How much do you have in savings???

You’re doing well for savings. The issue is there are no current or savings accounts, including cash ISA, paying any sensible interest at the moment which means that money not invested is slowly being eaten at by inflation. Anything you don’t need in the next 3-5 years I would put in to the shares ISA. Keep the rest readily available but keep browsing for any more promising interest rates. Money Saving Expert is a website I use for guidance on savings accounts. Also get as much free advice as you can from any sources, wise friends, banks, money sections of newspapers etc.

I agree with this but I think it's a hard balance. For example, let's say you keep around 3 months emergency fund (maybe around 4-5k) and the rest you invest, so it's strapped away. But then, for example, your car breaks down and needs to be scrapped (so you need to buy a new car) or you need major repair work done on your house, you're going to need to use that emergency money plus the money that's supposed to be put away for the long term. So then you might get penalties when you try to access the rest of your money, whether that be from a certain ISA or for having to take it out of your pension fund or maybe you need to sell some stocks you've invested in and those stocks are down in value so you've lost money.

In short, what I'm saying is basically I think inflation is the price to pay for easy access to your money, personally, it's a price that's got to be paid for ease of mind (unless of course, nobody else worries about these hypothetical emergency scenarios lol)

You’re doing well for savings. The issue is there are no current or savings accounts, including cash ISA, paying any sensible interest at the moment which means that money not invested is slowly being eaten at by inflation. Anything you don’t need in the next 3-5 years I would put in to the shares ISA. Keep the rest readily available but keep browsing for any more promising interest rates. Money Saving Expert is a website I use for guidance on savings accounts. Also get as much free advice as you can from any sources, wise friends, banks, money sections of newspapers etc.

I agree with this but I think it's a hard balance. For example, let's say you keep around 3 months emergency fund (maybe around 4-5k) and the rest you invest, so it's strapped away. But then, for example, your car breaks down and needs to be scrapped (so you need to buy a new car) or you need major repair work done on your house, you're going to need to use that emergency money plus the money that's supposed to be put away for the long term. So then you might get penalties when you try to access the rest of your money, whether that be from a certain ISA or for having to take it out of your pension fund or maybe you need to sell some stocks you've invested in and those stocks are down in value so you've lost money.

In short, what I'm saying is basically I think inflation is the price to pay for easy access to your money, personally, it's a price that's got to be paid for ease of mind (unless of course, nobody else worries about these hypothetical emergency scenarios lol)

14K

Thanks DWP.

An overall general guideline is to have multiple times your pay saved by age 30, double your pay by 35, three times by 40, etc. Mean to save 15% of your compensation for retirement or start with a rate that is sensible for your financial plan and increment by 1% every year until you arrive at 15%

Yeah it is quite good that you're able to keep a five figure balance in savings yet the social security safety net will still kick in. Kinda suprised its not been cut during austerity to something more sensible like £2k.

I was in recite of the legacy income-based ESA which is far more generous than the newer Universal Credit.

The savings limit for Income based ESA was £16,000.

Universal credit will disregard savings of up to £6000 in their calculations, every £250 in savings above that limit is treated as an income of £4.35 a week?. Like ESA, the savings limit is still £16,000.

HOW I BUDGET MY SALARY - BUDGETING FOR BEGINNERS - STUDENT FRIENDLY

https://youtu.be/KpRy-oiuwpk

How much of it do you save?

50% - almost 1k a month and it’s not all exclusively in savings anymore, I’ve made lump sums into investments because I doubt I’ll need the money in the long term

So is it 50% then investments on top? Or 50% including investments?

At the moment, 60% is savings and investments, 15% of which is savings, 5-10% is crypto and the rest is in an S&S ISA

For me I'm putting nothing into savings. 45% of take home pay is going into an S&S ISA. Another 20% into a non ISA investment account.

Sometimes I get the urge to invest ALL my savings but in the past week my portfolio has gone from +£200 to +£50 and now I’m shook