UK savers have more than £614bn in excess cash

“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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

Is this article a joke?

They want the state to raid all your savings to plug the holes in the rapidly deflating life boat that is the current British economy?

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

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.

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

Oh no people saving money instead of spending it all and being broke and living pay check to pay check! 😮

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

I’m not going to be a shareholder. Fuck shareholders, they’re a blight on society.

That’s not a lot really considering our population is somewhere between 65 and 70 million. I’d take a stab that the amount of “excess cash” depends on when in the month this figure is taken. For example, just after payday I’ve got a couple thousand in excess cash, but the day before payday I’ve got less than £50, I can’t invest that money as it’s needed for bills during the month. So saying theres £614bn available to invest is a distraction, most people need the money in “cash” to pay for things as they can’t invest it long term.

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?

Savings are not excess cash. Savings are required to smooth out the ride over time in preparation for large costs whether deliberate or otherwise. Economically it’s a stock which shores up the flows of consumer spending. Trying to shame regular people for having eXcEsS cAsH in a cost of living crisis and a shite job market where anyone could find themselves needing to cover months of expenses is just absolutely wild.

I have recently retired. Pension income covers daily needs. Most of my savings are in index funds, but I keep two to three years discretionary funds in a savings account to mitigate against adverse market movements. So I have about a year’s income in cash. Is that excessive? Possibly, but I’m comfortable with it.

U.K. savers understand that the government is made up of the worst kinds of people; greedy childish politicians who have rarely been told “no”.

I have some savings and I fully expect the government to come and take them. This country is hopeless