{"id":514641,"date":"2026-03-02T21:57:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/514641\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T21:57:28","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T21:57:28","slug":"uk-households-urged-to-stash-away-three-months-of-take-home-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/514641\/","title":{"rendered":"UK households urged to stash away ‘three months’ of take home pay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Personal finance experts are warning younger people tend to have less saved than older people, too.\"UK<\/p>\n

UK households urged to stash away ‘three months’ of take home pay<\/p>\n

As many as one in five people in the UK have less than \u00a31,000 saved in an emergency cash pot, according to research. <\/a>Personal finance experts are warning younger people tend to have less saved than older people, too.<\/p>\n

AJ Bell data shows 21% of over 55s have \u00a320,000 or more saved in an emergency cash pot, while 37% of 18 to 34 year olds have less than \u00a32,000 in emergency savings. A quarter (24%) of women have \u00a31,000 or less saved, compared with 15% of men.<\/p>\n

The average saved is \u00a38,245 but the median amount is almost half of that at \u00a34,500, suggesting a small group with large savings and a majority with much less. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recommends that savers have at least three months<\/a>\u2019 of take-home pay saved for emergencies.<\/p>\n

READ MORE UK households urged to set their living rooms to one temperature<\/a><\/p>\n

Laura Suter, director of personal finance at AJ Bell, commented: \u201cThe end of the year is a time where we think more about spending than saving, but lots of people are leaving themselves financially exposed by not having enough in their cash savings.<\/p>\n

“New research from AJ Bell paints a pretty concerning picture of the nation\u2019s financial resilience, with one-in-five having less than a grand in their emergency cash pot.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps more stark is the disparity between age groups. Younger people tend to have less money saved in an emergency savings pot than older people, with almost two-fifths saying they have less than \u00a32,000 saved.<\/p>\n

“On the other hand, 21% of over 55s are sat on an emergency cash pot worth \u00a320,000 or more. This makes some sense when you consider that older people will generally have slowly built up a substantial cash buffer over the years, but it doesn\u2019t address the problem of many young people leaving themselves exposed if they lose a job or face another financial emergency.<\/p>\n

\u201cWomen also tend to have less saved than men, with no signs of the gender savings gap slowing \u2013 in fact, it\u2019s risen. A quarter of women have less than \u00a31,000 saved in their emergency cash pot, compared with 15% of men.<\/p>\n

“This is by no means a new trend \u2013 research by AJ Bell Money Matters in 2023 revealed that men typically have 16% more saved in an emergency cash pot than women. In the latest figures, men on average have \u00a31,746 more saved than women, representing a larger gender savings gap of 19% in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooking at the average amounts saved, there\u2019s evidence that a small number of people have large amounts saved. The average amount saved of \u00a38,245 may appear relatively healthy, but when you factor in that the median is almost half of that at \u00a34,500, it becomes clear that those with larger amounts saved, by a sizable margin, are distorting the overall picture of the nation\u2019s financial resilience.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne golden rule is to have saved at least the equivalent of three months essential expenses to sustain you through any financial shocks. If that seems too ambitious, the most important thing people can do is start saving as early as possible, even if it\u2019s just a small amount of money.<\/p>\n

“Once you\u2019ve built up that emergency pot it\u2019s then worth considering investing your money for the long term. Over time that money has the potential to grow to a more substantial pot and provide an even more stable financial cushion.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Personal finance experts are warning younger people tend to have less saved than older people, too. UK households…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[64,63,99,186,184,185,10894],"class_list":{"0":"post-514641","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-personal-finance","13":"tag-personalfinance","14":"tag-your-money"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=514641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}