The "Save 12k in 2021" Thread!

lantanna

Queen_of_the_Hive said:

You know that feeling of being so close to actually have saved something this month instead of having to dip into savings to cover monthly bills.

.......Only 9 days to go to being able to say this..!! It will only be small amount but cannot WAIT! 

Well done, it truly is a great feeling.

IntoTheForest

Only managed £200 in February. I have a little work coming my way at the end of this month and April so things are starting to look up finally. 

Jami74

mole_man said:

My first ever S&S ISA is down by ~2% but that’s fine! I have only had it open a month and I am in it for the long haul! The plan is to check it at the start of each month and not to look at it any other times.

I also opened my first ever ISA in January and am finding it fascinating. I'm checking it everyday, I knew they went up and down but thought it would be a monthly thing. I hope the novelty wears off, obsessions are exhausting.

I managed a cash balance increase of £721.23 which isn't bad considering the £450 car repair bill. I'm including the ISA balance on the day I do my count even though it fluctuates every day.

I'm probably not going to meet my target this year, am planning to cut my work hours for the next six months as my children are so close to being grown-up and moving away I want to  spend more time with them before they're gone. It's a hard balance to get right but I know I can't buy back time.

Suffolk_lass

@Jami74 - I found the actual stock prices going up and down too testing to report on - I sunk that capital into that pot so counted it then. Now I count only the dividends the shares and funds pay me (even where they are reinvested) which is a once a month check. This might work for you too

Wentthedaywell?

Suffolk_lass said:

@Jami74 - I found the actual stock prices going up and down too testing to report on - I sunk that capital into that pot so counted it then. Now I count only the dividends the shares and funds pay me (even where they are reinvested) which is a once a month check. This might work for you too

I can't resist peeking most days, but I really shouldn't!

I report my savings here by how much more I have compared to the previous month. Some months I may actually save several grand of new money, but can only report a couple of hundred- or even negative-  if shares have dropped. But it's the December number that matters.

It's interesting to see how we each count differently, all valid!

cathybird

Morning all, no. 10 here reporting Feb savings of £217.87, bringing my yearly total so far to £1,409.11 ... happy with that as had some big bills to handle for the month.

george4064

Jami74 said:

mole_man said:

My first ever S&S ISA is down by ~2% but that’s fine! I have only had it open a month and I am in it for the long haul! The plan is to check it at the start of each month and not to look at it any other times.

I also opened my first ever ISA in January and am finding it fascinating. I'm checking it everyday, I knew they went up and down but thought it would be a monthly thing. I hope the novelty wears off, obsessions are exhausting.

I managed a cash balance increase of £721.23 which isn't bad considering the £450 car repair bill. I'm including the ISA balance on the day I do my count even though it fluctuates every day.

Im assuming it’s a Stocks & Shares ISA you’re referring to? 

I’m probably a bit different to others, but personally I only count new contributions to my S&S ISA for this challenge. If I were to include the change in value of my S&S ISA every month my monthly figure would be all over the shop! I can think of a few scenarios where including the change in value can produce unintended outcomes (severity of scenarios depend on relative size of S&S ISA to typical monthly amount saved);

1. Markets have a bad year, you report negative figures each month because your ISA has dropped in value despite saving elsewhere and perhaps even also contributing to the ISA.

2. On the flip side, imagine if markets rocket and you report big positive numbers but this was largely (if not all) from market movements rather than new money you actually ‘saved’ in the ISA? Will look like you’ve saved loads that year, but deep down you know that’s not the case!

Everyone has their own style here, but I hope this might be useful for others to help decide for themselves what they should and shouldn’t include.

greent

george4064 said:

Jami74 said:

mole_man said:

My first ever S&S ISA is down by ~2% but that’s fine! I have only had it open a month and I am in it for the long haul! The plan is to check it at the start of each month and not to look at it any other times.

I also opened my first ever ISA in January and am finding it fascinating. I'm checking it everyday, I knew they went up and down but thought it would be a monthly thing. I hope the novelty wears off, obsessions are exhausting.

I managed a cash balance increase of £721.23 which isn't bad considering the £450 car repair bill. I'm including the ISA balance on the day I do my count even though it fluctuates every day.

Im assuming it’s a Stocks & Shares ISA you’re referring to? 

I’m probably a bit different to others, but personally I only count new contributions to my S&S ISA for this challenge. 

I also only count new contribution amounts to s&s isa (and sipp) -  that's the figure I'm actually saving- any market movements are irrelevant to my monthly savings calculation right now

Lomcevak

greent said:

I also only count new contribution amounts to s&s isa (and sipp) -  that's the figure I'm actually saving- any market movements are irrelevant to my monthly savings calculation right now

Same here. I also only check the S&S ISA every two or three months or so - my SIPP and S&S ISA strategy is very simple (each have a monthly direct debit for 1/12th of the annual allowance, split 80/20 between an all-world equity tracker and a bond fund), with an update of my spreadsheet and a rebalance back to an 80/20 split every April. In about five years I plan on maybe going to a 60/40 split, but otherwise I ignore them both. Keeps things simple, and I don't know what I'd actually do if I tracked them more actively, other than possibly getting stressed about it.  

Jami74

Wentthedaywell? said:

I report my savings here by how much more I have compared to the previous month. Some months I may actually save several grand of new money, but can only report a couple of hundred- or even negative-  if shares have dropped. But it's the December number that matters.

Yes that's how I count. How much money, on paper my spreadsheet I actually have more than last month. I also have some months where I've still distributed a few hundred pounds into various savings accounts, but my total monthly balance has gone down.

george4064 said:

I'm assuming it’s a Stocks & Shares ISA you’re referring to? 

I’m probably a bit different to others, but personally I only count new contributions to my S&S ISA for this challenge. If I were to include the change in value of my S&S ISA every month my monthly figure would be all over the shop! 

Yes Stocks & Shares ISA. Unfortunately (fortunately?) my contribution to the S&S ISA is so very small that even if my figures are all over the shop it would only be by a few pennies. I count my balance change as 'savings' for this thread, therefore passive income counts too.

I think of my savings as the money I could theoretically get my hands on if I needed to (and yeah, I know it would cost me money to get it from the S&S ISA).