A study undertaken by the team at www.MyJobQuote.co.uk found that nearly one third of British homeowners are not prepared for household emergencies as they don’t have a ‘rainy day fund’. 2,561 people over the age of 18 disclosed that they owned their own home, and have lived in it for at least two years.
Initially, all respondents were asked if they currently had a ‘rainy day fund’ – i.e. money set aside in case of household emergencies, such as a boiler breakdown. 69% revealed that they did indeed have an emergency fund, whilst 31% said they did not.
Respondents with emergency savings were then asked where they kept their savings, to which just over a quarter (27%) revealed it was cash somewhere safe, while 73% choose to keep theirs in a savings account or bank.
Those with rainy day funds were asked how much they had saved up for emergencies, with the average amount found to be £1,800. Broken down further: 18% had saved between £0-£500, 15% had £500-£1,000, 26% had £1,000-£1,500, 24% had £1,500-£2,000, and 17% had over £2,000.
With the average cost of replacing a boiler at £1,500, 59% of those with an emergency fund would not have enough set aside to cover the cost. Added to the 31% without any savings, this means that 72% of all respondents would not have funds the saved to replace a boiler should they encounter any issues with theirs.
Following on from this, all respondents that do not have an emergency fund were then asked the reason why they did not have one, and the most common answers were found to be ‘I/we don’t have enough money to put aside’ (30%), ‘I’m/we’re not worried about having an emergency fund’ (23%), and ‘I/we have enough income coming in to cover any last-minute emergencies’ (17%).
Of the participants currently without a rainy day fund, 41% said that they had previously had one, but had needed to dip into it and were yet to replace the amount. When asked what they would do in case of an emergency, 40% said they had no contingency plans, 21% said they would pay out of their current account, and 14% said they would consider a short term loan.
