On a mission to get to 100k (saved)...

[itsallabitmuchx]

Hi all.

I am 28f on a mission to reach 100K 'saved' by the end of the year.

For context, I have saved since I was a teenager. I had a part-time job from the age of 13 and always had it drummed into me that I needed to save 30% of it. Fast forward to now, I have tried to save as much as I have been bale to (there have been some years I haven't been able to save much at all), but find myself with nearly 90K due to compound interest and some entrenched habits etc.

It should be noted that I do not own my own home (yet) but am hoping to in the next 2/3 years or so. I have never received a penny from my parents nor any inheritance (all grandparents have passed but was not left anything) so this money is all of mine and I am SO proud. I come from a very working class background and have always known I would have to rely on myself and no-one else in order for any emergencies, house deposits, etc etc.

My money is split via the following:

HTB: 12,800 ish
FR Isa: 15,700 ish
Atom FR Savings: 53,000

Anyway.....

I WILL get to 100k by end of this year if it breaks me haha. Any tips?! HAs anyone else managed to achieve this? Where is your money split? Could I make better use of mine?

Thanks :)

Oops.. And 6.5K in fixed rate bonds :)

What an amazing thing to have achieved at your age! I would recommend doing the ‘Rebel Finance School’ course (you can find it on YouTube). It’s an amazing way to improve your financial education and learn about the different options for investing/making your money grow for the future, rather than leaving it in a fixed rate cash account where inflation will demolish its value as the years go on. I’ve just completed it and wish I’d done it 20 years ago!

Thank you so, so much!

It is such a huge achievement for me, I feel really proud of it, and also now feel a real duty and desire to 'protect' it as much as possible as it's taken me, more or less my whole teenage and adult life to get to this!

Investing seems scary but once I get to my goal I think I will go for it and aim to invest some (possibly the 20K tax-free allowance into a S&S ISA?) when I build up more with time.

Do you have investments, and if so, how did you go about it? :) The only one I know of is S&S ISA.

Thanks for your comment.

I use a financial advisor. They know the best places to invest but you have to accept that it’s a long term investment. World events can see you losing a thousand in a day but they usually bounce back in a short time. A good advisor will ask a lot of questions about you in order to advise the best method of investment and assess how risk averse you are. I’m cautious investor and have seen a return of approx 12% over 18 months

How can anyone say unless you tell us your income and outgoings? Very strange question.

How best to invest it depends on your objectives.

When do you think you’ll need it? Eg is it for a house deposit?

Well done though - no mean feat!

That's amazing. But the only sure way to grow your money is to do extra jobs. I made good money with my shares and stocks ISA but they are not for short term gain.

It’s all going to come down to your circumstances really. If you can save £12k in 5 months and pay all of your bills, you are doing well.

Do you have a reason for the 100k specifically or was it just a nice round number? What are your plans for the money? House deposit or will some of it go into longer term investment?

I have a Lifetime ISA, Cash ISA and a stocks and shares ISA. I pay massively into my pension and I have savings accounts for everything I.e a holiday fund for example.

I live by the do I need it? Do I want it and can I justify it? approach. If I need it, I will ask myself if I can get it cheaper elsewhere. If not, I can buy it.

If I don’t need it but I want it, I have to think about it for a set period of time (depending on what it is - usually a week or a month). I also need to be able to afford it 3x. I can buy the LV bag I’ve been lusting over but if it’s £1500, I need to be able to comfortably afford £4500.

I don’t think this would work for everyone. It is quite extreme but I should be mortgage free at 35 with some decent savings behind me, and ideally, I’d retire at 55.

Thanks all so far. How much approx. can I expect to pay for a FA?

I currently earn 47.5K per year pre tax. This is around £2,700p/m with tax, student loan, pension deductions tec.

My main outgoings add up to £850 a month currently.

Not sure why that's such a strange question though... my question isn't how much of my salary to invest... it's about investing with what I've got?

Sorry..... I thought the commenter had posted this on a different thread.
Ignore that.

When do you need the money? S&S are probably going to give you the best returns but not if you need the money anytime soon (you need time to ride ups and downs)

Do you pay rent at the moment? If you do, could you use what you already have saved as a deposit on a house? Then instead of putting money into savings and/or paying rent you could be paying a mortgage and have a hopefully appreciating asset.

The house market is very slow at the moment, you won't be in a chain and might just pick yourself up a very good deal.

