How much money do you consider 'sufficient' in Savings.

I agree with your post re varying standards care M0nica, but in fact I am inclined towards radicalnan's post.
I've never been to Switzerland and I understand it is very beautiful. If someone could just take me on a quick tour of the country first then that will suit me.

Savings can be very useful, for those that have them. In the past few months we have spent several thousand pounds on out of the ordinary spending. No, not holidays, but vet and dental charges. It soon mounts up, yesterday,£200 at the vets, next week, £500 at the dentist for the pleasure of having root canal fillings, not me, my husband, I had mine three months ago!! Money can sometimes just melt away.

Anything more than the €3.38 which I have in the bank at the moment, wearing out the card reader checking if my monthly money is in the bank yet

I think it is going to be extremely hard for our children and our grandchildren to be able to have the lifestyle that we oldies have enjoyed. Housing prices have rocketed, bills for energy have done the same and as for a car well, you have to get to work don't you? You can hardly call that a luxury if you live out in the sticks as we do. Then of course if your grandchildren go to university your children may even have to remortgage their house to pay the bill thanks to Cameron and Clegg, that is if they have one of course. I think it is only right that we help our children and their children.

We have paid off our mortgage. The money from the house will either pay for our care or they will inherit it. I have opened accounts in trust for our grandchildren and pay a certain amount in to them which they cannot have until they reach the age of 18yrs. It is not going to be a fortune but it will help a bit. If anyone can tell me of a better way to give them more I would like to hear it. We also have a lot of treasures in the loft, left to us by our parents, which they can sell and our furniture they can share or sell as well. Hopefully as we are now the age at which our parents died we will not need to go in to care but we cannot see the future so we have life insurance policies too.

When we were growing up it was the norm to rent. Today because of Maggie Thatcher's drive to get everyone to buy their own home (in order for the government to tax it) most people of our age own their house. She sold off council houses at a give away price for the same reason. The problem is that renting is now as expensive as having a mortgage.

I think the OP was right to give her share away, maybe it would be wiser to say that that would happen upon the last survivor's death?

I made a mistake. I took the pensioner household income from care costs for one person and multiplied up instead of two.

So my calculations are: £102,000 a year for 2, less £20,000 = £82,000 x 8 = £656,00 - value of house = necessary savings

Maggiemay, sorry for the extra hyperventilation this will cause you

I hope that I don't have to go into a nursing home. Or my husband for that matter. We'll whatever savings you have you may need in the future as we don't know what will happen. I think you should hang onto that money just in case, if you have a will they may end up with it anyway.

I want to keep £10.000 which is what I believe it costs to use DIGNITAS, I would not spend a penny on what passes for 'care' in this country.

Don't be fooled by current contribution thresholds they can be altered at whim. My advice is that if you have any spare cash, spend it on making your home as user friendly as possible so you can hang on at home for as long as possible........

Give your money to the people you love if you can help them.

The future is so uncertain now.

As Hilltop and Ana pointed out, there are restrictions on gifting whilst still living as to amount and the time that must pass before YOU pass for it not to attract taxation:

www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/gifts-and-exemptions-from-inheritance-tax

I'd save most of it for your needs, and when you are gone, they can have what is left. You never know what your needs may be as others have said.

For that price, I blooming hope so!

Makes you wonder where some of us will be in 10-20 years time, doesn't it?

Do they have unlimited, fast broadband in these homes

Personally I'd prefer to have a substantial nest egg above & beyond retirement income. We've worked out we'll have enough to live on, & through a combination of careful management & good fortune we'll have a 'cushion' as well. (I do realise not everyone is in this position, but when I compare myself with my brother in exactly the same situation it is clear we are better at managing money than he is). I just want to be sure I can pay for things like major repairs, new car etc. My children are doing fine & will have our house to sell when we kick the bucket, providing it's not eaten up in care home fees of course. We may revisit nearer the dreaded day & start gifting to them within the tax limit if we need to.

