How much can you save?

[Wanno]

I thought I would post a new thread being a newbie to this.

There seems to be a diary for getting out of debt, and clearing your mortgage, but not one for the amount you can save to put towards something.

I'm saving for a deposit for a house and am aiming for about £16,000.

It would be useful to log how much I can save in a diary format and get as much support as possible.
I'll be keeping a log of my progress and would love to hear any tips you guys have on budgeting and making the most of the money I can keep.

If anybody would like to join me then great- the more the merrier!

[Wanno]

Im not sure if this is the right place to post this thread.

[ReportInvestor]

I think it is the right place.

Having seen on other boards the impact of encouragement it would be great to have a group of savers who encouraged each other.

Especially those who had managed to get themselves out of debt.

Martin suggests starting with tax free Cash ISAs BUT

Top tips at the moment, wanno, are the regular saver accounts and 7%+ gross (5.6% net) beats all of the Cash ISAs out there.

12% at A&L
10% at Barclays
8% at HSBC
8% at LLoyds (especialy good as this is a 2 year account)
You need current accounts at the above to open their regular savers.
8.25% at Ipswich BS (with some windfall possibilities thrown in).
7% at Halifax
6.5% at Yorkshire BS (and no 12 month rule here, either - a good option).
6.5% at Principality BS.

Good luck with your savings. You are on the right track .

[Chrismaths]

If you have the time to muck around with lots of accounts and move them around after a year. If you just want to keep it simple, the cash ISA is the best route.

[Wanno]

Thanks for this guys.
I suppose I should post what accounts I have so far:
Abbey National Regular Saver- 8% £250 paid per month- (£250 to date)
ISA- gradually drip feeding up to £3000 in April and £250 paid per month
into investment part of it. (£1100 and 500 to date)

I will work out the balances of these shortly- but I am attempting to save £1000 per month.

[zag2me]

Here we go!

I saved £370 into my cash isa this month. Thats nearly my allowance gone for this year, so next month I will finally be looking to pay some significant amount off my student loan.

[chelseablue]

Hi Wanno can I join you?

Me and OH are also saving for a house deposit.

Currently have £3,400 - aiming for about £15,000 before we start looking.

Where abouts do you live?

[Wanno]

Hi Chelseablue
That would be great! The more people spurring us on means we should be able to afford it a lot sooner. Its nice to have a goal- even if it seems way off!
I am looking to buy in Essex. I work/rent in London at the moment.
You're doing well to have £3400 already!

[Zazie_Zazou]

Hi, I'll join in too!

Like Wanno I want to start saving for a flat deposit and I reckon this will help to motivate me.

This time last year I was in debt to the tune of £5,000 and didn't have a hope of saving anything. However, I was lucky in that I got a better paid job followed by two promotions, so I'm now in the position of being able to save money instead of chucking every spare penny at my debts.

Last month I cleared £900 (ouch!) off my credit card, which means I'm now debt-free. This month, when I got paid, the first thing I did was put £500 into a cash ISA, and today I added another £500 - so I have the grand total of £1,000 saved so far. I hope to put £500 into this every month until I reach my £3,000 allowance.

After April 2007 I'll open another cash ISA, followed by a regular savings account.

I'm aiming to save close to £20,000 in two years, starting from now.

[Wanno]

Sounds like we have a group going!
Zazie_Zazou thats pretty good! It must be a great feeling to be debt free and well on the road to paying for something that you really want. Its definitely a feeling of achievement when you have saved something for yourself rather than paying off debt. £20,00 sounds like a lot but I know that we can do it. Small steps and all that.

I say we post a record each month how much we have saved in the past month together with any great tips where you have saved a bundle.

[zag2me]

Subscribed to the thread, and will post again at the end of the month

Well done to everyone who saved this month.

[Judi]

Hi, i will subscribe to this thread too. I managed to put £300 into my saving accounts on the 1st of this month. Bringing my total savings to £8796.

Regular saving accounts i hold are with Halifax, Alliance and Leicester and LLoydsTsb.

Why am i saving? Well MrJudi has a personal pension and i dont.

[iamsam]

I'll join in if I may.. I'm looking to buy a flat in Edinburgh and the house prices here means that I'm going to need a hefty deposit

I'm aiming to save £750+/month (I did a little budget and on a good month that's just about how much I can manage). I've got a regular saver with Lloyds and Halifax (both started ~May, with 250/month in each).

Zag2me: I suggest you read the article entitled 'Should I pay off my student loan?' . I did. And decided not to.

[Wanno]

Iamsam, Judi, zag2me- you're in!

I had a little free financial advice when I opened up my current account a couple of months ago and the adviser said "Right, that means you have about £1200 accessible money left after outgoings."
No way is that correct, so I did a budget and I have worked out £1000 a month would be a real achievement on a basic budget.
Tight budget for a few months I think to see if I can do this.

[Tigerwinn]

I am with everybody on the savings front and found ReportInvestor's post very useful and checked out the websites for the regular savers. Couldn't find the 10% Barclays one on their website (could be my poor navigation).
Is it on the website???

Also found that HSBC said you have to have your salary paid into the current account before you could open a regular saver. I have a current account but have my salary paid elsewhere. Is there a way round this?

Thanks

[Wanno]

Who ever invented Time and a half was a genius. Ive decided to work overtime this weekend. Thats an extra £400 or so to add to the pot. I went a bit mad in boots last night so it's needed.

[Mr. H]

Originally Posted by zag2me

so next month I will finally be looking to pay some significant amount off my student loan.

Hi Zag, as iamsam said, don't pay of your student loan any faster than you have to! If you are feeling like paying off extra amounts, put the money into a high-interest savings account (5% +) instead, and you'll be better off.

[Judi]

Saved £20 on groceries yesterday.

[farhad1965]

Hi Wanno - I used to save £2000 per month into ING Direct and now switched that all into ICESAVE.

[margaretclare]

Hi all

I save £200 a month into an equity ISA with Hargreaves Lansdown and £100 a month in a cash ISA, which I've just moved from Smile at 4.75% to the Yorkshire BS at 5.15%.

As of this morning I have £2025.38 in the equity ISA and £1151.27 in the cash ISA. This is all from retirement income and only started at the beginning of this tax year.

What am I saving for at my age? Well, we just do not know what we may need if we live another 20 years until we're 91, do we? We know we'll need to replace the car probably this time next year, there are holidays, we like nice things - and it's still possible to save! Great, isn't it?

Margaret