Understanding how much of your income you should be saving is an important part of taking control of your finances.
Once you build a good saving habit, you will find it much easier to achieve your broader financial goals like saving up for a house deposit, a wedding, or buying your dream car.
The median amount that a person in the UK has in their savings is only around £9,633, research by Raisin UK in May 2025 shows – not much more than is needed for an emergency fund that covers essential spending for several months.
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If you want to grow your wealth and work out how much you should have in your savings accounts, it could be useful to see how much money others at your age tend to save so you have a figure in mind.
Average savings in the UK by age
The average amount that people have in savings is heavily skewed by age. You are more likely to have a better-paying job if you are older, having had more time to climb the career ladder. Plus, people typically accrue more in savings each month as they get older.
The table below shows how much the average person has in their savings account by age range:
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Age
Average Savings
18 to 24
£2,481.16
25 to 34
£3,544.16
35 to 44
£5,996
45 to 54
£11,014
55 and over
£20,020
Source: Raisin UK, data accurate as of 29 May 2025
Our average pension pot by age guide explores how much people typically have saved for retirement as they get older.
How much should I have in my savings?
How much a person should have in their savings depends on personal factors. This means there isn’t a “hard-and-fast rule to determine how much you should save by a certain age”, Craig Rickman, personal finance expert at interactive investor says. Instead, it “comes down to your specific financial goals and when you want to achieve them”.
One such goal is saving for a deposit on your first home. Rickman says: “Imagine you’re 25 years old and want to buy a house in 10 years’ time. Regardless of what other people are doing, the important thing is to build a sufficient deposit over the next decade to fulfil your dream of home ownership.”
This flexible approach to how much you should have in your savings is echoed by Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown, who tells MoneyWeek: “It would be great to have a specific number for people to aim for when they’re building their savings, but that’s not how it works, because it depends on you.”
Coles also emphasises the importance of building a strong safety net before putting all your resources into funding a house deposit, wedding, or other goal.
“The rule of thumb is that when you’re working age, you should have enough cash in an easy access account to cover three to six month’s worth of essential spending,” she says.
The size of this pot will depend on what you consider ‘essential spending’ and your personal life conditions. Coles explains: “If, for example, there are a number of people relying on your income, and you have had health problems in the past or your income is variable, you’ll probably feel more comfortable holding more [in easy access savings].”
She adds: “If you have a secure job, good health, a wider family to call on when things get tough, and nobody else spending your income, you might be happier with less. Your considerations should also include how many earners there are in the family and the insurance cover you have in place.”
With wallets being stretched further as outgoings have steadily increased over recent years, starting to save more has become more difficult. Nevertheless, it is still important to make a start sooner rather than later.
Rickman suggests it could help to “be realistic about how much you can afford to tuck away”. He adds: “If you can start shovelling a bit away now, however small, it can make a big difference to your lifestyle and wellbeing in years to come”.
Rickman says setting some financial goals is a good starting point: “If you’re aiming for something personally fulfilling, you’re more likely to foster the required motivation to not only start saving and investing but keep things up,” he adds.
Supporting this call for people to start saving their income, Coles says: “If you don’t have enough set aside, if you’re waiting for the moment in life when your costs fall and you find yourself with plenty of money, you could wait forever.
“Instead, it’s worth doing whatever you can afford, as soon as you can afford to do so.”
How much should I have in my emergency fund?
Building an emergency fund is important. In the event that you lose your livelihood, you can use it to cover your essentials while you search for a new job and make sure you don’t fall behind on mortgage payments or rent.
Furthermore, it is important to have money available at a moment’s notice if an unforeseen complication arises in your life. Very few people would want to be stuck without a boiler in the middle of the winter because they can’t find enough cash to replace it.
The size of an average emergency fund should be around £6,174, according to Hargreaves Lansdown, as average essential outgoings a month are £2,058.
This being said, it is important to note that the perfect size of your emergency fund will be entirely dependent on how many monthly outgoings you have, so it is worth doing your own calculations.
It’s often suggested that an emergency fund should be equivalent to around three months worth of essential outgoings, but a bit of extra wiggle room could be helpful.
How can I grow my savings?
There are several ways you can grow your savings.
Using an Individual Savings Account (ISA) is one of the most popular ways for savers to store their money and passively grow it.
ISAs allow you to place up to £20,000 of your savings into an account annually without having to pay tax on the interest earned, making them more tax-efficient than normal savings accounts.
Cash ISAs are by far the most popular type of ISA, representing 63% of the total ISA market according to HMRC data from December 2024.
Stocks and shares ISA are less popular but offer the potential of much higher returns than a cash ISA.
The average rate of return for a cash ISA was under 4% over the past year, while the average stocks and shares ISA returned an average of nearly 12% in the same period, according to Moneyfactscompare.co.uk.
If you’ve filled up your ISA limit, you could turn to regular savings accounts – these come in a number of forms, each with different terms and limits on how much and how quickly you can withdraw your money.
An easy-access saver will be a good option for savers who want their emergency funds to beat inflation. You can withdraw cash from these accounts penalty-free, making them suitable for people who need to access their money without giving notice.
Other options include fixed-term savings accounts which let you earn a guaranteed rate of interest if you lock away your money for a fixed period of time. Terms can be as long as five years.
There is no hard and fast rule on how much you should have in your ISA as your own personal circumstances will dictate how much you can afford to save.
As mentioned before, there is a cap on how much you place in an ISA each tax year without paying tax. This annual allowance is £20,000.
You can spread this across as many ISAs as you like (although there’s a £4,000 limit for the Lifetime ISA), as long as it doesn’t exceed the yearly cap.
How much should I have in savings before investing?
While saving is good for short-term goals (less than five years), investing can help you build long-term wealth. We explore the pros and cons in our saving vs investing guide.
While you can often earn inflation-beating interest with a savings account, investing can mean your money grows more substantially.
You don’t necessarily need to have substantial savings before you start investing but it is a good idea to first build a safety net with easy to access savings before trying to grow your wealth through investments.
This is because investing comes with risk, and you can lose money in the stock market as well as make it. Investment vehicles that are traditionally seen as ‘safe’ can perform badly, so it is worth making sure that your livelihood won’t be affected if your investments go kaput.
Rickman tells MoneyWeek: “Even if you’re champing at the bit to start investing, there are a few things to check off first.” This includes building an emergency savings fund.
Debt is a key thing to consider when potentially planning a foray into the stock market. “First, strongly consider clearing any high-interest debt such as credit cards,” says Rickman. “That’s because the annual interest rate charged is likely to far outstrip any potential investment returns.”
Being prepared to invest for a long period is also important. “Make sure you’re prepared to invest for five years or more,” Rickman says. “Stock market returns aren’t guaranteed, and the value can go down as well as up, but having time on your side will help to smooth out any volatility.”
You just need to look at the turmoil caused by Trump’s tariff announcements in April to see why a long-term view of investing is needed. Between 2 April and 8 April the S&P 500 lost more than 12% of its value, but in the time since, the losses have been recovered and then some.
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Daniel is a digital journalist at Moneyweek and enjoys writing about personal finance, economics, and politics. He previously worked at The Economist in their Audience team.
Daniel studied History at Emmanuel College, Cambridge and specialised in the history of political thought. In his free time, he likes reading, listening to music, and cooking overambitious meals.
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