Newbie at Saving :o)

[James240]

Well not such a newbie by my post count :rolleyes: :rotfl:

Hiya guys by the end of the year i will be debt free and ready to start saving like a loony :D

My current wage at the moment is £1400 per month and at the end of the year my outgoings will drop to a minimal amount of £338 (bills, mobile phone, rent, etc)

So that leaves me around £1061 spare money as such. Out of that ill be using £161 for "me" money leaving me £900 a month spare to save :D

Now as im a complete numpty with saving what would u feel at the end of the year is the best way to use this money? I currently have a ING Savings account but after reading brief threads on ING here i feel that there are better options lol.

Basically i want nice safe investments i.e. savings accounts, etc not risking the money on stocking exchanges, etc, etc :)

So any ideas for a newbie at saving guys and gals? :D


James :)

[Lokolo]

wow awesome!

hope I can get my outgoings down to that when I start earning!

Um first things first, an ISA. Look around for whichever one you think suits you best. You can either go Cash or Stocks or both (starting from April, for now, they're named Mini and Maxi etc., theres loads of things around which explain).

You will be able to save (limited) tax free, which of course you want. So that will take £3600 (from April) of your annual earnings for cash, then another £3600 for stocks (if you want, more risky though).

That leaves you with a cool £3600! But I will leave others to help you, I am a newbie too!

[James240]

cheers lokolo :beer:

Yeah putting money into stocks kinda scares me cos i have no idea how risky they are and i have no knowledge of them at all lol.

With my outgoings my Rent is £280 at the moment so that makes up the majority of my outgoings. Although out of my £160 for "me" money i need to get food as well :)

So with the ISA's do i have to put £3600 in there in one go or can i keep topping it up monthly??

[brownbabygirl]

Definitely go for the ISA (NS&I is the best in my humble opinion)! If you start stashing away 900 per month from January until April, you should have saved the maximum 3000 for this tax year! Then do the same from April until the 3600 limit is reached for 2008-2009. Then look into opening a regular savings account (interest rates of up to 10% are around in fact), where you can save up to 250 per month.

Well done, James!!!!!

[brownbabygirl]

So with the ISA's do i have to put £3600 in there in one go or can i keep topping it up monthly??


James,
It depends on which ISA you go for. Some of them ask you have all £3000 to open. The NSI Direct ISA must be opened with an initial £1000 so you can wait till you have that ready. Or look for one that you can open with as little as £1. I love NS and I because it is backed by the treasury and their service is excellent….oh and the 6.3% tax free interest is one of the best in the market at the moment!:T

[James240]

Thanks brownbaby girl :beer: seriously cant wait to be debt free and start putting laods of money away :) With the NSI ISA's are theyt advertised on their website?

[brownbabygirl]

yes, go to www.nsandi.com (http://www.nsandi.com) and the direct ISA is there

http://www.nsandi.com/products/disa/index.jsp

[James240]

Many thanks mate, ill have a lookie at this when i get home tonight as i want to see what my options are at the end of the year so i can start gaining as much interest on my money as possible :D :beer: