How much do you save a month?

racing_blue

NewKidOnTheBlock wrote: »

Once you've paid all your bills, food, car etc how much do you manage to put into a savings account?

OP your question can be reframed. Once you have paid into a savings account, how much do you have left to spend on bills, food, car etc?

This is paying yourself first. It is about prioritising the saving - maybe set up a direct debit to take it away from your current account as soon as the paycheck lands. Then, live according to what you have left.

shrewsaver

I am currently saving £250 & £65 pm into SAYE sharescheme and £30 pm into my companies sharematch scheme. I also contribute 7% of my salary into my works pension scheme. On the day I get paid I also transfer £100 into a S&S ISA and £100 into a SIPP. Then £50 into a regular saver and another £10 a month into an internet based account.

Total per month is £605 plus works pension scheme which works out about 50% of my monthly income.

NewKidOnTheBlock_2

racing_blue wrote: »

OP your question can be reframed. Once you have paid into a savings account, how much do you have left to spend on bills, food, car etc?

This is paying yourself first. It is about prioritising the saving - maybe set up a direct debit to take it away from your current account as soon as the paycheck lands. Then, live according to what you have left.

This is what I currently do... The second I get paid I transfer £300 into savings and have the rest to pay bills, rent, food etc. Sometimes I have the odd £50 left over which I'll either just leave in my bank as reserve money just in case I need it in an emergency.

enthusiasticsaver

At the moment I aim to save £1000 per month which is about 30% of our joint income but then we have no mortgage any more and our kids are grown up and left home. This of course does not mean they don't cost us anything A wedding last year and both daughters buying houses meant our savings took a bit of a battering so we are concentrating on the final slog up until our retirement in about 4 years time and saving as much as we can.

cashbackproblems

I currently save £1500 per month (£300 in funds rest cash) but I have no mortgage and am saving for a deposit

Also I take 2 holidays a year so 3k goes out the savings, no other real major purchases or car costs

My employer pays 12% of salary into a pension (non-contributory)

Kendall80

enthusiasticsaver wrote: »

At the moment I aim to save £1000 per month which is about 30% of our joint income but then we have no mortgage any more and our kids are grown up and left home. This of course does not mean they don't cost us anything A wedding last year and both daughters buying houses meant our savings took a bit of a battering so we are concentrating on the final slog up until our retirement in about 4 years time and saving as much as we can.

Similar amounts here in terms of total saved and % of total income (about 27%). Roughly speaking 500 into the ISA, 350 into the SIPP and about 200 into current accounts. Aged 35 so minimum 20 year time horizon - probably 25.


Assuming continued employment our kids are also likely to be the biggest spanner in the works. They are aged just 7 and 5 right now so a lot of expense to come yet. Well worth it though

chucknorris

We both save (read invest) quite a bit, I don't really want to say how much because it can cause arguments, but it has made me realise that we don't need to work because we are in danger of ending up being the richest in the graveyard (we don't have children), so I don't see the point in working for the tax man (although in reality it would be the dog's trust and other similar charities). Of course we could spend more, but we are quite content with our spending habits, and seems to make more sense to retire early and enjoy more time, time is a more valuable commodity to me than money. I'm not exactly sure when I realised this, because it was a slow awakening to this fact. I'm almost certainly going to retire next year at 58 and possibly also my wife (she isn't sure) at 47.

Hantsman

It is interesting to see what other people save but like others have said, everyone's situation is different.

I see it as similar to fitness, if you suddenly decide you are going to get super fit and start running 10 miles a day and spending 2 hours in the gym you will be burned out after a week and probably not try again. If you make it something you can maintain over the long term however it becomes a habit that you don't even notice anymore.

In the same way, putting a little money aside consistently each month/week and really looking at where you can make relatively pain free changes to save more is a sustainable method and one that you will be able to maintain

I am extremely lucky at the moment in that my rent is very low and includes bills, I can walk to work and there is a gym/pool I can use for free. There are negatives as well but I feel I should make the most of my opportunity to save hard now, but still try and enjoy myself at the same time.

yorpington

Does everyone count their pension contributions as savings? DH and I have only been counting what we save from our post-tax salaries, although we make a considerable pre-tax salary sacrifice from his pay as his company have a v generous 'you put x in, we'll put y' scheme.

Zippeh

yorpington wrote: »

Does everyone count their pension contributions as savings? DH and I have only been counting what we save from our post-tax salaries, although we make a considerable pre-tax salary sacrifice from his pay as his company have a v generous 'you put x in, we'll put y' scheme.

Personally I don't count my pension contributions as part of what I save. As far as I'm concerned, that's gone out of my potential spending sphere so it doesn't need counting.