How to fall in love with saving money

cathybird

Another theatre performance I was going to go to resold and another £53 in the pot. Now within £300 of my goal for the month but there's only about another week to go. In fact I think I can probably spare £300 from what's left of my current account but I'll wait a little longer before transferring it.

focus888

Hi cathybird, so happy to hear you are doing well with your savings.

I am constantly lurking on this forum and love your thread. I am always trying to keep updated on whats happening on here its so interesting and useful.

I am glad you guys are all talking about stocks and shares as that has been picking my interest recently but i am like many of you on the thread totally clueless about this area so anything you guys are willing to share will be so useful and much appreciated. Ive even looked for a copy of books to buy to read up on but havent brought one yet as dont even have the time right now to read it with xmas coming up.

Eco miser - i was thinking of getting a stock and shares isa and depositing £25 a month into that and let them work their magic. Is it even worth doing something like this? To be honest i currently throw £30 down the drain every month on the lottery in the hope of winning the jackpot .

YoungBusinessman

Cathy you are doing well, seems you are learning a lot. Fortnights pay hit the bank today, two thirds of it transferred into savings. I'm at about £6,200 so total of £15,200 for the year! But....here's the dreaded but....I still have a couple direct debts to pay, will be well clear of my £15,000 target for 2013 by end of December. Just a hefty investment that doesn't pay a return until April/May....will be worth it in the long run though. What's everyone upto tonight/this weekend? Keeping it frugal I hope with no dreaded alcohol! Have a good one folks.

115K

I realised that November is the month when we have one less mortgage payment going out as my DH gets paid 13 times a year so I will definitely be putting some of that £600 into my ISA.

I need to get the carpet on the stairs replaced so that should be around £250-£300 at most so hopefully at least £300 will be into the ISA :T.

focus888 wrote: »

Eco miser - i was thinking of getting a stock and shares isa and depositing £25 a month into that and let them work their magic. Is it even worth doing something like this?.

I wondered that too, it seems like far less a risk with a small amount of money.

Eco_Miser

focus888 wrote: »

Eco miser - i was thinking of getting a stock and shares isa and depositing £25 a month into that and let them work their magic. Is it even worth doing something like this? To be honest i currently throw £30 down the drain every month on the lottery in the hope of winning the jackpot .

At the end of the year, you'll have funds worth £300 plus dividends less fees, plus or minus how the market has moved. Probably more than you'd have from playing the lottery.

Would it be more than if you saved the same monthly amount with Nationwide @5%, or First Direct @6%? I've no idea, and anyone who says they have is only guessing.

At the end of ten years, and you shouldn't consider it for a shorter period, you'd have put in £3000 and the re-invested dividends and capital growth should have covered all the fees and inflation and be showing a real profit, but it just might be 2008 all over again, which would be unfortunate if you needed to get the cash just then.

With such low amounts, fees, particularly fixed fees, would have a significant negative effect on your portfolio's growth. If you go this route make sure you use a platform that offers cheap buying fees for regular investments - about £2 a time, but the transaction only happens when they have combined enough orders.

I haven't bought this way, always put in lump sums, usually at the end of the financial year (which is not usually a brilliant idea, but better than missing out on the ISA allowance), and I haven't bought any investments in the past few years. That's because of my circumstances, not market conditions.

If you search this board you should find a few threads about regular investing of small sums, if not, start your own threads asking for suggestions to fit your own circumstances.

115K wrote: »

I wondered that too, it seems like far less a risk with a small amount of money.

You're only risking a small amount of money, so you can only lose a small amount of money, but you will only gain a small amount of money too, and fixed fees, or large fees, could swallow it all up.

To both of you, and everyone else who's reading this, please don't read my comments above as either against or for regular investmenst of small amounts. Do your own research. Consider your own circumstances and attitude to risk.

cathybird

I have read research that suggests that putting lump sums in can work just as well as regular investment, if not better. It can get very confusing as the results in these studies always seem to come down to what data they select and how they use it. In the meantime I've opened an x-o Isa, then realised they don't allow regular investing or dividend reinvestment, so am going to have to close that and open an i-Web one, which does. That's what comes of leaping in with both boots, which is what I tend to do, and which is what I must NOT do with stock market investments. *sigh*

cathybird

YoungBusinessman wrote: »

Cathy you are doing well, seems you are learning a lot. Fortnights pay hit the bank today, two thirds of it transferred into savings. I'm at about £6,200 so total of £15,200 for the year! But....here's the dreaded but....I still have a couple direct debts to pay, will be well clear of my £15,000 target for 2013 by end of December. Just a hefty investment that doesn't pay a return until April/May....will be worth it in the long run though. What's everyone upto tonight/this weekend? Keeping it frugal I hope with no dreaded alcohol! Have a good one folks.

Having a very quiet weekend, YoungBusinessman. I made myself a chorizo, potato and pork cheek stew for dinner last night - very frugal, and it was absolutely yummy, with enough left over for tonight. I should sit down and work out how much these home-cooked meals cost per portion - it would be fun, and would be another way to make saving money a kind of game.

Well done you on your savings successes, btw Impressive :T:T:T

cathybird

115K wrote: »

I realised that November is the month when we have one less mortgage payment going out as my DH gets paid 13 times a year so I will definitely be putting some of that £600 into my ISA.

I need to get the carpet on the stairs replaced so that should be around £250-£300 at most so hopefully at least £300 will be into the ISA :T.

Yay!!! :T:T:T An extra £300, that's brilliant

cathybird

Eco_Miser wrote: »

That happens on this board too.:) They could all be right, it depends on the aims and attitude of the individual investor. Haing all three types in your portfolio could be sensible.

I've got both passive (index tracker) and active funds, and fixed interest funds, but no individual stocks or shares yet. They seem too much of a gamble for someone who is not going to be watching what the companies are doing in the real world.

Eco Miser, I'm really curious - at what point did you decide you were going to retire early, and how long did it take you before you made your plan become a reality? Did your investments play a key role in your retirement plans? ...

WantToBeSE

Morning All

115K- That'll be a lovely bonus to the savings

How are we all this weekend? I was sent home from work yesterday as i wasnt very well, and am not happy about having lost out on a days wages I managed a few hours, but i was no good to anyone really.

So the agency have booked me to work on Monday instead. Thats great, as it means i'll make up the lost hours...but the problem is that i am supposed to be doing my private client 11.30-2.30, and the agency have booked me with the other client for 9.10-12.10!
So i am going to have to ask the private client to move to 12.30-2.45 (i cant work past 2.45 or i'll have to start paying for childcare past school time). I dont really want to be swapping times around already as this is the first time that i have cleaned for her! Can anyone give me any suggestions apart from the one above?

So because i went home from work early yesterday, i didnt get chance to pick up my petrol money. No probs though, i'll pick it up next week instead.

Having a quiet weekend here. The boys have gone to their dads house for the weekend. I won an ebay bid for a lovely radiator cover for only £20. It's only a 15 min drive away too, so i'll pick that up later today. A similar one costs £50 in the shops, so i am really pleased!

I have ALMOST finished Christmas shopping! It has only taken me about 2 weeks I just have to buy some stocking fillers this weekend and also some board games for us to play.

Have a great day all!