Average savings by age in the UK: How much should you be saving?

It’s a well-known fact that rainy day savings are important. These rainy days can be anything from financial and medical emergencies to weddings, university fees, or moving house. But, despite the well-known importance of having money set aside, are people in the UK ready for that rainy day? The average savings by age statistics seem to indicate that they are not.

Experts advise individuals to save at least three months’ worth of living expenses – the majority of people in the UK are not at this recommended level. There can be multiple reasons for not saving enough, but insufficient earnings are consistently among the top reasons.

The household savings rate in the United Kingdom fell to 9.50% in the third quarter of 2025, down from 10.20% in the second quarter of 2025. Personal savings in the UK averaged 7.83% from 1955 to 2025.

The total number of adult ISAs has been rising in recent years, while the number of people with no reserves at all is increasing. Although the number of junior ISAs is going up, the average amount invested in them is plummeting. Bank balances are dwindling, and so are the average UK savings figures.

If you want to put your money to better use, a stocks and shares ISA is the best way to protect cash from inflation and grow your money for the future. With Moneyfarm, an account gives you access to expert advice, a wealth of investment expertise, round-the-clock control and a portfolio that’s built to suit your goals. To check out your options, click the button below.

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Average savings by age in the UK

Based on the Office for National Statistics data, the average amount people have set aside predictably goes up as they get older. In 2020, the average British adult had around £6,757 saved. This number has increased as of 2026. 

According to research from Finder, the average person in the UK has 19,214 in reserve in 2026. Younger people have less set aside for many reasons, like student loans, low salaries and high expenses, while the average amount in savings increases as people get closer to their retirement age. 

How about the UK average savings by age figures in 2026?

The average savings by age in the UK are shown below. The data is courtesy of Finder.com.

Comparison of saving habits across generations: Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials, Gen Z

According to Finder’s 2026 report, the proportion of UK adults with no savings remains concerning across all age groups:

High housing costs and the effects of recent inflation continue to weigh on the financial resilience of Millennials and Gen Z, even as real wage growth has started to recover in 2026. While income conditions are improving, they are not yet strong enough to significantly increase saving capacity among younger people. 

Many Gen Xers are still drawing on their rainy-day funds to cope with higher mortgage costs and household bills, although the pressure has begun to ease slightly as interest rates stabilise. However, savings levels for this group have yet to fully recover. 

Baby Boomers (and also Gen X) remain the only groups that have meaningfully strengthened their financial safety nets. Boomers continue to benefit from paid-off mortgages, stable pension income and a generally cautious approach to money, while Gen X has increasingly turned to stricter budgeting and greater use of financial tools, such as apps and automatic transfers. 

How do they invest their money? 

• Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation prefer to invest for retirement, own their own homes, and have higher incomes. 

• Gen X saves money for shorter-term goals, such as holidays and weddings. 

• Millennials are more likely to use technology to manage their finances and save for specific goals, such as children’s education or a home purchase. 

• Gen Z is more open to new financial products and services, such as cryptocurrency, and has just started developing a saving habit. 

Gen X and Millennials are facing a few financial challenges that are altering how much they can set aside. These challenges include things such as student debt and rising house prices and the cost of living. 

Average savings by income in the UK

Income is another critical metric that determines how much people save at different ages in the UK. There is, understandably, a direct correlation between income and savings. People with higher incomes have more disposable cash and can save more than those with lower incomes.

However, despite their incomes, how much money people eventually save depends on several factors and their attitude towards setting money aside in general. Also, people with high incomes tend to have high expenses and need higher reserves for their retirement.

According to the Financial Lives Survey (2025), among households with an annual income below £15,000, more than one in five (22%) have no savings at all, and over a third have less than £1,000 in savings. Low-income groups often have very limited financial resources. In contrast, among high-income households (earning over £50,000 per year), only a small percentage lack savings, and more than half of these households have over £10,000 set aside, demonstrating a significant gap in savings levels between low and high income families. 

How much should you save?

