How much do you save a month?

chucknorris

Zippeh wrote: »

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.

I'm the exact opposite, in my financial spreadsheet I deduct all known/expected future expenditure from my savings and investments, so I only actually count what is being retained.

GwylimT

We are now mortgage free so we put the entire mortgage payment of £420 away each month, apart from that we don't have a set amount as monthly costs vary but our rule is to buy what you need that month (not what you want) and the money left over is split threeways between our savings and our two young childrens accounts, the oldest is in his twenties so he can save for himself now.

Any birthday money received for the children goes into their account but this will likely change somewhat when they are older.

We aren't a high income family, I have been saving as much as I can since I was 20 and I only touch it for emergencies or well thought out need, we have £15k between us and our two little ones currently have £2k and £4k.

We did have £28k but we took some out for a larger deposit on our home, with PIP coming in my wife will soon be losing her mobility car so most of our savings will go towards buying and modifying a car for her to get to work.

We have a joint income of £36k.

I don't count my pension as savings as it isn't something I can access as a please, its a future wage.

racing_blue

I have a defined benefit occupational pension, and a SIPP. The SIPP to me is a saving vehicle. The defined benefit occupational pension feels like a different beast though.

I like to think of wealth as savings (ISAs, SIPP) + physical assets + house + £x per year index linked from year 20XX (occupational pension scheme).

Zippeh

chucknorris wrote: »

I'm the exact opposite, in my financial spreadsheet I deduct all known/expected future expenditure from my savings and investments, so I only actually count what is being retained.

Don't get me wrong, I do track what goes into my SIPP each month. But when it comes to "counting" savings, I only count the difference in my accounts which I can access on each pay day. So I always pay £200 into my SIPP each month by standing order, so I count that as a "spend" and it is not counted as part of my savings.

calydon

Currently not saving very much at all due to having a child in full time childcare and having bought a house 2 years ago which needed some work.

So currently the only savings are 10% into my pension each month (matched by my employer) and £100 into Sharesave. Also overpaying the mortgage by about £100 per month which is kind of like saving! From mid next year though, this should increase significantly (by about £250/month) due to finishing paying off a loan (which is interest free, so really just a cash-flow thing) and reduced childcare costs.

We have about £50k in savings at the moment, and £100k built up in pension. I am 36.

dealer_wins

TheThirteenth wrote: »

I've recently started trying to follow the 50/30/20 rule, where 50% of your net income is spent on necessities (housing, food, etc), 30% on frivolities, and 20% is saved. It's probably a better idea to compare savings as a % of income, rather than as an absolute number

This is how to do it. :beer:

C-dog

Savings rate last month was 89.5%. This month will be somewhere around the 60% as we traded in our car. On average though we invest 85% of our combined take home.

agent69

racing_blue wrote: »

..... but we had to sell a kidney, and eat only bread and scraps that the cat didn't want.

May be next time eat the kidney?

boglehead

chucknorris wrote: »

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.

I share this view. My partner and I save over 50% of our take home salary, with the view to retire by 2022. By then we will be 40 and 42 respectively and will still be young and healthy to spend our time with our kids (whom will still be under 8 y/o by then)

Never heard any kids saying on their parents graves "i wished we spent less time together", or of anybody on their death beds "i wished i had worked more"

guymo

boglehead wrote: »

My partner and I save over 50% of our take home salary, with the view to retire by 2022. By then we will be 40 and 42 respectively and will still be young and healthy to spend our time with our kids (whom will still be under 8 y/o by then)

So you have more than one child and they are all under one year old? That's quite impressive all by itself. Twins?