How much can you save?

savingmore

eco miser, would you mind sharing how much you feel is more than enough to last a lifetime? I am 62 and wondering at what point we could jump off off with enough? any thoughts welcome.

little_green

OliverNW3 wrote: »

Oh definitely, I do wish I could have one. My mates all seem to be quite surprised to become dads but they adapt and do very well. As a gay man, it's unlikely I ever would have my own or adopt, but on that point, the financial ends that gay couples go to to adopt is quite extraordinary. A friend has invested over 100k so far to have a surrogate mum have his kid in the US before he'll come back to the UK with the baby (don't want to get into people's morals of the subject) but just want to highlight that is a serious financial outlay for a baby, not taking into account all the costs of raising a child, when as I say the rest of my mates don't put much forethought into having kids at all - it tends to be something that just happens to them!

Hi Oliver would be interested to hear more re your friend who is going down the surrogacy route. I agree it still seems to be a taboo subject here in the UK unfortunately. it's something i am considering though hence interested to hear your friends story. Is he from the US? How will it work with getting the baby legal documents to enter the UK? etc.

fred246

I think I find some of the extreme money saving a bit too much. You have to live for today as well as plan for tomorrow. I guess if you are saving for something like a house deposit it might be worth making massive sacrifices. I could never imagine not getting married or not having children just to save money. I guess everyone is different with different priorities. Could money saving be the end of the human race if everyone joined the movement?

Eco_Miser

savingmore wrote: »

eco miser, would you mind sharing how much you feel is more than enough to last a lifetime? I am 62 and wondering at what point we could jump off off with enough? any thoughts welcome.

The actual amounts will vary with individual's expectations and income while working.

When my employer decided to close down I made some assumptions and did some calculations.
Assumptions:

1. My outgoings would continue at the same (inflation-adjusted) rate that they had been previously. Some costs going up, some down, same overall.
2. Interest and dividends from my savings and investments would match inflation (and no more), meaning I could ignore both inflation and investment income in the calculation
3. I'd be getting a full old-style state pension from age 65.

Calculations

1. Years = (Savings+investments)/annual expenditure
2. Age when money will run out = age then + years (in formula1)
3. Expected income = Actual dividends + pension forecast.

Calculation 2 gave a result over 100.
Calculation 3 was well above Assumption 1.
With that reassurance I decided to consider myself retired. I repeat the calculations with up to date figures annually, just in case the assumptions have become invalid.

In practice since, either my pensions (once in payment), or my dividends would have covered my actual expenditure. I really should spend a little more, but old habits die hard, and I certainly can't waste money on overpriced tat, though I'm willing to pay for what I want.

tara747

I would love to retire early! I'm a public sector worker and very hopeful about the McCloud judgment - I was on the old final salary scheme that lets you retire at 60, and this judgment could see me put back on it (rather than the crap scheme they moved us to, which meant retiring at state pension age with a lower pension). Fingers crossed.

tara747

January 2020 update:

I saved £1,467 this month, which takes my overall total to £163,424. I'm being ambitious and trying to hit £180,000 this year, let's see how that goes

Sir_Robin

It’s inspiring but also slightly saddening when you see people who can save annually your full time annual salary. I’ll have to try remember “Comparison is the thief of joy” Best of luck.

DireEmblem

Wow this thread has not had much activity for a while!  Had to have bit of a hunt to find it.  I thought I would revisit what I can save given this years situation.

I work out my rates on net pay, so roughly last year:

• 28% Fixed Bills(Mortgage, Gas, Electric, Council Tax, Property Factor, Insurance, Broadband)
• 5% Food
• 31% Savings (split 50/50 between Pension and S&S ISA
• 7% Gift fund (this covers Birthday/xmas presents, and holidays for me  )
• 29% Free Spending

The last couple months have been a real eye opener to me.  In reality, my food bills have doubled(take away), while my spending has dropped to less than 10% - nothing is open!  I'm a small retailer kind of person, and prefer not to shop in the rainforest where I can.  As a result, I think when some former normality returns, I will look to reduce my free spending level down to 25%, and get my food shop back to under 5% again.  The best way I think would be to have a separate bank account to funnel funds to incase needed, and any spare funds not spent. 

captainlongtoes

DireEmblem said:

The last couple months have been a real eye opener to me.  In reality, my food bills have doubled(take away), while my spending has dropped to less than 10% - nothing is open!  I'm a small retailer kind of person, and prefer not to shop in the rainforest where I can.  As a result, I think when some former normality returns, I will look to reduce my free spending level down to 25%, and get my food shop back to under 5% again.  The best way I think would be to have a separate bank account to funnel funds to incase needed, and any spare funds not spent. 

I've had the opposite, I used to spend far too much money on lunches at work and takeaways when I felt too tired to cook. Now I'm working from home due to the quarantine, it's been laid bare and I've stuck to a stricter grocery budget and only had two pizzas delivered. I've saved about £400 on this alone, which I put towards building my emergency fund. Better late than never!

Vickyh

Hi - I am new

My husband and I have had a shock since covid. Like the poster above our outgoings has reduced dramatically. 
So we have decided to save up for a house.... have no clue where to start...