The "Save 12k in 2021" Thread!

Suffolk_lass

Wentthedaywell? said:

cathybird said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

george4064 said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

Minus £500 for September . I did actually save £1500, but the negative comes from my S&S ISA dipping.

I always find it surprising that people count S&S movements as gains/losses, to me that doesn’t seem appropriate as it isn’t money saved. Only contributions to a S&S ISA is ‘saved’.

Lets say you had a S&S ISA worth £100k and the markets (and your ISA) dropped by £10k, you mark it as -£9k for that month (you actually saved £1k that month). That’s going to make you feel unecessarily bad, and equally on the flip side if your ISA has a bumper month and you report a bumper monthly saving figure that might give you unfounded confidence in your ability to actually save.

For me, about to give up work, the important figure is how much I’ve got ‘in the bank’ to spend. Is it more or less than last month and what is the end of year total?

The amount I pay in in any one month is irrelevant to me if it’s not there to spend because of share losses. I’m old and sensible enough not to be disheartened at the vagaries of the markets. I've experienced them long enough through 9/11, the 2007 recession and Covid.

hi Wentthedaywell, I'm early retiring too, and have in fact given notice, with my last day in early December. I was just curious as to whether you plan to continue taking part in this challenge after you retire? I'd like to, since I'm fond of the challenge, but I don't really see how it's possible, since I will be moving from accumulating as large a pot as I can to subsistence on what I have (although I aim to spend considerably less than I technically could). So unless I set a particular sum to be extracted from my pension pot as the year's "income" and then see how far under that sum I actually spend, and count the difference as savings, I don't see how it can work. 

I have this thread partly to thank for being able to early retire. I have been taking part for eight years altogether and have saved and invested quite a bit as a result of it. It has contributed in no small way. So many thanks to Slowlyfading and all the participants over the years for having helped.  

Like you Cathy, I'm planning ongoing at Christmas; or Easter depending on what happens in work. So I expect this will be my last last year on the thread. I think I've been in it about the same time as you, and like you say, it's been such a motivation to keep us on the savings path.

But very soon I've got to totally change my mind set to start thinking about spending my accumulated savings. I don't have children so no point leaving anything behind. It's going to be a huge 180 degrees shift in attitude and I don't underestimate the initial difficulties. I just hope we will be able to travel and no more lockdowns; a colleague retired April 2020, just after the first lockdown. What a waste of all that free time!

Err, I retired in Feb 19 and while I have reduced our targets, I still save small lumps from the money coming in. I TT our accounts to nice round figures, with the bits and pieces going into a cash savings account (with a miserable interest rate) and I put £250 a month into each of two RS (one at 2.75% that will mature soon) and one at 3.5% started in August. While you could argue it is recycling, it maintains the habit, and has so far removed the need to relinquish any stocks, shares or fund holdings as these smaller piles have met the big outgoings needs.

When the first RS matures it will pay for a replacement oil tank as ours is on its last legs and smells (rusty steel - no gas here). Before the second RS I was putting £250 a month into PB as I am trying to rebalance from equities towards cash based now neither of us are working. I find it a great way to maintain some modicum of insight into what we are spending

cathybird

Wentthedaywell? said:

cathybird said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

george4064 said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

Minus £500 for September . I did actually save £1500, but the negative comes from my S&S ISA dipping.

I always find it surprising that people count S&S movements as gains/losses, to me that doesn’t seem appropriate as it isn’t money saved. Only contributions to a S&S ISA is ‘saved’.

Lets say you had a S&S ISA worth £100k and the markets (and your ISA) dropped by £10k, you mark it as -£9k for that month (you actually saved £1k that month). That’s going to make you feel unecessarily bad, and equally on the flip side if your ISA has a bumper month and you report a bumper monthly saving figure that might give you unfounded confidence in your ability to actually save.

For me, about to give up work, the important figure is how much I’ve got ‘in the bank’ to spend. Is it more or less than last month and what is the end of year total?

The amount I pay in in any one month is irrelevant to me if it’s not there to spend because of share losses. I’m old and sensible enough not to be disheartened at the vagaries of the markets. I've experienced them long enough through 9/11, the 2007 recession and Covid.

hi Wentthedaywell, I'm early retiring too, and have in fact given notice, with my last day in early December. I was just curious as to whether you plan to continue taking part in this challenge after you retire? I'd like to, since I'm fond of the challenge, but I don't really see how it's possible, since I will be moving from accumulating as large a pot as I can to subsistence on what I have (although I aim to spend considerably less than I technically could). So unless I set a particular sum to be extracted from my pension pot as the year's "income" and then see how far under that sum I actually spend, and count the difference as savings, I don't see how it can work. 

I have this thread partly to thank for being able to early retire. I have been taking part for eight years altogether and have saved and invested quite a bit as a result of it. It has contributed in no small way. So many thanks to Slowlyfading and all the participants over the years for having helped.  

Like you Cathy, I'm planning ongoing at Christmas; or Easter depending on what happens in work. So I expect this will be my last last year on the thread. I think I've been in it about the same time as you, and like you say, it's been such a motivation to keep us on the savings path.

But very soon I've got to totally change my mind set to start thinking about spending my accumulated savings. I don't have children so no point leaving anything behind. It's going to be a huge 180 degrees shift in attitude and I don't underestimate the initial difficulties. I just hope we will be able to travel and no more lockdowns; a colleague retired April 2020, just after the first lockdown. What a waste of all that free time!

hi Wentthedaywell, no kids here either! I don't mind leaving something behind though, to charity, or friends, or friend's kids perhaps. Also, I want to be cautious to begin with, for the first couple of years at least.

I feel a little sad about potentially no longer taking part in the challenge. Others that have retired along the way have ceased to take part though and that's undoubtedly what makes most sense.

cathybird

slowlyfading said:

Spreadsheet updated

There's some exciting news on the thread though - congratulations to those retiring early! I cannot wait until I can say the same

Thanks slowlyfading, I hope it happens for you sooner rather than later, especially after all your hard work with this challenge! x

ForestBluebells

#21 reporting £1457.61 for September. Would have been a lot more but I had some vet bills and was a little spendy in places, need to try get back on track on cutting unnecessary spend 😬 savings should be a bit higher now as I’m doing 2 additional freelance jobs on top of my full time job now and payment has started coming through. More vet bills due this month though. 

Gizmo70

#17 reporting in for September. This month managed to save £1,563. I decided to put an extra £200 per month towards my pension pot rather than my savings pot, but I should still be able to hit my £18k savings target for this year. Still have some of my annual spending pot left (around £2k) if anything crops up before the end of the year.

Xenon

Xenon #37 

Sept £176

Mortgage Deposit/Costs £146624

george4064

#027 declaring -£1,156 for September.

Finally completed on our new home at the end of September, so expecting some negative months for at least September and October as we gradually sort things out.

Despite a negative figure (cash balances down), its nice to see that overall my grand total (including investments) is holding up.

SuperLooperSaver

I've just done the form for August.  I've also re-done June and July, as they were ever so slightly out.

I will do September asap.

I will be reporting minuses for the rest of the year, due to maternity leave pay.

I hope to catch up on reading the posts when I can!

Thanks SF!

delta13

Bit late to the party - number 76 reporting £872.51 for September - lower than some months earlier in the year, but an improvement on the last 2 so I'm pleased.
I won a prize at work at the end of September - £1000 in vouchers! And whilst it might not be cash, I can use some of this for Christmas shopping and birthdays til the end of the year, which will free up the money I would have spent to go into my savings

Will update the form in a sec.

Also, congratulations to those who are retiring soon! 

greent

Congratulations on the win, delta - great news!