The "Save 12k in 2021" Thread!

Betharooni

Hi all

Sorry for lack of updates recently. I’ve just submitted the following figures for August and September:

August - £1246.60
September - £1764.17

I should hit my £15k target in November unless anything drastic happens.

B x

Sandyra

#32. £200 for September. 😕 Form updated. Must try harder. Thanks slowly for updating. 

robadger

Just updated the last 4 months. Sorry for the delay. Looking at the figures, I can see why I wasn't keen on updating! July and August were expensive with holidays so I shouldn't really complain. Then credit card bleed into the next couple of months. Need to knuckle-down and get saving properly again, even though my target is now out of reach. 

June - £1150
July - £1150
Aug - £900
Sept - £250

I suppose I should console myself that if I'd have been saving this much a decade ago - even the £250 - I'd have been ecstatic (and also better off!) .

geoffers4

Wentthedaywell? said:

cathybird said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

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.

I read this exchange with mixed feelings - happy to see cathybird and Wentie achieving their early retirement targets, but sad to think the thread might lose a couple of 'regulars' who have been here since the early days. I suppose it's inevitable that the most regular savers will eventually leave to enjoy the results of their hard work.

I'm about 17 months from early retirement now (ok, ok, I keep moving the date) but tbh like Suffolk_lass I was thinking of continuing on the thread after that. 2 DB pensions will provide a monthly income and I expect I'll still save a certain amount for things like a new (second hand) car or a major update to the house.

I can't quite grasp why people worry about "having to switch from saving mode to spending mode" when they retire. Why change good habits that have helped us achieve financial independence? 

Wentthedaywell?

geoffers4 said:

I can't quite grasp why people worry about "having to switch from saving mode to spending mode" when they retire. Why change good habits that have helped us achieve financial independence? 

My attitude is, "There are no pockets in a shroud" Geoffers!  . I might feel differently if I had children to leave any residual money to.

I will still be saving, in as much as I will still be putting money into my virtual 'pots' each month - car, holidays, IT, home maintenance etc. I don't see these as savings however, but deferred spends.  I've never counted them when I report my monthly totals, though it's nearly another grand a month.

Retirement will be such a major life change (though less so for me as I work part time now), hence me considering the switch of mindset that I will need. I won't be blowing my life savings in the first year, but life is short, and getting shorter! 

Sandyra

#32 here! I’m back as my side line is back and saved some of my birthday money. So an additional £200 on top of the £200. No way near as what have been saving. Only 2 months before I pay off my student loan 🥳. Form updated x

Queen_of_the_Hive

 Hi SF, 

#51 here and ready to report another disappointing minus £634.23 for October. This pretty much sums up my year - moving forward in treacle. As I say each month - just got to keep going and hope for a better 2022. 

cathybird

geoffers4 said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

cathybird said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

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.

I read this exchange with mixed feelings - happy to see cathybird and Wentie achieving their early retirement targets, but sad to think the thread might lose a couple of 'regulars' who have been here since the early days. I suppose it's inevitable that the most regular savers will eventually leave to enjoy the results of their hard work.

I'm about 17 months from early retirement now (ok, ok, I keep moving the date) but tbh like Suffolk_lass I was thinking of continuing on the thread after that. 2 DB pensions will provide a monthly income and I expect I'll still save a certain amount for things like a new (second hand) car or a major update to the house.

I can't quite grasp why people worry about "having to switch from saving mode to spending mode" when they retire. Why change good habits that have helped us achieve financial independence? 

Geoffers, I'm definitely not going to abandon my frugal or savings habits. I have an annual budget and will aim to spend less than that. But my retirement income will be different from a salary in that the money is not coming in from an external source. It will be decumulation of assets I already own, and not sure that if I decumulate at a slower rate than planned whether that counts as savings per se? 

lantanna

#25 reporting for October £488.40. Form submitted. Happy with that as just back from a weeks holiday

Suffolk_lass

cathybird said:

geoffers4 said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

cathybird said:

Wentthedaywell? said:

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.

I read this exchange with mixed feelings - happy to see cathybird and Wentie achieving their early retirement targets, but sad to think the thread might lose a couple of 'regulars' who have been here since the early days. I suppose it's inevitable that the most regular savers will eventually leave to enjoy the results of their hard work.

I'm about 17 months from early retirement now (ok, ok, I keep moving the date) but tbh like Suffolk_lass I was thinking of continuing on the thread after that. 2 DB pensions will provide a monthly income and I expect I'll still save a certain amount for things like a new (second hand) car or a major update to the house.

I can't quite grasp why people worry about "having to switch from saving mode to spending mode" when they retire. Why change good habits that have helped us achieve financial independence? 

Geoffers, I'm definitely not going to abandon my frugal or savings habits. I have an annual budget and will aim to spend less than that. But my retirement income will be different from a salary in that the money is not coming in from an external source. It will be decumulation of assets I already own, and not sure that if I decumulate at a slower rate than planned whether that counts as savings per se? 

I'm sure some of mine is effectively moving the deckchairs on the Titanic. We both stopped work a while ago with an acceptance that our capital would diminish more quickly that it went there in the years up to state pension age, but with Tilly Tidying, regular savers and premium bonds (gradually moving the balance away from riskier things) we are living comfortably and things like the necessary replacement of the about to fail oil tank can be covered from the cash emergency pot.