24 Year Old Savings

dylantombides
dylantombides Posts: 34 Forumite
edited 12 September 2019 at 1:33PM in How much have you saved?
I'm new here and was really keen to create a diary of my savings. I'm going to try keep my posts detailed yet still concise and factual. I appreciate comments, tips, advice, feedback etc as I never discuss my finances with anyone publicly so it's nice to do it anonymously on a forum.
  • 24 years old
  • Graduated university at 21 in summer 2016.
  • Been in a full time career for 2 and a half years to date.
  • Living at home with parents to save but looking to move out this summer 2019.
  • Plan is to rent in a new city for 6 months. If I like the city, I will then look to buy (around Christmas 2019).
  • Earn £25700 base salary and if I hit my bonus £27k.
  • Generally my spending is very low but income is fairly low I think for someone who is 2 and a half years out of uni. I'd like this to go up but I think I would actually make more money if I relocated to a cheaper city to live even if the salaries are a little lower.
  • Paying back student loan debts. Currently around £45k worth of student debt so I pay back about £250 a year I think it is. Although once you take into account the interest accumulating on this debt, I seem to be making no progress on clearing it (the interest accumulated is roughly the same as what I'm paying back).

Monthly Finances
  • Paid £1650 monthly (approx) by work
  • Save £900 each month and therefore spend £750
  • The £750 spend consists of £300 rent to parents, £200 to Help To Buy ISA, £60 petrol, £100 leisure.
  • Petrol is so low as my work is 10 mins from where I live.

Total Finances
  • £10k saved
  • £2.8k in Help to Buy ISA

Aim:
  • £20k by July 2019.
  • £25k by winter 2019 (savings will slow down from July as I plan to rent in a new city and therefore save less).
  • Buy property worth around £170k in winter 2019. My parents will loan me maybe £2k for legal fees, furnishings etc etc.
  • have a further £11k which my parents have saved for me since I was a baby by setting up various building society accounts for me. I've excluded this from all figures as I've never seen this money in my accounts however when I go to buy my house this will go towards it or go towards the furnishings/maintenance etc.

How am I doing? Any advice? Keen to increase my spend as my expenses are low (i live frugally and rarely treat myself - probably a bad thing actually).
«1

Comments

  • Total Finances
    • £10k saved
    • £2.8k in Help to Buy ISA



    How am I doing? Any advice? Keen to increase my spend as my expenses are low (i live frugally and rarely treat myself - probably a bad thing actually).

    dylantombides,

    You're doing fine.

    I'm 46 and I wish I had those savings when I was your age. Instead I just had lots of debt (none of which was a student loan). It wasn't until the last year or so I've saved a significant amount apart from just for holidays etc.

    It seems that you are the epitome of what this site is about; a Money Saving Expert! :money:

    Just ensure you keep up with the advice on this site for the best place to save your hard earned cash and where the best rates of interest are.

    Keep up the good work.
  • savingwannabe
    savingwannabe Posts: 16,610
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    I had little to nothing saved when I was your age. Well done Dylan and welcome to our forum. Your savings ratio is brilliant.


    Keep up the good work.
    Aiming for a minimal spend 2022
  • I had little to nothing saved when I was your age. Well done Dylan and welcome to our forum. Your savings ratio is brilliant.


    Keep up the good work.
    dylantombides,

    You're doing fine.

    I'm 46 and I wish I had those savings when I was your age. Instead I just had lots of debt (none of which was a student loan). It wasn't until the last year or so I've saved a significant amount apart from just for holidays etc.

    It seems that you are the epitome of what this site is about; a Money Saving Expert! :money:

    Just ensure you keep up with the advice on this site for the best place to save your hard earned cash and where the best rates of interest are.

    Keep up the good work.

    Thanks both. It's a lot easier to save when I'm living with family. The real challenge will come when I move out later this year!

    I'm going to try update my journal/diary on here every month.
  • dylantombides
    dylantombides Posts: 34 Forumite
    edited 12 September 2019 at 1:33PM
    Not been active on here but here's an update.

    It's the end of June meaning I've just been paid and therefore my figures will be skewed a bit by having this extra money in yet not gone on regular expenses yet.

    Also in my original post I said I wanted to reach £20k by July. Well it's about to be July and I have over £22k in my account so I've achieved my first goal.

