What age?

Dragonista

Seriously started saving recently at 22. 23% of my income for long term investment (30 years). I have no children, mortgage, etc. It wont remain 23% forever. I'm overseas so my Student Loan isn't repaid at source, I used previous, casual savings to pay that in advance so I have less accessible money these days (only 1/3 of my monthly income). Trying to rebuild my buffer!

atush

Lots of people I went to school with knew they had lump sums waiting for them so didn't bother trying with their exams or uni etc. they knew they'd have money so drifted until they could access it.

Just make sure when you discuss careers/future education etc they knwo they won't have to pay everything for themselves, and that you are prepared to help them if they go that route (form your 'secret' savings). you would hate to see them not try for Uni thinking it will cost them too much?

As a side note, I did tell mine when they were teens that /I was saving for /Uni. So they knew to study hard, and they did.

As for you and your 11% savings plus bonuses etc- have you got pensions for you and the OH?

lippy1923

I started work at 18 (5 long years ago now )

I blew my entire 1st full time paycheck on carp- new mobile phone, laptop, going out etc. Then from my second pay onwards I have saved ever since. It used to be about 80% when I was living at home and saving for my house deposit.

Now I have my house/mortgage savings have dropped massively. I save about 30% now after bills.

TDMum

FatherAbraham wrote: »

At present, I'm saving 35% of my gross income, plus the capital-repayments on my mortgage, which is about another 18% of gross.



Why not save 100% of the discretionary cash?

The other 50% will be going into the kids savings

Sounds awful. I appreciate That is your opinion but I disagree. When my son reaches seven years old, I'll start involving him in discussions about how his current investment pot is allocated to assets. My daughter is 7 in a few months and would not have a clue if we spoke to her in technical terms like that. She knows that if she wants something she has to save up her pocket money to get it.

I'll make sure he understands that having a £10k pot (that's my projection for when he reaches seven) is equivalent to having peanuts, when one looks at the costs of retirement income, of purchasing accommodation for his family, and in comparison to his future earnings potential.

He will be fully comfortable with money by the time he leaves home, and will understand how much he'll need to work through his life in order to do well. He won't get a sudden "lottery win" out of the blue when he's twenty-five; he'll be entirely used to having a stash of capital to nurture and feed, and aware that he has large future obligations.
I think it pretty unlikely that he won't understand how to use money properly at that point. Thts very good.

Warmest regards,
FA

Just because I want to set money aside for them does not mean I won't be teaching them how to save and the importance of planning for the future. It merely means that when necessary good old mum and dad can help them out.

TDMum

atush wrote: »

Just make sure when you discuss careers/future education etc they knwo they won't have to pay everything for themselves, and that you are prepared to help them if they go that route (form your 'secret' savings). you would hate to see them not try for Uni thinking it will cost them too much?

As a side note, I did tell mine when they were teens that /I was saving for /Uni. So they knew to study hard, and they did.

As for you and your 11% savings plus bonuses etc- have you got pensions for you and the OH?

Fortunately, for now, tuition fees are free here. But that may not always be the case so yes, as with everything, if they show they're willing to work hard etc we will always help them out if we can and will let them know this.

Student_of_£

I suppose I started saving on my 13th birthday. I was given £30 and a post office account to put it into and my birthday money went in there for the next few years.
After making some big mistakes I really started saving in Jan 2012.
I save 38-39% of my yearly income and I hope to save at least 25% of my income if not maintain my current saving level when I leave uni and get a job.
Good luck!

matttye

Starting saving at 24 - I've just turned 25 today. I did save before Christmas but spent most of it on Christmas, so the savings in my signature I've saved this year. Kicking myself for not starting sooner as I've been working for four years and have nothing to show for it. Now saving for a mortgage deposit and I could have already had one!

No point dwelling on it though I guess

Doshwaster

I was pretty much skint throughout my 20s. I went from University to postgrad course to a series of crap jobs and I don't think I ever had more than a few hundred pounds to my name. By the time I was 26 I was living in a tiny cold damp bed sit thinking that all of those years in education had been a total waste of time.

Then I got my first "proper" job at 27 and that is when I decided to sort my finances out, start a pension and grow up. Unfortunately, after a promising start I got made redundant 18 months later and was out of work for 3 months so pretty much had to start again the age of 29.

As my career finally started to develop in my early 30s I was able to continually improve my standard of living and my financial situation. I was lucky enough in my mid-30s to make some good money out of share options when the start-up business I had joined as the 2nd salaried employee got acquired. This helped me put down a big deposit on my first house at 37. Since then things have gone well and I hope to have the mortgage paid off before I'm 50.

So from despair to first house within 10 years. I think that proves that you shouldn't panic if you are in your early 20s and you think there's no hope for the future.

TDMum

Thanks for everyones input. Hubby and I are in our 30's and are hoping to have a 25-30% deposit for a house by the time he's 40, and then pay off the mortgage within 15 years. After that it will be hammering more money in the pension funds. That's the plan anyway, whether or not it comes to fruition is another story

evenasus

I/we started saving when we got engaged in the early 60's at the ages of 19 & 20.
Three extremely frugal spending years later, we had the 10% deposit for a house purchase and very basic furniture for our first home.

My father paid for our wedding, as was the norm in those day.

46 years later and we still save.