% of income on spending/saving

AnnaBeth

Can anyone point me in the direction of advice re: % of income advisable for saving/essential spending etc.

Have calculated my own and basic spending amounts that I need are just shy of 60%
unsure if this is loads or not trying to reduce overheads where possible but interested to know if this is a normal % or not.

Can post SOA if anyone cares ....

grumbler

I don't think that such recommendations exist as they wouldn't make much sense.
For example, people on very low income spend almost everything on essentials and hardly have anything left for saving.

It's recommended to have savings allowing you to survive for at least ~6(?) months without any income.

SOA is really worth posting if you want to cut on spending.

AnnaBeth

Thank you for your reply.
I thought I was good at budgeting but often my budget looks amazing and the reality is far from it. I've come up with a different look budget and it looks more realistic ... now I've got to stick to it. Not rocket science but I think poss harder than I have anticipated in the past, I'm a great planner but maybe execution is my down fall in this instance
I can see what I need to reduce and will get busy sorting that ASAP.

Neil_Jones

Let me quote some Charles Dickens at you:

David_Copperfield_by_Charles_Dickens_-_observations_of_Wilkins_Micawber wrote:

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery

Ken68

One way ,Anna, is to itemise every spend and alongside note the cheapest alternative.
Then every time you use the budget list you are reminded where your money is being wasted.

trailingspouse

The more money you have, the more 'necessities' there are to spend your money on.

Katgrit

I'm sure there's some old adage about ⅓ each to Survive, Spend & Save. I might have dreamt that though, ignore me if it seems miles out.

Jo_Blogs

The adage I remember for 1/3 was: Spend some (survival), Give some, Save some. However, in reality, it's more like post #2

Duckyduck

I was going to say there was something some bankruptcy academic about 1/3s.

1/3 to essentials - housing, essential transport, utilities etc
1/3 to taxes/debt repayments/savings and investments
1/3 disposable fun money

Thing is thought that essential costs are largely fixed so it you earn less you'll need to spend a higher proportion than if you earn a lot.

Shop around so you're getting the best deals on all your bills and consider your discretionary spending and save the rest and you won't need to worry about % of income.