How much do you save each month?

chuckley

lizzieliz87 wrote: »

I could only dream of saving even half of what other people have mentioned on here. However I am single, under 30 working in a low paying profession. But it is a career I love and brings so many other benefits to me. My monthly take home is £1200 with 2/3 going on rent and bills, which doesn't leave much else for petrol, food and savings. However I do put some money away on pay day but I would love to save more. I could lodge and half my rent/bills but I enjoy coming home to my own space and live how I want to. Come the new year I will do another annual budget review and try and save some more.

like someone else has said, these kind of threads are full of boasters. your saving is always relative to income/life, so if you're happy with how you are, go forth and multiply.

chuckley

colsten wrote: »

You are unlikely to find many people on the MSE forum that would subscribe to your views about saving.

My opinion:

It is, at a minimum, fairly daft not to go for the best deal you can possibly get that not only protects your money from inflation but also grows it as best as possible.

It is definitely utterly daft to "stash money under the bed or around the house in jars" as the purchasing power of the money will be eroded over time.

and who's approval do I need for my views on saving?!

you say it's daft not to save in these accounts whereas I say it doesn't matter...

Bold Italic = laughable, but then again you called my views daft, so on you go...

How far are you going to take this?

enthusiasticsaver

How much or little you save is irrelevant as it will be different at different stages of your life.


We are now in our fifties and have paid off our mortgage and raised our children. Thirty years ago we had a mortgage and two children but our principle was still the same in that our disposable income after bills was divided into 3 and 1/3 was saved long term, 1/3 medium term for holidays etc and 1/3 spent. It is just our disposable income is now higher than it was 30 years ago and we also spend more now on meals out, holidays, entertainment etc and we gift regularly now to our two now adult children as we remember what it is like having to watch every penny.


It is a good habit to get into saving a proportion of your disposable income regardless of the amount.

lizzieliz87

chuckley wrote: »

like someone else has said, these kind of threads are full of boasters. your saving is always relative to income/life, so if you're happy with how you are, go forth and multiply.

Exactly, I am totally with you on that one, you can't buy happiness.

I thought I would offer the other end of the spectrum to what has already been mentioned.

colsten

chuckley wrote: »

and who's approval do I need for my views on saving?!

who said anything about needing approval?

Just like you have a right to express your opinion, so have others, and so some of us did.

jimjames

JamesN wrote: »

Thanks all. Appreciate its hard to answer without sounding like you are boasting but couldn't think of a better way to ask. Useful tips though Working in thirds does seem sensible. I can push for about 650 a month I think. I don't believe I'll ever get a third as I'm the only earner so my figures are a bit warped. However, we don't have to pay ridiculous amounts for childcare.

I think the key figure, regardless of your income, is to have 3-6 months expenses or income, saved up as an emergency fund. Beyond that it's all good to save more but far too many people don't have any savings and then get badly hit with unexpected bills or loss of income.

chuckley wrote: »

interesting viewpoint that you're daft to you don't put it in a 6% current account. but I disagree. saving is saving. I don't see why you NEED to put money into any of these accounts.

You've not allowed for anyone that a, doesn't care for it, b, can't get one of those accounts or c, just wants to save with no hassle.

there's nothing daft about saving outside of these accounts.

This is a site about saving money and making the most of your money. It's equally daft to get 0.5% interest when you could get 5% as it is to pay £500 for your insurance when you could get it for £200.

By all means waste your money as you see fit but that doesn't make it any more sensible. Maybe it's taken me a few hours this year sorting accounts but by doing so it's netted me £1000 in bonuses. Probably equates to £100 per hour, not many jobs pay that.

darkidoe

Learning to save is a process and a good habit to nuture. Take baby steps. Starting to save is the first step. The next step would be to find out where is the best place to save for your particular circumstances (Fixed term, regular savers, current accounts) And to keep hunting for best place to park your savings. The saving game also changes with the financial climate (ie. banks, rates), so the keener savers will have to keep up to date and upping their game to get the best deal. And the MSE is an excellent resource for that!

I would suggest if saving a small amount each month to use regular savers! Setting up a monthly standing order is a good way of ring-fencing a portion of your income and preventing yourself from touching it. You can ring-fence quite a sizeable amount of monthly income into 4-6% APR regular savers that has a 1 year term. And its always very satisfying to look at the pile of loot you have stashed up at the end of the year.

B_G_B

Due to circumstances beyond my control (ill health / disability), for the last 3 years or so, my outgoings have outstripped income by >£500 per month. 3 years ago I pooled my resources, and following suggestions from this site in particular dumped my cash into interest paying current accounts, regular savers, and started making use of cashback credit cards, 0% offers, switching bonuses etc. This has helped in stretching my funds. This morning it’s frosty out, but my heating is turned up…. lovely.

Whatever your personal circumstances, if you can save an emergency fund, one of the great bonuses is peace of mind.

Only ~6 months to go before I start to draw company pension. So even with outgoings exceeding income at the moment, all is ok.

lippy1923

chuckley wrote: »

interesting viewpoint that you're daft to you don't put it in a 6% current account. but I disagree. saving is saving. I don't see why you NEED to put money into any of these accounts.

You've not allowed for anyone that a, doesn't care for it, b, can't get one of those accounts or c, just wants to save with no hassle.

there's nothing daft about saving outside of these accounts.

I don't see why you WOULDN'T put money into the best paying accounts you can find. IMO it's lazy and daft not to try.

If you were offered £5 or £50 what would you take?

Fair enough, if you don't qualify for a current account, then obviously that's not daft. Finding the next best paying account would be the sensible option. Under your bed is pointless, unsafe and definitely makes your money worth less over time.

Save with no hassle... I'm going to sound like a broken record.. lazy and daft IMO :rotfl:

I was daft for almost a year. I had £2.5k sitting in a 1% ISA doing nout and I CBA to do anything. I have since moved it to a 5% account. Much more sensible. Should have done it sooner, but I was lazy.

We can all have our opinions though. I still agree with you that saving something is better than nothing.

Anthorn

Next month I'm becoming a state pensioner but I don't foresee any need to change my savings structure: I move the balance of my current account to savings when I get new income. For example my balance is £100 and I receive £1000 income so I save £100. That way I'm always living on my income. In addition to that I save a pound a day by weekly standing order. Calendar monthly thats £30.41 fixed plus around £250.00 variable.