    Marcus account: £10,524.56
    Nationwide FlexDirect (every day account) £508.79
    TSB: £1,500
    Fineco: £1,100

    Lifetime ISA £5k (all from last tax year, i.e the £4k plus £1k deposit).
    Help To Buy ISA (i'll move this money into my Lifetime ISA soon)

    Total including the extra £1k I'll get when I move my Help To Buy ISA money into my Lifetime ISA = £23,887

    New adjusted savings goal by end of the year = £28,887

    Thanks for the encouragement from the posters above!
  • savingwannabe
    savingwannabe Posts: 16,610
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    OMG OMG this is great. Well done dylantombides. At this rate you will be retired at 35!!!! lol.

    Really well done on being so disciplined. You have inspired me to avoid buying tat I don't need. Well done.
    Aiming for a minimal spend 2022
  • pinknsparkly
    pinknsparkly Posts: 542
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    Wow dylantombides - that's an incredible achievement! Many congratulations!! You said in your original post that you'd be moving to a new city in July, is that still the plan? If so, good luck with the move!

    I noticed you saying about not being "able" to treat yourself but wanting to - I've seen other posters who allocate themselves a specific amount of "fun money" each month to force themselves to treat themselves without any of the guilt (as it's already budgeted for). You can also do the same for holidays too if you'd like to take those but feel too guilty about spending the money to do so! Maybe that's an approach that would work for you?
    MFW2023 challenge #99: £1090.11 / £1,000 MFiT-T6 (Jan 2022 - Jan 2025) challenge #99: Reduce mortgage to £400,000. Current balance = £413,551.19 Initial MF date (23rd Aug 2022): Sep 2051 Current MF date: Jul 2051 Last updated: 15/06/2023
  • Wow dylantombides - that's an incredible achievement! Many congratulations!! You said in your original post that you'd be moving to a new city in July, is that still the plan? If so, good luck with the move!

    I noticed you saying about not being "able" to treat yourself but wanting to - I've seen other posters who allocate themselves a specific amount of "fun money" each month to force themselves to treat themselves without any of the guilt (as it's already budgeted for). You can also do the same for holidays too if you'd like to take those but feel too guilty about spending the money to do so! Maybe that's an approach that would work for you?
    Thanks pinknsparkly! Thanks savingwannabe too.

    I still would like to move to Newcastle however if I'm honest I've not got around the working on my CV let alone applying for jobs. I'm sure I'll move but maybe in a few months.

    I've got a lot better with relaxing and spending money. However each time I do spend money, it motivates me to earn more to make that money back. I guess that's sort of a good habit though.
  • You are doing amazing Dylan! Definitely save as much as you can while living at home. I moved away from home for a job a few months ago and now I'm struggling to save anything a month. My income is a lot lower than yours though so you probably won't have the same problem but the amount you are able to save will go down significantly, just something to keep in mind. Keep up the good work :T
    #84 Make £2020 in 2020 challenge
    Grocery Challenge January £0/£80
  • each time I do spend money, it motivates me to earn more to make that money back. I guess that's sort of a good habit though.

    That's certainly not the worst approach in the world, and I'm glad you're feeling more able to treat yourself!
    MFW2023 challenge #99: £1090.11 / £1,000 MFiT-T6 (Jan 2022 - Jan 2025) challenge #99: Reduce mortgage to £400,000. Current balance = £413,551.19 Initial MF date (23rd Aug 2022): Sep 2051 Current MF date: Jul 2051 Last updated: 15/06/2023
  • dylantombides
    dylantombides Posts: 34 Forumite
    edited 12 September 2019 at 1:33PM
    Update: At the time of writing (11th Sep 2019)

    Marcus account: £14,479.97
    TSB: £1500
    Fineco: £1100
    Nationwide: £40

    Nationwide Help To Buy ISA: £4,853.07
    Skipton Lifetime ISA £5k (all from last tax year, i.e the £4k plus £1k deposit).

    Overall I'm saving £1k a month.


    Total including the extra £1k I'll get when I move my Help To Buy ISA money into my Lifetime ISA = £27,973.04

    New adjusted savings goal by end of the year = £30k.

    I then have £11k my parents have saved on top of this.



    I'm looking to buy a house just after the tax year so approx May. Hopefully, prices will drop after Brexit as I've done some research and even in a cheaper area to live, there's little that appeals to me (properties around £170k). As a single buyer, things are very tough! Just have to hope prices drop with Brexit. Also the amount I'll save each month will drop substantially when I move out of my family home and start paying a mortgage.

    Thanks once again for the encouragement from the posters above!
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