{"id":777484,"date":"2026-02-20T16:37:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/777484\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T16:37:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T16:37:16","slug":"britains-1000-savings-gap-warning-for-19-of-households-personal-finance-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/777484\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s \u00a31,000 savings gap: warning for 19% of households | Personal Finance | Finance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"withoutCaption\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/british-pounds-calculator-and-money-file-financial-settlements-household-budget-taxes-british-675618.jpeg\" class=\"zoomEnabled\" data-img=\"https:\/\/cdn.images.express.co.uk\/img\/dynamic\/23\/1200x712\/secondary\/british-pounds-calculator-and-money-file-financial-settlements-household-budget-taxes-british-6756185.jpg?r=1771605137926\" alt=\"British pounds, calculator and money file, financial settlements, household budget, taxes, British currency exchange rate, financial analysis, economi\" title=\"British pounds, calculator and money file, financial settlements, household budget, taxes, British currency exchange rate, financial analysis, economi\" width=\"590\" height=\"393\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A lack of savings is a real problem for UK households (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n<p>A startling warning has been issued to Britain regarding a \u00a31,000 savings gap, which sees nearly one in five households left with less than \u00a31,000 in savings and at risk of financial catastrophe.<\/p>\n<p>Research published by AJ Bell in December shows that a startling 19% of households in Britain have less than \u00a31,000 saved in their emergency cash pot, with women and younger people most at risk from unforeseen costs.<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, the same amount of over-55s have an average of \u00a320,000 or more in savings, suggesting a generational divide that leaves younger people \u2018exposed\u2019 according to the finance firm.<\/p>\n<p>AJ Bell suggested that households should build up an emergency fund of at least three months\u2019 worth of essential expenses, and consider investing money for the long term, too.<\/p>\n<p><strong> READ MORE:<\/strong> <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/finance\/personalfinance\/2173382\/hmrc-sends-letter-m-tax-free-allowance\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> HMRC boosts tax-free Personal Allowance to \u00a313,830 with letter M tax code <\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong> READ MORE:<\/strong> <a data-link-tracking=\"InArticle|Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.express.co.uk\/finance\/personalfinance\/2172432\/tax-free-personal-allowance-increase-hmrc\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Tax-free Personal Allowance increase as HMRC sends out cheques for \u00a31,000 <\/a><\/p>\n<p>It warned that \u2018many young people\u2019 in particular are risking \u2018leaving themselves exposed if they lose a job\u2019 or \u2018face another financial emergency\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>Laura Suter, director of personal finance at AJ Bell, said: \u201cNew 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<p>\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<p>\u201cOn 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<p>\u201cWomen also tend to have less saved than men, with no signs of the gender savings gap slowing \u2013 in fact, it\u2019s risen.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA quarter of women have less than \u00a31,000 saved in their emergency cash pot, compared with 15% of men. 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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 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<p>\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<p>\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. 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":"A lack of savings is a real problem for UK households (Image: Getty) A startling warning has been&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":777485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,115035,226874,226873,4884,940,1144,3028,226872,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":["post-777484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","category-uk","category-united-kingdom","tag-britain","tag-england","tag-financial-resilience","tag-gender-savings-gap","tag-generational-divide","tag-great-britain","tag-money-saving","tag-northern-ireland","tag-savings","tag-savings-gap","tag-scotland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-wales"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116103941095038098","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}