UK savers have more than £614bn in excess cash

https://www.ft.com/content/37af2ffd-0a82-4150-b89c-3d5390ea9062

by endofdays2022

25 comments

  1. “The excess amount, which Barclays said was based on people who already hold more than six months’ income in cash, underscores the challenge facing the government as it tries to funnel more money into investments.”

    I presume this is going to mainly be retired people and folk saving for deposits etc who aren’t going to be wanting to risk the cash on short term fluctuations in the stock market.

  2. UK government froths at the mouth as to how they can further tax this

  3. I find the use of the term “excess cash” weird.

    Even if you’re young, there are many reasons why you might want to keep your savings in cash beyond just your emergency fund. If you’re saving up for a house deposit, home renovation, wedding or other big thing then you’re unlikely to want to risk that money on investments that might go down.

    I do think though that public education of some kind would be beneficial regarding investments. A lot of people think it involves individual stock picking (I’ve been asked what stocks I recommend when I mention that I’ve got money in stocks and shares) and that’s understandably offputting. No investment is risk free by any means but it’s a lot less risky to chuck your money into an index tracker than try and guess which individual companies will do well.

  5. As someone getting older, who has worked hard and saved, got no kids and have seen the state of social care and state pension ages, I’m calling it a survival fund, thanks.

    We should absolutely encourage people to save so that they can live at a decent standard when they are older without resorting to the state. Using terms like “excess cash” doesn’t seem helpful.

  6. This is an average of roughly £10k/person in the UK, and even if you discount children (although older kids may have a few hundred to count towards this) it’s a perfectly reasonable amount of money to have in cash to cover unexpected expenses, periods of unemployment or even just saving up towards something. The Cash ISA allowance is double that.

  7. That’s less than the combined worth of the 2 richest people.

  8. God forbid anyone in this country have more then 20 pounds to their name.

    This sort of bullshit is the reason we are in this mess of no growth and shit productivity.

  9. The hype I don’t get around this is that what is most likely to happen off of a big push for moving cash savings to investments is that people will instead invest in global and specifically US equity/index funds, so whilst the average uk citizen may end up with more value in assets, actual uk companies won’t see much of a benefit besides the platforms and financial advisers, as nobody will be investing in them.

  10. Savings aren’t excess cash.

    They have savings, so that one day they might be able to retire, get on the property ladder, make home improvements, etc.

    It isnt “excess” in any sense.

  11. Like basically every other issue with this country, the Government needs some radical housing reform. They can keep lowering interest rates & try telling everyone how we need to spend to save the economy, but every young person is saving for a house & they’re going to keep living frugally & saving until they can get one. Once they have a house/aren’t paying all their income on rent, then they’ll have true excess to spend.
    Instead they’ve always focussed on concentrating all the wealth into the older generations who already have everything they need & don’t spend at all

  12. The gov’t desperately wants this invested but is ignoring the demographics and importance of cash in various circumstances.

  13. I have some savings but no way would I call it “excess cash”.

  14. Excess? 6 monthly cycles of redundancy, 5%+ mortgage, on the ladder late at 38 and largely due to a bereavement kicking me enough money for a deposit.

    Fuck all excess about it

  15. Is that all, less than £9000 per person on average? Scary stuff…

  16. I understand that it makes sense for more people to be invested than holding cash savings… but the country lacks the financial education to do so.

    If people invested without understanding what they were investing in, it would be a disaster.

  17. Unfortunately the government has taken out debts and unfunded pension liabilities of over £4 trillion, amounting to £110,000 per taxpayer, on our behalf. Which makes these savings a triviality.

  18. Excess cash is such a horrible way to word it. As if it’s non sensical to have a savings pot.

  19. I bet only the 5-10% of highest earners have the majority of that figure.

    Nonsense figure combining people with £20million and £200

  20. Well we need saved money as everything is so fragile.

    I don’t know if I will have a job next year, and that’s been going on for years now, so I need savings.

    If they sorted out the country then people wouldn’t feel the need to save so much.

  21. How much of that £614bn is saved by someone with lots of money anyway? Take out the top 10% and see how much is actually being saved away.

  22. Nice, we’re slightly richer than Elon musk. Though not as rich as musk + bezos I think

  23. Hold onto your money and diversify where it’s held, we’ve been in an everything bubble for the better part of a decade and the only thing keeping things from collapse is total bullshit.

  24. Why doesn’t the government issue savings bonds to UK residents that offer a higher interest rate than the high street banks?

  25. So you earn some money, and pay income tax on it.

    Then you invest some in stocks and shares. And if it makes enough interest, you pay Capital Gains Tax on that.

    Now you need to spend some of your investment. But if you take it out of the investment vehicle, you pay income tax on it again. Am I getting this wrong?

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