I can't save :( Any tips to get started?

Gadfium

simonp wrote: »

I VERY rarely have unexpected bills so most things are just paid from monthly income.

What will happen when you retire?

ViolaLass

Do you actually want to save or do you just feel you ought to?

simonp

ViolaLass wrote: »

Do you actually want to save or do you just feel you ought to?

More the latter I suppose. I guess I've managed 40 years without it but feel it would be wise to have SOME savings.

Archi_Bald

simonp wrote: »

More the latter I suppose. I guess I've managed 40 years without it but feel it would be wise to have SOME savings.

So you can either continue to do nothing about it, or to become wise. Entirely your decision.

ScarletBea

Gadfium wrote: »

What will happen when you retire?

This.
Picture yourself in 2 scenarios:
- first just after retirement, when your monthly income drops dramatically and you're still active but can't spend on anything and need to start counting pennies
- then later on, when your health starts failing, picture yourself in a really poor old people's home, where you have no choices and everything is awful

Does it help to get you starting to save?

HarryD

ScarletBea wrote: »

... first just after retirement, when your monthly income drops dramatically

Exactly. Work out how much your income will be when you retire. If that's enough, why save? Except for an emergency fund perhaps.

If not enough, work out how much you need to save such that income from savings will give you the income you want/need in retirement.

eskbanker

simonp wrote: »

So any tips to get started?

If only you'd signed up to a money-saving website community while you were still in your twenties - oh, wait....

simonp wrote: »

I'm 40, single, earn about £50k but don't have much disposable income.

If you don't have much disposable income from £50K with no dependents then you must have a fairly unusual definition of 'disposable' (unless you have some pretty serious financial commitments) - if you characterise yourself as a spender then surely that's spending from disposable income? Isn't it self-evident that you'd need to be saving at least some of what you're currently spending, so it must be discretionary to some degree and therefore disposable? In other words you need to be honest with yourself about how much scope you genuinely have to save....

Edit: you might want to complete a Statement of Affairs at http://www.stoozing.com/calculator/soa.php to help see where your money is currently going and identify potential opportunities to save. These are often recommended for those in debt but a bit more financial self-awareness shouldn't do any harm for any of us!

xylophone

http://www.aesopfables.com/cgi/aesop1.cgi?jdlf&i1ms&i2l.jpg

But you might have a more generous neighbour!:)

Open a First Direct Account and use the regular saver?

enthusiasticsaver

If you have no emergency savings what would you do if you lost your job? The usual rule is at least 3 months salary in emergency savings, preferably 6 months. We have a year but then we are closer to retirement than you.


If you really want to have the security of having savings behind you and it is a personal choice then you have to make a conscious effort to prioritise it over whatever you spend your spare money on now. Put a regular payment into a regular saver account and start to build it up. Once it is put away forget about it.

ViolaLass

simonp wrote: »

More the latter I suppose. I guess I've managed 40 years without it but feel it would be wise to have SOME savings.

Get specific.

How much do you feel you ought to save? Over what time period? How much is that per month?