National Savings Day: from your first £1 to your first investment

By Joss Murphy on 7 October 2026 in Basics

How much should you have in savings?

It’s one of those questions where Google can very quickly make you feel either incredibly smug or mildly panicked. But the reality is, there’s no magic number. How much you can save depends on everything from your income and housing costs to your age, debts and, frankly, how expensive life has decided to be this month.

And this National Savings Day, the numbers show just how different our financial situations can be.

The average UK adult has £19,214 in savings, according to a recent survey from Finder, although that falls to £9,888 among those under 55*. Dig deeper and the gap becomes even wider, with average savings ranging from £2,699 among 18–24-year-olds to £33,420 for those aged 55 and over*.

But averages can be deceiving. FCA research last year found that one in ten people have no cash savings at all, while another 21% have less than £1,000 available for an emergency**. The research also showed that one in four people in the UK have low financial resilience, meaning missed payments or are struggling to keep up with commitments**.

So, rather than worrying about whether your savings account looks like everyone else’s, National Savings Day is a good excuse to ask a much more useful question: what should I do next?

If you’re starting with £0

Just start. That’s the lesson. Before worrying about stock markets, ISAs or whether you should own a global equity fund, having some readily accessible cash for emergencies can give you an important financial safety net.

That doesn’t mean suddenly finding hundreds of pounds a month. Starting a regular savings habit with an amount you can actually afford is more useful than setting an ambitious target that lasts only a few weeks, or days. And if money is particularly tight, getting your finances onto a more secure footing takes priority over investing.

If you’ve built up some savings

This is where the question starts to change. Cash has an important job. It’s there for emergencies and money you’ll need in the relatively near future. But once you have an appropriate cash buffer, you might have money that you don’t expect to need for five years or more.

That’s when investing could be worth considering.

Interestingly, the FCA found that 61% of people with more than £10,000 in investable assets held at least three-quarters of those assets in cash**. Yes, investing comes with risk; your money can fall as well as rise, but over longer periods it also gives your money the potential to grow and outpace inflation.

If you don’t know where to start

You don’t need to go from savings account to analysing balance sheets overnight. In fact, understanding what you’re doing before you invest is a pretty sensible first investment in itself.

FundCalibre has two completely free courses designed for beginners. The Psychology of Money looks at your relationship with money and the behaviours behind your decisions, while Demystifying Investments takes you through the practical side, from what investing actually is to risk, funds and building a portfolio.

There’s no pressure to invest at the end of either. Learn first, then decide what’s right for you afterwards.

Looking for a first fund?

If you’ve decided you’re ready to invest, the thousands of funds available can make choosing your first one feel rather more complicated than necessary. Two areas that can make useful starting points for further research are global equity funds and multi-asset funds.

Global equity funds invest in companies from around the world, giving you exposure to different countries and sectors within a single investment. Three Elite Rated options to research are:

Capital Group New Perspective uses an unusual multi-manager approach, combining the best ideas of nine managers into one diversified global portfolio. It focuses particularly on multinational companies benefiting from changes in the global economy.

Rathbone Global Opportunities invests in a relatively concentrated selection of companies from around the world. Manager James Thomson looks for innovative, high-quality businesses with the potential to grow faster than the wider market.

IFSL Evenlode Global Equity takes another approach, looking specifically for quality companies capable of delivering sustainable growth without constantly needing large amounts of additional capital. This fund is a concentrated portfolio of these quality companies from across the world.

Multi-asset funds go a step further by combining different types of investments, such as equities, bonds and alternatives, within one portfolio. The manager decides how much to hold in each, which can make them an interesting option for someone who doesn’t want to build and manage that mix themselves.

Baillie Gifford Cautious Managed has a strategic asset allocation of 50% in equities and 50% in bonds and cash, giving investors access to Baillie Gifford’s investment teams within a more cautious portfolio of around 400 names (200 equity positions and 200 bond positions).

BNY Mellon Multi-Asset Balanced combines global equities and bonds and aims to balance income with capital growth over at least five years. The manager invests in what he calls “future-facing business models” which have the ability to tap into megatrendsin their respective industries.

Aegon Diversified Monthly Income spreads investments across equities, bonds, property, infrastructure and other specialist areas, with the managers looking for different sources of income while spreading risk. Importantly, for those seeking income, the fund has consistently paid a reliable monthly income since its launch.

Just take the next step

National Savings Day doesn’t need to be the day you completely overhaul your finances. Your next step might simply be putting £20 into savings. It might be checking whether your existing savings are earning a competitive rate. It might be taking one of our courses. Or, if you’ve already built your emergency fund and have money earmarked for the long term, it might be learning more about investing. The important bit isn’t where everyone else is. It’s knowing where you are and what your next step looks like.

*Source: Forbes Advisor, 16 September 2026
**Source: FCA, 16 May 2025