Do have a look at Rebel Finance School - and Meaningful Money - both on FB and YouTube

Look at getting a LISA given your age - free money essentially then can chuck into low fee tracker fund ETF either whole world / S&P500 or something like that

Then S&S ISA again nothing super exciting just look at decent market trackers with low fees

Then you can do straight investing on trad platform like IBKR - but either ISA wrapper work through those first

And: pension! If you get a match from employer make sure you use it

Agree with PP think about when you need the money / risk profile over time

Well done OP thats a great achievement without family help.

We’re lots older, and have quite a bit invested which I’m ashamed to say i know very little about, we use a FA and your circumstances will be different if you're looking to buy a house soon. However he is always keen for us and the kids to use the full ISA allowance every year. The amount we put in pensions varies each year as we are self employed we just put in what ever is tax efficient.

Once you’ve got your house, you need to keep a float for unexpected outgoings - new boiler, cooker, roof repair that kind of unforeseen expenditure.

With mine you pay an annual charge - a percentage of how much you invest. They just deduct it from your investment - you don’t see it but your annual statement will show it. An advisor will explain their fees to you

Well done, you should be incredibly proud of yourself. I don’t think I had ANY savings at your age haha.

just one piece of advice, when you do buy a property, protect your assets and don’t let a partner be able to make a claim on it.

You should certainly be proud. Yes I do, although I’m quite early on in my investing journey. As others have said you need to balance what will give you a good return (in a tax efficient way) with access to your money, as investing is a long term game. I would also think carefully before engaging a financial adviser - they will take a cut of your money and research shows their ‘active management’ of your money will generally fail to outperform the market. Honestly, I can’t recommend Rebel Finance School enough, it explains all the options in terms of platforms, type of account etc.

It is a great achievement - what are you saving towards? 100k is just a number, you've already reached it in $ or €.

If saving for a house check whether house prices are rising faster than the rate of your savings plus any rent you are paying.

Investing rather than saving is often sound advice.

Could you increase your salary / get a second job? Your fixed outgoings are high compared to your monthly net pay. How long before your student loan is cleared and you get to keep 9% more of your salary? I would focus on driving up your earnings. Also, make sure you max out your pension every year. This becomes more important at higher tax brackets, but get into the habit now.

Also, try to find balance. Saving to meet an arbitrary goal (it seems, apologies if you explained why you need £100k by year-end already) at the expense of enjoying your youth is not the way to go, IMO. Enjoy your freedom before a mortgage, kids, etc. weigh you down.

Good luck!

This must be difficult to do in practice. I live overseas but I own an apartment in London and have a 6-figure UK pension. I know in my head that I ought to ringfence these assets if I marry DP (new relationship, assets gained long before we even met), but the thought of being possessive over financial assets when we’re supposed to be entering into a partnership and working as a team to build a life together, start a family etc. doesn’t sit well with me morally. Not something I have to worry about immediately (not even engaged yet 😂) but I’m not looking forward to navigating it further down the line. Any tips?

You’ve done fantastically well OP, well done.

Honestly though, someone with your determination to manage your money well and make the most of it does NOT need a financial advisor. They have their place in some situations but you’ll end up paying them a share of your very hard earned savings and investments when you can instead invest the money in similar fund that they would recommend yourself for no fees.

I had a similar upbringing to you and have had no financial help and have been investing in S&S funds since the age of 22 and am now 45. Have made a few minor mistakes along the way but it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. So many people are fearful of investing independently but it’s actually best to keep it as simple as possible and not keep checking on losses and gains but instead just leave it to grow over a very long period.

A couple of UK based books I’d recommend are:

The Money Triangle by Phil Blows
Financial Freedom by Alexander Fenn

The Simple Path to Wealth is US based but very readable and relevant.

I’m not sure how much of your lump sum you’re setting aside for a house deposit but would strongly recommend investing a small amount regularly into a S&S ISA or LISA and if you read the aforementioned books it will all make more sense.

Plus another shout for Rebel Finance School. They are excellent.

What are you on? Those fixed outgoings are not high at all ! Most rentals costs more than that a month in the UK ! (Im in a houseshare and still pay 900 a month all in and my salary is 1/3rd less !)

I use a financial advisor. They know the best places to invest

No they don't.

Rebel Finance School on YouTube will teach you how to invest. You probably don't have enough money to interest a FA and they'll take a cut too.

I have invested heavily into property. Over the years house prices have really gone up and I now have well over a million in houses not including my own home but as usual if I sell I will be hammered by CGT. I'm waiting until Labour leave power and hoping Reform get in because they will reverse punitive CGT. You are doing great on your savings but I expect you'll also be taxed heavily on them.