This year, the cost of a Minimum Retirement Living Standard for a one-person household has decreased by £1,000 per year to £13,400, while for a two-person household, it is £21,600. (From: Retirement Living Standards) How much should you save? 

• By age 30: £34,826. As a general rule, the amount you should have saved by this age should equal your annual income.  

• By age 40: £149,159. The recommended savings by this age is approximately three times your pre-retirement income.  

• By age 50: £357,567. Savings should be around six times your pre-retirement income.  

• By age 60: £725,323. Savings should be approximately eight times your pre-retirement income. 

These estimates are based on an annual income of £50,000. 

Have you ever considered investing?

For many people, the idea of  investing their hard-earned money can be daunting. Cash has always felt “safe”, so why risk opening your wealth up to the markets? Well, the truth is that cash isn’t the safe haven it once was.

• The Bank of England has already cut its base rate to 3.75 % (February 2026) with some risk related to inflation (Bank of England) 
• Headline CPI inflation is still running at 3.6 % (October 2025), which means the real (inflation-adjusted) return on most easy-access accounts remains close to—or below—zero once tax is considered.​ (Office for National Statistics) 

So while cash rates are far better than a few years ago, they’re still struggling to keep pace with prices. That’s why more savers are taking the next step:

• A quarter of UK adults (26%) have a stocks and shares ISA as of 2026, while almost half of Brits (46%) have a cash ISA. (Finder). 
• 4.1 million stocks and shares ISAs and 9.9 million cash ISAs were subscribed to in 2023/2024 
  (Finder). 

In short, cash is great for a three-to-six-month emergency fund, but anything beyond that risks being eroded by inflation and lower interest rates. A well-diversified stocks and shares ISA lets your money work harder while keeping any gains sheltered from Capital Gains Tax and dividend tax.

To get started with an investment portfolio that’s designed around your long-term goals, follow the button below.

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Average retirement income in the UK

The amount of money required to live comfortably in retirement varies widely from person to person, depending on their living expenses and where they want to retire. Most British citizens believe that an annual income of between £10,200 and £41,900 is likely to sustain a convenient and comfortable retirement.

Beyond that, anything extra would be considered a luxury. However, you probably won’t find anyone complaining about having more than enough money for retirement because financial situations might change over time.

Savings statistics in the UK: Average savings by gender and region

The savings picture still varies sharply depending on who you are and where you live.

Gender gap

According to The Investors Centre, in 2026 men are 54% more likely to hold investments than women (43% vs 28%). 

The gap mirrors the gender-pay divide and the fact that women are more likely to take career breaks or work part-time, leaving less spare cash to set aside.

Regional divide

Fresh survey data show the spread between the UK’s best and worst-off savers is wider than ever: 

Why such a gulf? High-pay sectors concentrate in London, while house-price growth there has inflated homeowners’ cash buffers. By contrast, lower wages and fewer high-value jobs leave savers in the East Midlands and Northern Ireland with far smaller cushions.

Average investments in the UK

Average investments in the UK look very different in 2026 from even a couple of years ago.

• 2008: the average payment into a stocks-and-shares ISA was a little over £3,200. 

• 2022: people in the UK subscribed to 12.4 million adult ISA accounts, up from 11.8 million the year before, and poured £7.6 billion into them. Almost all of that extra money went into cash products, with cash-ISA subscriptions jumping by roughly a third, while contributions to stocks-and-shares ISAs slipped by just over £6 billion. By 2022/23 the typical investor was paying in just under £10,000, meaning the average subscription has effectively tripled in fifteen years. 

• 2023: according to Gov UK in April 2023 the total ISA pot was worth £726 billion, and close to 60 per cent of that, around £430 billion, sat in stocks-and-shares ISAs. Cash, of course, has enjoyed a renaissance: easy-access rates north of four per cent lured savers back during 2023. 

