longer save but spend it on holidays. improving my home and enjoying myself and helping my adult children and their families who are struggling with today's prices.

I have never been in debt; the mortgage (which has been paid off now over 20 years ago) is the only time money was borrowed. You can't take it with you and I intend the taxman to take as little as possible.

We decided early in our marriage that the best way for us to save was to put as much as we could into mortgages, and buy the best house we could. This paid off for us.
We now have inherited some money, but aren't able to go on holidays or outings...still, nice to be able to buy extras without worrying.

I did get £10k from my mum's estate, but DWP took most of it against benefits. I've always been a hoarder, saving for the proverbial rainy day and have a few stocks and shares, a bit in a P2P lending scheme and a little in a bricks & mortar investment. When MIL goes we will get her house and about £20K which will pay towards repairs and renewals - DH wants to sell the house, I want to get a rental income. I can't see any point in banks/building societies etc at present with the ridiculous interest rates, but if I can find a decent return, happy to take a slightly risky investment.

Also with the way the economy is and how it will just worsen drastically in the next 50 yrs. Money will eventually be worth zilch. It's already nearly there.

It's pointless. You live a spared life to save your pennies for a "rainy day"... and when you get on in your years, you use that money to pay the shortfalls of what medical aid doesn't cover. Some nevery make it to their older years. Live for the now. Don't over do it but live. Enjoy what you're working for.

How I wish I could change my attitude to spending but I think it is ingrained and too late to change. Also at 80 I can't be bothered. I do spend on C and GC though to their delight.

I think it is probably sensible to have money put by for if the roof blows off or some such disaster, but money simply sat in the bank at our age is a pretty sterile thing and could be used for so much enjoyment and fun.

Remember going to a pre-retirement seminar where saving in retirement was discussed and whether it was considered desirable.
The answer was only for enjoyment like world cruises etc, but no point otherwise.

That's my philosophy

MOnica - good point in your post at 16.32 yesterday.
With interest rates as low as they are at the moment it's hardly worth saving.
We've saved small amounts for specific things in the past, and encouraged our children to do the same. They've got a variety of attitudes to money-
Eldest is 'tight' - but always has a bob or 2 to lend.
Next has hardly 2 pennies but doesn't care.
Next (girl) is a spendthrift, but getting better.
Youngest (a girl) was also a spendthrift but now works hard and they spend any extra on their home.
So you can never tell who will follow their parents example.

We spend a bit and save a bit and thankfully don't have to worry about the bills especially lovely that I can have all the heating on I want during the winter and can afford to shop in Waitrose and M & S for food supplies. We both paid into pension schemes all our working lives but no inheritances.

I think I just question the attitude that it's there to spend and the idea of a rainy day fund doesn't seem to exist.
If that rainy day doesn't happen then some cash is there for the family - though in my case I 'm not talking about house deposits.
I did save while working and was lucky enough to have a bit of a leg-up with a modest inheritance but my pension goes from maximum to minimum every month so no chance of adding to savings.

20k would be a life changing amount to me mcem ( probably not much to many other people I know though) and I would use it to pay some debts off . I have never been in the position to be able to save as I have never had any spare money left over after essentials. DH and I haven't even had a steady income in over 20 years . Likewise I have never received any money from anyone in a will/windfall/inheritance. It must be amazing to get a "leg up" once in a while .

Funeral expenses perhaps?

Burning money?

We've got a ISA with the burning money in and the children have access to that, theirs also the house which is paid for, but we don't save on a regular basis, if we want it we get it.

We have tried to save a little each month. This usually goes out again on car, holidays, presents, but there is a cushion. Thankfully DH's pension will come with a nice lump sum which will be buffer money for later in life. Life circumstances mean we will probably always have to rent our home, but we are both people who feel happy with 'enough' and don't want for more so hopefully all will be well.

I believe that, if they suspect deprivation of assets, they can go back further.

we've always had a rainy day fund ,being self employed it was a security blanket in case things went wrong and we needed to live without an income.We've worked to guarantee our income and to leave a continuing income for our children when we die with hopefully enough for deposits for houses for the GC .I DO spend though I change furniture,decorate and redo kitchens and bathrooms very regulary because I like my home to stay fresh and modern ,we dont spend on holidays as I'd rather sleep in my own bed .

Re the 7-year rule about tax etc: there's no way (is there?) that a Council could access your financial details any further back than your own records. It's wise to keep details of the last 7 years' banking etc, but most people don't keep records any longer than that, and I doubt very much if they'd be relevant anyway.

Good question, TriciaF, as the saving at today rates. I can not reason why to save and not spend. Enjoy retirement.

I suppose we are savers rather than spenders. "Stuff" has never bothered us so for example whereas some may have spent thousands on cars over the years we are happy with an ageing Fiesta. Probably stems from both of us coming from families where it was hard to make ends meet and saving was not an option.

This reminds me of a recent conversation when a friend and I discussed people who win cash eg in a tv game show. £20k is seen as a life-changing amount and it's to be spent on car/ holidays/etc.
No-one ever says it will go into savings or a pension fund.
Is £20k a life-changing amount?
If we are lucky enough to have that in the bank should we give it away, spend the lot or hang on to it?

It's fortunate we have a reasonable joint income because we are not very good savers. We have a little savings - and put a fair amount of money into our savings account each month, but often take it out again for holidays, presents, etc. etc.

I think we could have amassed a lot more money but we are not especially careful about spending on ourselves or on our family and friends.

We haven't ever inherited any money either so I'm not sure that has anything to do with whether you have a propensity to save.

My father was always a saver, but until I got married, the concept of saving never entered my head. In the early years of our marriage we didn't save much either, but once DH was approaching the point where the end of his Army service was looming, we decided to get the money together for a deposit on a house, and managed that okay, but we didn't start saving in earnest until I was in a position to work full time. We've always been in a position where we could help the kids with uni and setting up home, and got out of the habit of spending significant money on ourselves. Now that there are no outside calls on it, DH is finding it a hard habit to get back into! He is of the "we might need it for care home fees" mindset. We do okay, though, on the whole. Not an exciting life, but a secure one.

What we have is what we have saved . We didn't inherit a penny from either family, perhaps that explains our mindset.

We have never saved. Our small nest egg is redundancy money and inheritance but we do refer to it as "our savings"