How much can you save?

wiseman405

Got some money from my ebay business this week.

Should be able to max out my ISA in December, opened the account in October, if i can max it out in December i think i will impress myself

So if i do manage to do that, i will up to Savings account to the max of £250 a month, and then add £200 every month into the a random account i have going stray. Then in April, i will add the money from the stray account into the ISA, start the standing order for the ISA again and lower the standing order in the savings account.
Just thought i would update how its going
Thanks
Tom

solventblackbird

Yes - I will be going in first thing tomorrow morning to pay in this month's left over wages, and will ask then. I'm almost sure I've nearly maxed it out, in which case I will need to set up a regular saver, I think. Never been at this stage before, so even though it is a long way from my goal (a house deposit - hoping for 15k plus a couple of k extra for misc expenses) it is the nearest to it I've ever been.

Asuran

My best way to save is always put some money in the bank automat as I happen to pass one. Its not an every day habit. I usually do it once a month but I strictly put away some money from myself for this event.

acook

Wanno,

You must be the only person in the country who saves. Check this site out from credit action:

http://www.creditaction.org.uk/dec.html

Here are just a couple of shocking statistics about the levels of personal debt in the UK:

Total UK personal debt at the end of October 2007 stood at £1,391bn. The growth rate increased to 9.7% for the previous 12 months which equates to an increase of £122bn.

Total secured lending on homes at the end of October 2007 stood at £1,169bn. This has increased 10.5% in the last 12 months.

Total consumer credit lending to individuals in October 2007 was £222bn. This has increased 5.8% in the last 12 months.

Total lending in October 2007 grew by £8.8bn. Secured lending grew by £7.3bn in the month. Consumer credit lending grew by £1.4bn.

Average household debt in the UK is £8,920 (excluding mortgages). This figure increases to £20,741 if the average is based on the number of households who actually have some form of unsecured loan.

Average household debt in the UK is £55,877 (including mortgages).
Average owed by every UK adult is £29,311 (including mortgages). This grew by £250 last month.

Average outstanding mortgage for the 11.8m households who currently have mortgages is £99,090.

Two fifths of mortgagors have secured debts of over £90,000, up from one fifth in 2004.

Average interest paid by each household on their total debt is approximately £3,744 each year (this equates to ~ 9% of take home pay).

Average consumer borrowing via credit cards, motor and retail finance deals, overdrafts and unsecured personal loans has risen to £4,678 per average UK adult at the end of October 2007.

Britain's personal debt is increasing by £1 million every 4 minutes.

So good luck with your attempts to save, but it is a lonely business.

Alice

zag2me

Yeh but for every one person in debt there are 10 people who are prudent and save Sometimes I think people forget that when they real off figures like you have just done.

But lets not debate this here, save it for the House prices forum.

manic_saver

Quote from acook: So good luck with your attempts to save, but it is a lonely business.

Never knew it was a business, but like the rest of us we like to save (no matter how big or small). I never thought i could grasp the idea of saving, but its all about determination, and will power to save and not getting in to debt. I have been in debt, but only as a student, even then i didn't think debt was a problem. I have cut back on a lot of things, but still do the usual things i normally do, and would never turn back. Got rid of my car, just because i didn't need one. So cycle to my work, which keeps me fit and has made me to save even more money. Still have a mobile, but have worked out how much i use in minutes and texts then find they best tarrif...its so simple it just takes a bit of planning.

I just think that britain is spoilt for choice when it comes to borrowing money. We live in a culture, where if one person has the best tv, car, computer, etc we need to have it. Wrong! we don't really need all that, its just greed.

djbd1973

acook wrote: »

Wanno,

You must be the only person in the country who saves....

So good luck with your attempts to save, but it is a lonely business.

Hi Alice,

Thanks for posting those figures which can be quite sobering but there are a whole host of people here saving (as well as investing) on many of the threads. There is a thread where a bunch of people are attempting to repay their mortgages in three years and the total amount saved by just them is quite a figure in itself.

I would say that the efforts of many of the people on this forum through sharing of information and common goals shows that saving is not that lonely really.
Cheers
djdb1973

paulboy83

Hi, hope everyone had a good month!

I've had a good month, I opened myself a Nationwide regular saver earlier in the month, as my ISA is full up, and whilst its not the best rate I know that the funds go across straight away so I won't loose 3 days interest a month for the sake of 0.5% interest.

So i've put £500 in there £250 for Nov and £250 for Dec! I've just sent £250 to my B&B savings account. And the rest is staying where I can get hold of it quickly as i'm going on holiday tonight to Hong Kong I should be packing now, but I hate packing so much i cant help but put it off

I also made myself a very basic Excel spreadsheet so I can keep track of how much i've got and where it is! Its a good motivator as I can see how well I am actually doing even though it feels painfully slow building the funds up sometimes.

I suspect at the end of december I won't have as much to put away as i've got some shopping to do in Hong Kong then i'm going to America with work just before Christmas and i've not been for a few months so I think it might be an expensive trip! :eek:

paulboy83

solventblackbird wrote: »

I do need to check how much I've got left of my 3k allowance for this year though - what happens if you exceed it accidentally and pay in more?

If you pay in more then they should send it right back to you, as they cannot accept more than £3000 a year from you. But if you give them a call or check their website then it should say how much is left!

paulboy83

acook wrote: »

So good luck with your attempts to save, but it is a lonely business.

Thats why we are here though, give a bit of support when its needed and celebrate how well we are doing