Monthly savings...

[whitevanman88]

What percentage of your monthly wage to you tend to put into savings?

I have been putting about 80% in over the last year or so (no mortgage or any personal bills apart from a phone contract - and no life, come to think of it) and I'm now faced with the prospect of not being able to put any savings away for a while - which, actually, I'm finding quite daunting.

[rfoster]

Welcome to the real world, my friend! I manage to put away £150 per month into a savings pot, not bad for a 'SITCOM' (Single Income, Three Children, Oppressive Mortgage).

[MrAdaam]

Depending on earnings, maybe you should allocate yourself a percentage.
Sit down, work out what your outgoings are, and then give yourself some for going out and whatever, then put whatever else that isn't 'needed' into a savings account for a rainy day.

[okgo]

£0.

[bogie]

usually try to always save 10% by default, and more when possible

[Guvna]

I have a direct debit to invest 25% into an ISA for the long term which I am not touching.

My expenses are about 35% and I put the rest into regular savings account for holidays, clothes etc

Edited by Guvna on Wednesday 30th June 00:19

[XJSJohn]

I have a savings pot for anual road tax and insurance. $400 / month

Every evening when i come home the shrapnell in my pockets gets thrown in a bucked for rainy day fund (stands at about $3000 over last few years)

I halve a government enforced CPF savings fund which is about 10% of my income (tax free) plus employer puts 5% ontop, this is used to pay most of the morgage on a flat that we rent out, the remainder paid by rental income + surplus into a "sinking fund" for said property.

Any significant "savings" i have are accrued from proceeds of investments rather than from saving a percentage of my wages, although obviously the seed capital would have come from wages origionally many moons ago!

[bogie]

naturally the flaw in percentages is that someone could be saving 50% of £20K a year or 10% of £250K a year

[tankplanker]

What sort of savings? Rainy day fund, retirement, or big purchases like holidays? I have some savings for the first two (plus ongoing pension contributions) but I'm not adding to them at the moment as I'm overpaying on my mortgage as I want to be debt free before I start accruing savings for retirement. As for big purchases I put about £400 a month aside for holidays/birthdays/Christmas, doesn't go far for holidays for a family of four doesn't go far when you have to go during the school holidays.

[Odie]

Is their actually any point in saving up at the moment? with the current interest rates and vat going up in january surely it would be a better investment to spend the money on things that will save you money next year (tinned food, frozen food, household stuff (white goods, furniture), clothes etc)

[bestinshow]

Odie said:

Is their actually any point in saving up at the moment? with the current interest rates and vat going up in january surely it would be a better investment to spend the money on things that will save you money next year (tinned food, frozen food, household stuff (white goods, furniture), clothes etc)

Are interest rates going up in January ?

[illmonkey]

Between both our salary's its about 35%. But the mortgage is currently low and we've just moved, so it seems depleted. Trying to build it back up before the BoE rate goes 'back to normal'.

[7thCircleAcolyte]

Repayment mortgage is 36% of income, saving roughly 40% (third of which is short/medium term savings rather than long term), and living on the rest.

Number-wise these are big numbers compared to average income but chicken feed to many Pistonheads

Age 36 if that's relevant. Due to marriage & kids I expect my savings rate will drop significantly in the years to come.

Saving is good to do while you can, but remember that this is the worst economic crisis we're ever likely to live through, so even just paying your way and saving £0 is IMHO an achievement.

[ShadownINja]

euroboy said:

0%

and its bugging me.

Then again my mortgage is 50% of my income :S

Still, im only 26, got plenty of time to save!

The way I see it, mortgage is a bit like savings, so it isn't necessarily a bad thing.

[whitevanman88]

ShadownINja said:

euroboy said:

0%

and its bugging me.

Then again my mortgage is 50% of my income :S

Still, im only 26, got plenty of time to save!

The way I see it, mortgage is a bit like savings, so it isn't necessarily a bad thing.

My bank manager described it as "The biggest savings account you'll have" - obviously that depends on your income and house size / worth.

[ShadownINja]

whitevanman88 said:

ShadownINja said:

euroboy said:

0%

and its bugging me.

Then again my mortgage is 50% of my income :S

Still, im only 26, got plenty of time to save!

The way I see it, mortgage is a bit like savings, so it isn't necessarily a bad thing.

My bank manager described it as "The biggest savings account you'll have" - obviously that depends on your income and house size / worth.

Yes, a mortgage for a £5 doll's house is probably not what he was talking about.

[Bob Fossil]

It varies as I'm paid commission on top of my salary, so it'll be £1k one month (quiet month) and up to £15k-£20k others(good month).

I'm saving up to move to a big house, but with as small a mortgage as possible...

[flyingjase]

Bob Fossil said:

It varies as I'm paid commission on top of my salary, so it'll be £1k one month (quiet month) and up to £15k-£20k others(good month).

I'm saving up to move to a big house, but with as small a mortgage as possible...

all right for some being able to save £15k per month!! Good on you

I save the max ISA allowance each month (£850 from memory) - see this as a long term investment and have never drawn down from it since I started it a few years ago.

Then if I get a big bonus, save some towards 'investing' into the next car

Sometimes pay a bit of the mortgage off on top of the monthly payments

The above is my form of 'saving'

I don't have a standing order set up into a savings account or anything like that

[Bob Fossil]

Don't get me wrong... I'm not a rich man by any means, I wish it was £15k every month! I'll get a couple of paydays like that a year, the rest vary between the upper and lower limits, but I'd say on average I probably save / invest £50k a year?

I think the reason I try to save so much of my income is that I'm a bit of a doom-monger... I always think some kind of career-related disaster is just around the corner, so want to be in a position where I can just walk away from work and do something else (maybe cut grass like Forrest Gump) if the mood takes me (or if change is forced upon me). That's why I still live in a very modest 2-bedroom house, rather than on of the 5-bed new builds (with over-stretching mortgages) so many of my friends hanker after.

As I mentioned previously, my aim is to be able to "jump" a couple of rungs up the property ladder (I want a home for life, NOT an investment / gamble) but retain a small mortgage - quite an old-fashioned way of doing things I guess.

[okgo]

To be saving £50k a year after tax is impressive as that means you've had to earn 80+ to get there, what the hell are you selling?