(after reading M0nica's calculations)

I'm still hyperventilating

Well I think what we will be doing is trying to future proof our home as much as possible to avoid going into care preferring to have care in our own home which will be more comfortable and far less expensive.

Those figures which I don't doubt are way beyond what the majority can afford so we had better stay fit and well.

My abiding fear is having to go into care and being dependent on the state to pay for me. I have spent 30 years of my life visiting friends, family and others in care. I have seen every type of care home from the superb to the absolutely dreadful and the one thing that come through is: you get what you pay for, if you can't pay your last years will be spent in cramped limited conditions with indifferent care. The more you can afford to pay the better your living conditions and care will be. I accept there will be exceptions but the general rule holds.

So how much is 'sufficient savings'? Sufficient savings is sufficient to be able to afford really good quality care for both DH and myself for at least 8 years. Nowadays the average stay in a care home is two and a half years but over 10% are in care for 6 years plus. The cost of a really good quality care home will be around £1,000 a week. So that is £52,000, or £104,000 for two, take away the average income of pensioner households, £20,000 and it brings the cost down to £32,000 a year, for 8 years that is £560,000

If you accept that care costs could be as high as £560,000, take away the value of your house and what is left is the level your savings should, ideally, be

Most of us will probably not go into residential care, certainly not both spouses for that long, but that is the worst case scenario, and the one I always have in mind.

We have a little savings put by, for emergencies, and manage to add a little each month, it is not a lot, but our funeral plans will help with those expenses, and we do not go on holidays these days, can't be bothered. Like life as it is and with the little bit 'put by'are comfortable to live as we do.

Those of us who have some savings are fortunate, if you live hand to mouth, they are a luxury. We are fortunate now, but earlier in life when our children were you, the annual MOT was a dread. trying to keep an old banger on the road which was essential if I was to get to work.

More or less with you, with that one, phoenix! Life has happened, as it does, and we've never inherited anything apart from a little bit when my dad died twenty-odd years ago.
DH was a manual worker/lorry driver, and I worked in the care 'industry', so no big pensions for us! However, we muck along, and hopefully at the end of our lives, we'll be accepted for medical research at St Andrews Uni. Not worrying about it!

Sorry, you are using a foreign language here, we/I have no savings, sadly. Various life events have meant that just wasn't possible.

(Paupers grave for me, when the time comes! )

This was reported in the International Business Times in 2013:

"Millions of UK households have only £250 or less set aside to fall back on if they hit a financial emergency.

....."HSBC said the number of households in this situation had risen by almost 800,000 since October, 2012.

"The findings indicate that the proportion of Brits who are financially unprepared .... has risen steadily over the past year, with an extra 800,000 households admitting to savings of £250 or less," said Oliver Cook, head of savings at HSBC."

mumofmadboys I don't think it's fair to give away or in some other way protect your money to avoid paying care home fees. I also don't think it's fair that the small number of elderly people who are unfortunate enough to need to go to a care home have virtually all their assets taken from them to fund their care. I think possibly some sort of ring-fenced compulsory insurance should be introduced so that everybody contributes to - and can benefit from - the cost of elder care, whether they eventually need to go into a home or not.

This thread is turning into one of "those" threads . The haves and the have nots. None of us care any more or less for our children, or grandchildren . Sorry but it's becoming boring . I stick by my need for a million in a bank book under my pillow.

Like others, I don't think it's fair to pass all your worldly goods on to your children to ensure that they are okay, leaving other people's children to pay through their taxes for your care fees. In my experience it tends to be the better off that do that anyway. Helping your children out if they need it, or gifting smaller amounts to them or to your grandchildren is another matter. Fortunately ours seem to be doing okay for themselves at the moment touch wood - if that changes, I hope we'll be able to help out.

But seeing as a gypsy once told me I'd be very, very rich very, very late in my life, I foresee that I'll win the lottery, pop my clogs on the spot with the excitement, and leave my kids very well off, all in one fell swoop. With any luck, it'll be before I settle into the home.

Jane A. I certainly don't think people are generous to their kids just to avoid paying care home fees!! There needs to be a balance.

£23,000 in assets