Saving Advice

hawkham

Hello Everyone!

I am a long time lurker first time poster, I have been thinking I want to get started on saving money whilst I’m young to get me in the habit, can anyone give me some advice on ways to save effectively, something I can stick to. I don’t have many outgoings at the min a couple of bills, credit card, phone etc. They don’t total much luckily so I have quite a bit left over but usually blow it all on useless stuff. Any advice would be appreciated!

RobM99

How about a Regular Saver account?  Set up a  Direct Debit and ... Bingo!

MovingForwards

What is your goal? Driving lessons? A car? A home? Having a goal helps keep your focus.

If you are not used to saving have a look at the 1p a day savings challenge, 52 week savings challenge etc. Start small, master saving and not touching the money, then you can progress to saving chunks from your wages.

Audaxer

hawkham said:

Hello Everyone!

I am a long time lurker first time poster, I have been thinking I want to get started on saving money whilst I’m young to get me in the habit, can anyone give me some advice on ways to save effectively, something I can stick to. I don’t have many outgoings at the min a couple of bills, credit card, phone etc. They don’t total much luckily so I have quite a bit left over but usually blow it all on useless stuff. Any advice would be appreciated!

If you are wanting to put money away that you wont need access to for 10 years or more, it would be worth considering investing rather than just sticking it in a savings account. You could invest in something like a globally diversified low cost multi asset fund within an S&S ISA at your preferred level of risk tolerance. There is lots of information on this forum about these type of funds if you are interested, but bear in mind that you would really need to be prepared to leave it invested for the long term, i.e. at least 10 years or more.

xylophone

Do you hope to buy a home one day?
Had you considered a LISA? https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/lifetime-isas/

delta13

MovingForwards said:

What is your goal? Driving lessons? A car? A home? Having a goal helps keep your focus.

If you are not used to saving have a look at the 1p a day savings challenge, 52 week savings challenge etc. Start small, master saving and not touching the money, then you can progress to saving chunks from your wages.

I second this - getting into the habit of saving can be half the battle and challenges that give you little wins can have a snowball effect. 
I started saving doing the 52 week challenge, and was so chuffed I managed to complete it that the next year I did again, plus the 1p a day challenge. Since then I have been saving regularly, and in less than 5 years I've gone from having £3k of debt to nearly £20k in savings - and it really hasn't been too much hard work. It's just getting into a good rhythm.

83705628

Audaxer said:

hawkham said:

Hello Everyone!

I am a long time lurker first time poster, I have been thinking I want to get started on saving money whilst I’m young to get me in the habit, can anyone give me some advice on ways to save effectively, something I can stick to. I don’t have many outgoings at the min a couple of bills, credit card, phone etc. They don’t total much luckily so I have quite a bit left over but usually blow it all on useless stuff. Any advice would be appreciated!

If you are wanting to put money away that you wont need access to for 10 years or more, it would be worth considering investing rather than just sticking it in a savings account. You could invest in something like a globally diversified low cost multi asset fund within an S&S ISA at your preferred level of risk tolerance. There is lots of information on this forum about these type of funds if you are interested, but bear in mind that you would really need to be prepared to leave it invested for the long term, i.e. at least 10 years or more.

/
Maybe stick with saving up some cash before you dip your toe into investing 😅

DireEmblem

1) Its good your looking into this while you are young, but make sure you enjoy life as well - things will only seem to get more expensive over time with inflation.
2) As you get older and start earning more - this will also be money you have never had before.  If you immediately put some of this aside for say your pension or house deposit - would you really miss the money?  I bet your future self would be glad of this!

colsten

Start here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/which-saving-account/

Doshwaster

tcallaghan93 said:

Audaxer said:

hawkham said:

Hello Everyone!

I am a long time lurker first time poster, I have been thinking I want to get started on saving money whilst I’m young to get me in the habit, can anyone give me some advice on ways to save effectively, something I can stick to. I don’t have many outgoings at the min a couple of bills, credit card, phone etc. They don’t total much luckily so I have quite a bit left over but usually blow it all on useless stuff. Any advice would be appreciated!

If you are wanting to put money away that you wont need access to for 10 years or more, it would be worth considering investing rather than just sticking it in a savings account. You could invest in something like a globally diversified low cost multi asset fund within an S&S ISA at your preferred level of risk tolerance. There is lots of information on this forum about these type of funds if you are interested, but bear in mind that you would really need to be prepared to leave it invested for the long term, i.e. at least 10 years or more.

/
Maybe stick with saving up some cash before you dip your toe into investing 😅

Absolutelyy. Don't invest a penny (apart from in a pension) until you have at least 3 months essential expenses safely saved away.

Sailtheworld

Pay yourself first. The day you get paid is the day you should save - then just play mind games and try and forget it. You could automate it as much as possible so set up a standing order etc. If you can't leave it alone then consider accounts where it's locked away or there's a penalty for taking it back out i.e. pension / LISA.

I would focus more on increasing the amount you save than any interest you can get. People go on about compounding returns but when interest rates are so low and you're just starting out it's neither here nor there.

You've also got to keep yourself motivated - saving is as boring as hell so have a more than one metric to monitor to make it less boring. i.e. monitor total savings, savings rate for the month/ year etc.

Just keep chipping away.