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

As long as you have enough to live on, I think it is good to give the money to your children as long as you can trust them to use it wisely.

I inherited some money and gave my daughters £50k each which they invested in their homes. I can see the benefits they are getting from the money and it gives me pleasure.

Why not give it away if there isn't anything you need or want to buy. I don't have any specific figure for savings I think everyone has a different life style so expectations will always differ. As long as our outgoings are more than our expenditure and we have a buffer in the bank we are happy.

There are no pockets in a shroud.

If you trust your kids not to be profligate, and as my Mum used to say[ this phrase came from German Jews who fled to UK with nothing]

Give whilst the hand is hot.

I read today as long as you have £23,000 in the kitty you will get nursing home care free.

Im sure most folk here have at least that.

However only you know your kids/relatives, so its up to you.

I have given D a several thousand in total over the past few years for various reasons 2 cars for instance. I've now had to tell her what savings we have left we need for emergencies over the next however many years. She and her brother (whom we support and is living at home) will have any cash left and the house between them when were gone.
If I came into money I would give it to the children as I feel we have enough savings. If it was a large sum, I may keep some

Sorry jollyg I disagree I don't think most folk would have £23000 in savings. Of course there will be some who have plenty more. Many pensioners live more or less hand to mouth and as we are thankfully a mixed bunch, I think several GN's will have half or less than that. Or even none.

I agree, Nina.
We have no savings at all.
We do own another house though (apart from a small mortgage.)
I never have, except for the few times I was saving up for something. Strange, because both of us come from families who were very money conscious.
At these times the value of money is so changeable it's hardly worth bothering. And what's the UK interest rate on savings at the moment? Next to nothing, then you can be taxed on the interest.

£23,000 ?

I can't quite work out what you mean by your post, jollyg - you make it sound as though you'll get free nursing home care if you've got at least £23,000 in the bank. Surely it's £23,000 or less?

And of course, if you live in your own home without a spouse they'll take that into account as well and you may have to sell it.

Good God!! £23,000??? What planet are you on?

You have to have less than £23,000 in savings in order to avoid paying for your nursing home!

You've got it arse-about-face, Jollyg It is BELOW the given figure, not ABOVE it. It couldn't possibly be as you put it - they'd never get the money back for non-free care from people who had nothing!

I suspect jollyg knows that. It's a typo.

Thanks DianaL, and those who pointed out my error.

I am suitably penitent.

I think a cool million would be sufficient savings to have. I would put it in an old fashioned savings account then I could look at the savings book every night before I went to sleep. I would sleep like a baby with the book tucked under my pillow.

You've got it just about right gillybob. That's a nice comfortable safety net.....if only!

If only indeed Linsco56

I can dream though. they just won't be as sweet as the ones I would have if I had that bank book

I think a lot of people on here are being a bit unfair to OP. All that was asked was what we think is a reasonable amount to have in savings, pointing out that those with savings over £23k may well be penalised anyway when it comes to care home fees. To answer your question: if you have enough income to comfortably do what you wish i.e keep the house warm eat well, eat out occasionally and have a few holidays if you wish, then I think that sufficient funds to cover emergencies such as a boiler failure/new roof/etc is what you need, so in that case if you have around £20k that you do not need to supplement your regular expenditure, that should be ok.

I would feel comfortable with £10k in savings. This an arbitrary amount to cover emergencies like a new boiler, our daughters wedding (that's a joke BTW) etc. Having just bought a new car, we don't have that much atm, but will try to build it up again.
We are lucky that we don't rely on savings for income as many do. A couple of our friends rely on savings/investments for income and are eating into their capital to live.

At the time I was made redundant, our children were at a point where they needed help, we had no hesitation in giving it to them to help them out.

As far as care home fees go, we have our heads in the sand.

The problems certainly mount up when Things like boilers breakdown or the car needs attention. I would like to have savings so that such things could be sorted without worry.

£23.000. think I am lucky with £23 kept in my account .

I am keeping my fingers crossed that I never reach the stage of needing a care home. I agree, a cool million may see me through the first couple of years there but anywhere half decent charges around £2000 a week at today's prices. I know I live in London but at that price I would be packing a very small suitcase. I am like Wobbly my head is also in the sand.

I know it is another question but is it fair to give your money away so the state has to pay for your nursing home? I'm not sure it is.

When we were first married we budgeted for all regular bills that we could estimate and put that amount into a tobacco tin each week (if I remember correctly it was about £5) this included, food. electric, gas, car maintenance, Xmas and anything we could foresee. This meant that anything left over could be spent on non essentials. MrsP has kept this budgeting up all along (except for food). This means that even now we can cover most bills without worry. Unfortunately £5/wk does not quite cover it now

I remember someone I worked with saying "£100,000 is nothing these days, Jalima"

and that was about 14 or 15 years ago!

I keep thinking that if I win £100,000 I will give some and spend some (and save a bit for a rainy day).
I often sort it all out in my head