My story so far...

liamcowan1

Hello people

I'm Liam, I'm 19 and I'm currently working about 45 hours a week in retail. I've been reading the threads here about people saving and it has really inspired me to do something with my money, rather than blow it on rubbish.

Getting a bit sick and tired of spending money on utter rubbish and constantly moaning/thinking about money, mainly the lack of.

I'm earning a pretty decent wage for my age (I don't go to uni, it really isn't for me.) and I'm hoping to claw my way up in retail into a management scheme

I'm hoping to save between £100-450 a month, depending on happenings going on each month (birthdays etc..) so I'm going to keep a log here of my savings and what not here.

Here's what my expenses each month are:

£200 car insurance; being a young driver sucks. Although my last payment has been made for a month or two and hopefully my payments will fall.

£100 rent; I had to persuade my parents to let me pay rent as I feel that now I'm earning a fair wage, I should give a little back to my parents.

£40 phone; Expensive I know, but I'm constantly using my phone and I love my HTC Desire HD.

£25 contact lenses; wish I wasn't as blind as I am haha.

Above is a very rough outline of my monthly expenditure (sp)

I'm looking at opening 2 separate savings accounts; one for saving for the future and another for car funds (mot, tax, services etc..)

I'd also like to create my own spreadsheet, but I just don't have the time right now, hopefully I will get one created within the next week or so.

Now that the christmas period is up and the girlfriends birthday is out of the way :rotfl:I can concentrate on how much I can save per month. Roll on payday!!!

Thanks for reading, hopefully it will make some sense to you, atleast, I hope it will

Liam.

cashbackproblems

How much do you earn?

liamcowan1

After tax, about £1200. Which, isn't too bad for me at the moment whilst I'm living at home.

Lokolo_2

From your earnings, you seem to be earning over the personal allowance so it is definitely worth considering opening an ISA to get tax free interest on savings, you can get instant acess or fixed term ones depending on what you prefer.

For the car/MOT etc fund, you definitely need an instant access account as you never know when you will need to withdraw some money! Check the "Banking/Saving" tab at the top of this page for the latest ones, I believe there is one offering 2.9% which isn't bad for instant access. :j

Well done on changing your habbits, once you get a bit of extra spare cash you will be well please! I work in retail too but I don't get how you can earn £300 a week after tax, that would be about 60hr work here, do you get an hourly rate or is it annual? Are you in a supervisory position?

Jake'sGran

For a 19 year old I think you are doing well and I applaud you. My 17 yr old grandson is very bright and will be doing Maths at Uni. His 19 year old brother is already doing a degree and has fallen on his feet as his fees are being paid by a Dutch rail company. Of the two the younger one is more canny with money. Trouble is, they have never gone short of anything. Not sure why I told you this?

It is generous of you to pay £100 to your Mum & Dad. Maybe they need it but I would have thought £50 was more reasonable. Also, your contact lenses sound expensive to me (I use to wear them for years).

Have a look at the comparison sites for the best rates for the two account you want to open - Moneysupermarket, Comparethemarket etc and also click on the
Savings/Investments at the top of this page.
No bank or BS are paying more than 3.5% it seems to me. For the access one you could have a look at EGG paying 2.5%. Yorkshire BS are paying 3.5% but only for one year and the max is £1200.

sss555s

Check out the insurance board on this site before renewing your car insurance. Being a year older and assuming a years extra no claims, I wouldn't be surprised if you could half your premium by following the guide.

Look at sim only deals when your phone contract runs out. There are some good ones for around £10 per month. Getting the latest top phone every renewal isn't as important as saving and you could easy half your mobile costs and have an up to date phone.

Looking forward, you should be able to aim for £400-500pm total savings and still give yourself £100 per week to go out/buy clothes and pizzas etc.

cloud_dog

Jake'sGran wrote: »

It is generous of you to pay £100 to your Mum & Dad. Maybe they need it but I would have thought £50 was more reasonable.

Sorry Jake's Gran but this made me chuckle. As soon as I started earning a proper wage it was always understood that I would give 25% of my take home to my mum for house keeping.

If you're earning you should pay your way, unfortunately life's not easy, nor should it be.

Russe11

Just don't become a savings bore and always make sure your not saving money that is losing its value.

fozzeh

I make it roughly around £8ph you earn which cannae be grumbled at really.

Aside from the savings...do you have a pension? Something which is ssooo overlooked by many.

rictus123

Hey im 19 also. How much do you spend on going out? Random shops getting food? Stuff like that is "only a tenner" but that tenner soon adds up...

Percentages work better so you allow to lower saving amount should income drop due to days off ill etc and put more away if you do some overtime or get a bonus.

I have a Santander account which pays 5% gross on balances upto £2,500 and 1% on whatever you have in over that. Only flaw is you have to pay in at least £1,000 every calander month. On your salary, this isnt a problem. Good luck, i love money. Earning it, saving it, spending on WORTHWHILE things/services....i am a bit obsessed but its all good and it will be the making of me one day.

Lokolo

cloud_dog wrote: »

Sorry Jake's Gran but this made me chuckle. As soon as I started earning a proper wage it was always understood that I would give 25% of my take home to my mum for house keeping.

If you're earning you should pay your way, unfortunately life's not easy, nor should it be.

I actually asked my mum this for when I start my graduate job. I will be on £33k a year (which is actually more than her) and she said I wouldn't have to pay a thing.

But she does know I like to save my money and I have said I want to buy once I have a suitable deposit so she knows I will be saving vigerously (sp?) for that.

Shame the cheapest house I can get in my area is around £160k! (at 80% LTV that means I need £32k!)

I guess I am lucky