How much can you save?

Robj10

I just posted this into the "We're saving for a deposit thread" but I guess it also fits into this thread. So here's my story*

*Not a very interesting story!

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Hi, after reading through some posters progress on here, I think its time I joined in too!

Okay, so I'm 21 years old. I work full time picking up minimum £1400 4-weekly (so 13 payments a year) after tax. Overtime is available at the moment aswell so can pick up around 1600. I also still live at home.

Looking to save around 10-20k for a deposit on houses around the 100k mark.

Now, up until recently I've lived a bit of an expensive lifestyle (which i have no regrets about ) & have got £1300 on a credit card, and £4500-5000 remaining on a loan for my car. At the moment my monthly expenditures come in at about £700 (Board, car insurance, credit card payments, car loan payment, phone contract, etc, etc) which leaves me with 700-900 each month and I've been saving £300 a month towards 2 holidays this year (one with the lads, one with the missus) which has paid both off and also spends for both. So my usual monthly spend over the past 6-12 month has been 400 quid (then anything extra I just put on the credit card and pay that off with extra money from overtime).

Now, in the next couple of weeks I'l be inheritting between 8-10k. I plan to pay off my car loan, and clear my credit card (and then cut it up!). Then pay off my car insurance in one go as it is due next month (£600) & car tax (£180).

So that should leave me with a minimum of £1000 which will be my starting block, but most importantly it should leave me debt free.

Now, my monthly bills should come up to a measly total of £170 (Board, phone contract & few other small bills). Which leaves me with £1200-£1400 to play with a month. So I plan to save £700-900 per month depending on how much overtime i work (putting £500 into an isa and the rest into a savings for easy access if needed). leaving me with £500 general spends a month (should cope fairly easily)

I also do a share incentive plan (where my company matches the shares I buy). I pay £50 a month which comes out of my payslip before i see it so I dont even notice it going. They currently have a value of £3000 although i have to wait 5 years to cash them in without forfeiting the matched shares. I dont plan to use this money - unless something goes drastically wrong over the next few years.

Also, my girlfriend is looking to save £200 a month to throw into the pot aswell, although shes struggled of late because of one thing or another, but thats another story and I've probably bored your enough by now!!

So yeah, thats my plan. Hopefully i will stick to it, will post an update in the next couple of months! Wish me luck!

Cheers for reading

AlwaysLearnin

Robj10 wrote: »

Wish me luck!

Good luck!

Dorset82

Thanks AlwaysLearnin & Tara747, that's made me feel a bit better : )

oli3

I normally put away £1500 a month in savings, its a fair bit but I've cut corners to do it by cycling to work in London (£1700 saved a year) and my monthly shopping bill is £50 month for 2, that's mostly bargain hunting in the reduced bin, Its like a pack of hyena's to a caucus so you gotta be quick to get the good deals

Pocketsaver

Been about 5 and a half months since I last updated this place. Since then I have managed to save £5,569 on a salary of £1,300. I have been on courses for work every Saturday since mid February so it meant I couldn't go out on weekends as it was usually located in London while I currently live in Cardiff!
Good news is that I am leaving my current employer this week to start a new career in London in 2 weeks! Pay is going to be roughly £1,800 a month. Unfortunately, although this is my ideal career route it means I will be not be under the wing of my parents' anymore and will have outgoings after outgoings. My current savings amount is £24,000, with £4,000 of that saved towards a once in a lifetime event next year. Once I get settled into the city life and have an understanding of my outgoings I think I am going to have to move over to the 'we're saving for a deposit' thread and begin hunting for that pie in the sky everyone wants a piece of!:D

Saving_NOW

Yes definitley agree with londoner01 having a goal is key to saving, when I first started out on this journey it was just to save what we could then because it went so well we decided that we could actually save for a deposit on our first home, last year if you would have said that to me I would have said never in a million years could we save 10k but wow look at us now we are half way there and on target!!

I must say though June has been a terrible month for unexpected expenses can be frustrating to have to dip back into them and see them go down but onwards and upwards there's always next month.
We are going on holiday next week so when we are back we will get right back on it and save like never before :rotfl:

Great to hear all of your updates, pay day next week so will be back to update everything bye for now

Silver_Lining_3

Hi all,
I have just finished my degree and now back into the working world so I have decided to start saving again for my deposit. I was hoping for some advice to pinch the pennies.

Whilst having a very wonderful long term partner I am buying alone and so my greatest difficulty is raising a large deposit to make up for the small mortgage I am likely to get. A rough calculation on this website suggests that I might be able to get 85K and so for a one bed property (I have seen a few at 135k, fingers crossed) I will need to save a minimum of 55k with the fees and stamp duty.

My main concern with this (apart from the mortgage calculation) is whether I should be aiming for 40% deposit to lower the interest rate, since I’m so close to that %. This would mean I’d need 62K. I was wondering if people thought this was worth waiting and saving for??

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I have £32500 saved (plus am waiting for about £1800 from) so should have £34300.
I would like to save £600 a month from my wage, and was wondering if people thought I might be able to aim higher?
My income after tax is roughly £1470.
Minus £50 student loan.
Minus £97.75 bills ( net 22.50, gas and elec 71 direct debit, ct, 76, water 26)
Minus my phone £26.32 ( I think I may be at the end of an 18month contract so am going to chase this up)
Minus rent 357.5
Leaves: 938.43 – 600 savings = 338.43 (approx. 78pw)

Phew!

Fanny15

Hi, again a newbie - don't know where to post this, but what I want to know is that, if the rumour is true that the Govt intends to take a portion of our savings away, then will that only be over and above the £85k protected limit from the FSA? I am trying to work out whether to pay off mortgage (which is only at 1%) or continue to put funds into a savings account that is paying more. If the Govt are gonna take it away then I will pay off the mortgage. Does that make sense?

lbnblbnb

Fanny15 wrote: »

Hi, again a newbie - don't know where to post this, but what I want to know is that, if the rumour is true that the Govt intends to take a portion of our savings away, then will that only be over and above the £85k protected limit from the FSA? I am trying to work out whether to pay off mortgage (which is only at 1%) or continue to put funds into a savings account that is paying more. If the Govt are gonna take it away then I will pay off the mortgage. Does that make sense?

What rumours are you talking about? Do you mean similar to what happened in Cyprus? I think that is extremely unlikely. As I understand it the FSA would mean nothing in such a drastic situation as that. If you mean the bank guarantee, split your money between banks.
Personally I want to have enough savings for emergencies, pay my mortgage off and save for retirement. Any 85K limit is a long way off for me.

Jase_from_Up_North

Dorset82 wrote: »

Wish I could save as much as some of you. I only manage to save £150 - £200 pm with my wage (£1,450 pm ater tax) : (

Same boat as you when it comes to savings Im lucky if its a couple of grand a year dependent on where I save a buck or two or if something comes out of left field, gotta love those leaky showers and roofs guys