How much should a 21 year old save

jimjames

JJB_ wrote: »

Thanks man. Happy I joined this forum, everyone is cool:j
I don't know if this would be the right place to ask but what would be the minimum you would need to buy stock or start a portfolio?

Thanks for being so friendly

£50 per month in most cases is the minimum you can start investing with but into funds not individual shares as that is the easiest/cheapest way to start out initially.

grey_gym_sock

K_P83 wrote: »

Hang on a minute, didn't we have this 18yr old/ 21 yr old etc nonsense a few weeks/months ago?

there are literally millions of 18-21-yr-olds out there, you know ...

atush

JJB_ wrote: »

This is great encouragement

Thanks all, spurring me too carry on.

I like to budget but it never seem to end up that way

Make a spending Diary- write down everything you spend over 50p. That will tell you where it goes and if it is worth it.

atush

jimjames wrote: »

£50 per month in most cases is the minimum you can start investing with but into funds not individual shares as that is the easiest/cheapest way to start out initially.

I agree, after you have a cash pillow put away, start investing monthly. Ina S&S ISA, or better yet an Investment trust. Good general funds will give you equity exposure/growth/dividends plus give you safety formt he all your eggs in one basket approach.

mgarl10024

About 10 years ago when I was roughly your age, I had similar discussions with my Dad.

Dad's view was that I was too paranoid about savings and that I should be out there "p'ing it up a wall".

At 23/24, I purchased my first house with my girlfriend, and we got the house that we love mainly because of the deposit that we had both built up through our careful saving.

Dad later conceded that things on the house market were very different to when he was younger and that getting a house was much more difficult nowadays - and this was before the 2008 crash.

Personally, I think that we are both right in a way. Although, having a home that we love early on in life was more important to me than "p'ing it up a wall", but then I'm a natural introvert who doesn't feel deprived for not going out every night.

JJB_

Thanks for your input its inspirational!
I'm glad you have the home that you loved, hopefully one day I can join that club.

Do all you invest it stocks and have certain investments or is it all through pure grit and determination to save every penny you can?

mgarl10024

Thanks JJB_, - I'm not often called inspirational!

We saved basically through putting aside money from our (at the time) part-time jobs as we were both living at home with our respective parents and at were studying full time at uni.

We were just careful. Not wasting money, but then not living so meanly that you weren't doing anything. We're the same now, really.
As to investments - we considered our home to be our biggest one, so whilst the savings rates after tax were greater than the mortgage (which is most of the time) paid off any spare money (except a buffer).

I've recently been reading up on investments etc. as I want to know what is the best thing to do with my pension (i.e. which funds to invest it in). I am also reading a lot of sources which tell me that over the long term investments outperform cash savings - and this motivates me to start some off outside my pension while I am younger.. Once I have put a reasonably fat cash buffer in place (and got it in all the best accounts + ISA allowances) then I am going to start dabbling. But nothing yet.