Do you have savings?

My parents were spenders, as professionals, they must have gone through a lot.
Not much was spent on me, so I've always been a saver.
DH came from a saving family, so it was instilled in him.
Our own DCs quote back to us, 'look after the pennies......'
If I have to pay for care in old age, so be it.

Jane10 my dear mum always told me to have a running away fund. So I did, and told our daughter the same thing. Mind you she is so money savvy, she could take me with her if the need arose

7 years for inheritance tax, but for care home fees it is not time, but whether it can be shown that the money was given away with the intention of avoiding paying care home fees

mumofmadboys - re nursing home fees - the 7 year rule does not apply

I spend and much prefer to saving forever. Each to their own.

My father always invested any spare money he had in property (ie houses), and husband's family ploughed theirs back into their business (shops.) As a couple we own (mostly) 2 small houses.

I would consider that the above is saving. Saving is putting money aside instead of spending it. Savings can be put aside in a variety of ways. it can be directly invested into assets like houses, jewellery, fine art or land. It can be investment in businesses, either directly or by purchasing stocks and shares. It can be money in a saving account at a bank or building society. It can be money kept in an old sock under the bed.

Money not spent and not given away is saving, no matter what form it is turned into..

Any money given more than seven years before death is not looked into 're inheritance tax or nursing home fees as I understand it.

I've always tried to put away a bit each month even if it wasn't much. I called it my 'running away' fund after reading a Nancy's Mitford book. More seriously though I started paying into our NHS pension scheme while still in my 20s and could ill afford it. My Dad had made me do it and I bless him every day for that. It bought me my freedom.

Slight diversion, in response to annsixty - I agree about care home expenses; I used to think it was awful that my parents skimped all their lives, did without hols etc. then it nearly all went on care home costs. I would like to give my daughter a lump sum when I sell my flat, so she can use the money towards a deposit on a flat herself, but I understand from an article I read years ago that councils can go over your financial records for as many years as they want, to determine if you have been trying to avoid care home fees.

So savers - think twice and enjoy!

The OP was maybe wanting to know why we save.H and I were both born before WW2 and in different ways saw real poverty in the mining community we both lived in.
We never wanted us or our C to experience that, we needed the reassurance that a few pounds in the bank would give and we did have to make some sacrifices to do it.
Would I do it again?
Probably not.

It may have been me mentioning savings in an earlier post on another thread.

I do sometimes wish I had had more and better holidays, replaced furniture etc more often and spent more on ourselves throughout our marriage.

I wouldn't then be looking forward to it going in care home fees, and no-one would be able to take that pleasure away from me.

My savings were what I managed to squirrel away in my last few working years , of course they aren't accumulating much profit nowadays but I need to have that buffer between me and just managing on my pensions.

No, any time I have managed to squirrel some away for a rainy day.. well.. along comes the rain.
I'm not in any debt though, so that's something.

My parents taught me to save and even when I was earning paltry amounts when training I still put pennies by for a rainy day.

Our small savings are the result of bequests from parents.