• 2026: while cash rates remain far higher than a few years ago, they are still only roughly in line with inflation, meaning real returns are limited. As a result, savers continue to look beyond cash: more people are holding Stocks-and-Shares ISAs, and the overall ISA market remains weighted towards investments, which still account for close to 60% of total ISA wealth. 

Once you have a three-to-six-month emergency fund, a well-diversified stocks and shares ISA still offers the best long-term chance of beating inflation—and of closing the savings gap you will need in later life. For shorter-term goals, or if you simply want somewhere to park that emergency fund, a cash ISA remains a popular, tax-efficient option.

Stocks and shares ISAs can be opened with a range of risk levels to cater for different investors’ attitudes. If you want your cash to grow slowly but steadily over the years, as you try to reach the average savings by age 60 in the UK, a low-risk portfolio could be the most suitable. Conversely, those who want their cash to grow more but are willing to accept a greater degree of risk can take out higher-risk portfolios. However, most investors will fall somewhere in the middle of this scale.

Factors that affect average savings

The average savings in any country are created by a number of contributing factors. Some factors influence savings at the macro level, while many others have an impact on an individual level. On a larger scale, average savings are impacted by the economic growth of a nation and the prevalent interest rates.

While higher interest rates make savings more attractive and increase the average amount saved, higher economic growth tends to increase spending and reduce savings. Additionally, high levels of inflation may discourage cash reserves but increase the appeal of assets.

From an individual perspective, average savings are heavily influenced by cultural trends. Some cultures have a tendency for higher saving, while others have a spending culture. Levels of income and average age play a significant role in determining the average amount of money set aside per country

The average amounts of reserves are less for younger people, and they steadily increase until the age of 50-60. They then go down post-retirement as the income typically stops altogether. Similarly, higher income levels also enable higher savings when compared to lower-income households.

What is the impact of economic downturns on savings in the UK?

The lingering cost-of-living squeeze continues to reshape the way Britons save (or, more often, don’t). The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has found that one in ten people have no cash savings at all, and another 21% have less than £1,000 to draw on in an emergency. 

Higher borrowing costs have continued to weigh on household finances. The Bank of England has already reduced its base rate to 3.75% by early 2026, down from its peak, but mortgages and consumer credit remain significantly more expensive than in the late 2010s. This still affects family budgets: even though the biggest price jumps are over, mortgage costs are still high after rising in 2023-2024, and many families are still on expensive fixed-rate deals from that time. 

But there is also something positive about debts: among the 1.7 million people who used a debt advice or management service in the previous 12 months, 61% said it helped make their debts more manageable. 

Renters are also under sustained pressure. Data from the Office for National Statistics show that private rents have continued to rise into 2025 and early 2026, with annual growth still running at historically high levels, even if it has started to stabilise slightly from its peak. With both homeowners and renters facing persistently high housing costs, many households still have limited capacity to rebuild savings and often need to cut back or draw on existing reserves. 

Inflation has eased compared with its post-pandemic peak, but it remains above the Bank of England’s 2% target, and real income growth has only gradually improved. As a result, for many families the ability to have money set aside remains limited in 2026. 

Quick ways to increase your savings

One look at the data around average savings by age in the UK shows that the situation is problematic. Far more than an acceptable number of people in the UK have no reserves at all, while many have insufficient to protect them in the event of a loss of income. Therefore, the need for the average person to consider setting money aside for rainy days has never been greater.

The smartest way to save is ‘saving before spending’. To get a substantial average savings by age 60 in the UK means putting money into savings immediately after payday and spending the remaining amount accordingly. Current technology also means people can automate the saving process in its entirety. Various smartphone apps are equipped to analyse individuals’ income and spending habits, decide on the appropriate amount of reserves, and deduct the decided amount automatically every month.

Another smart way to save and have adequate average savings by age 60 in the UK is to make setting money aside as secure as possible while also making it relatively inaccessible, so that you don’t dip into them as soon as you fall short of money or give in to making an impulse purchase. It is important to follow the quick methods to increase your reserves to prepare you for emergencies and enter your retirement with a sufficient amount of savings to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

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