How much would you put into savings with this monthly income?

[Booooot]

In a Great position after years of hardship of selling a property which means we will be mortgage free, debt free and have 50k to go straight into savings. Our combined monthly income is going to be 5000, our outgoings around 900.

I’m a “can’t take it with you! Might as well enjoy it!” Kind of person while my husband is a “No we must be sensible and not spend anything and save it all.” Kind of person. I want to meet in the middle somewhere.

what would you do?

How long until you qualify? Do you plan to be working full-time with no more career breaks for children? Depending on what you’re training as it could be that you’re fine to wait and rely mostly on the very good NHS pension. Does your DH have a work pension plan?

I qualify in 2025 as a mental health nurse. I'll be working full time.
We own the property we're in, it's an additional property that we are selling. I have no idea about my husband tbh he probably doesnt know either!

I would start with the pension. There are calculators that will help you figure out what you need to put in to have a particular amount of money during retirement. Since I am older and really want to have some freedom once I retire, I’m putting in 30% at this point. Most people your age will choose a much lower rate.

then make sure you are budgeting annually and dividing by 12, not monthly. It makes a big difference because some expenses do not occur regularly.

then an emergency fund. I personally like to have a nice cushion that also serves as a place where we are saving up for the next big thing. So for us, our savings can cover something like an unexpected repair, but it is the same place we would go to get the money for a new car or a holiday Some people keep these pots separate. We just never dip into it for a non-essential unless there will still be plenty of money left for the unexpected. The amount you keep here depends on your personal level of risk aversion, but most financial advisors will suggest that you build this up to 3-6 months of essential expenses at least. since your core outgoings are low, it won’t be difficult to get to the point that you have at least 6 months stashed here.

then you should have money left to actually enjoy life a bit.

How can you possibly spend just 900? We are mortgage free and spend well over that

I was wondering that! Just our food and essential non mortgage bills are about £1000 a month and that is before you get to savings, going out, clothes, transport, personal mobile phones etc..

And there are only two of us.

Without food, mortgage and travel our annual outgoing are €24k.

£900 seems very unlikely.

NHS is a defined benefit pension, so take advice on that as overpaying isn't always possible.
You'll be 31 if you plan to work until 61 that's still 30 years pudding in to a very good pension scheme. Definitely invest/save at least £1k a month, £500 each per child. Double check your necessary outgoings as they seem very low.
You can also have short term saving pots, that you dip into for furniture, holidays an emergency fund etc
Also allocate fun money each month, no point earning it if you don't have any fun

I mean it can be done with some extreme frugality but if your monthly income is £5k why would you?

To be honest OP the whole thing doesn't really add up. You and your husband are pretty young, you say you have never worked full time and have had some hard time. But now you have a mortgage free property, £50k in cash and £5k a month income. The first two can be accounted for by inheritance but I assume the third must be your husband's wage. £5k a month after tax is a very good wage.

So why are you only spending £900 per month?

What does the £900 a month include? Food/bills/clothes etc?

Ahh i see you say your monthly income will be £5k ONCE you qualify and start work. That make more sense!

Not sure why everyone is questioning our bills? Why would I lie about that?

No our income will be more when I qualify. That income is what it will be as of next month when I start the bank work. My income will be more than double that when I qualify.

Not lying but have you added up Xmas, MOT , birthday gifts for dc friends etc etc

Well no, I dont consider that monthly outgoings, those are one off spends.

More than double 5k a month as a mental health nurse? Or do you mean more than double the bank shifts? Very unrealistic to expect to earn more than 5k a month as a MH nurse.

£900 a month is very low. Don’t you have council tax, G&E, water, broadband, phones, car expenses and food? We spend just over £600 a month just on the supermarket shop.

Because it seems pretty low for a family of four.

Obviously not.

If you want to be financially savvy you need to include them in a budget.

I can happily find more things to spend our money on but that is our regular monthly outgoing without the mortgage and credit card repayments.

obviously not what ? Can you be more clear so people can give advise.

I would strongly advise you both to open a Lifetime ISA and put in the maximum. Government will top it up 25%. This can act as a private pension pot.

£900 outgoing seems really low does that include groceries , petrol , car insurances , all utilities , council tax ? We are not far off a similar position and just the two of us with no children costs

I can happily find more things to spend our money on but that is our regular monthly outgoing without the mortgage and credit card repayments

But things like that are part of your monthly outgoing. Not counting them is crazy. How much do they total

Savings can be for things you want in the future as well not just some nameless pot of money you are building up for some indeterminate reason. Our income is around 3000 a month (early retired so no point in saving for retirement) and we save £1000 but it is for car repair costs and replacements, holidays and house projects. Our outgoings are more than yours though. Are you sure £900 covers everything? Our direct debits alone for energy, council tax, utilities and subscriptions are £750 and then we allow a further £1250 for food, fuel, entertainment, presents, personal spends etc. That is with no mortgage or debt so you must be living pretty frugally. Are there things you don't do because you don't want to spend like hobbies, eating out, cinema, theatre etc etc?

In your circumstances I would be spending more on lifestyle (maybe £2000), saving for the future so the £1000 for yourselves and £500 for the children and maybe £500 to long term savings like pension, stocks and shares isas and the remaining £1000 divided into pots for holidays, cars, house etc.

I mean our monthly outgoings excl mortgage, savings, personal spending and mobile phones is about £1000.

And we don't run a car, have dependent children or any credit card debt.