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Original poster

To ask what % of your income you save?

90 replies

MorallyBankrupt · 29/10/2011 14:09

I keep reading thread on saving and people say they have £50k saved and they save £2k a month, or people saying they can only save £50 a month and really worrying.

However, if the people saving 2k a month have a household income of 5k then as a % they are saving much less than people who say have 2k income but save £1200 a month.

So really, to understand how people priortise saving don't you need to work out the percentage you save compared to others?

At the moment we save 33% of DH's salary as we are trying to save for a deposit... He thinks this is too high as it means we are going without everything other than basic food and bills. He would prefer 20% and 'to live a little'.

OP posts:

mosschops30 · 29/10/2011 14:28

Nothing, and even if we had the money, which we dont, i still wouldnt save.

I work in ITU and see so much shit i just cant see the point in saving money and denying yourself thibgs.
As long as you habe a roof over your head and food to eat then whatever is left should be enjoyed.

We are both insured so if the worst happened the dcs would be ok.

I know lots of people wont agree, but thats just the way i feel atm

makingmama · 29/10/2011 14:29

0 % Would love to be able to save just a little for the 'rainy days', but with the cost of living we just scrape by each week. I'm working hard to be as frugal as possible so we can hopefully begin saving very small amounts after Xmas is out of the way.

looneytune · 29/10/2011 14:29

0% - no choice, dh been out of work best part of 2 years and as a result we have to use the credit card each month as it is just to survive!! I dream of being able to save one day but that's YEARS away unless something major changes things!

TheBrideofFrankenstein · 29/10/2011 14:30

About 20-25%, including pension contributions and share scheme payments.

We also live in a country with no PAYE so you have to save 15% of your gross salary each month to pay the tax man at the end of the year.

berlinnovels · 29/10/2011 14:30

I am aiming for a third (also trying to save for a deposit). I am in the extremely fortunate position to have some slack over in my income after that. I'm not sure I would up this as I personally couldn't sustain this for a long period of time.

sarahtigh · 29/10/2011 14:31

it just depends how long saving that amount is needed for, if it is just 3-4 more months go for it, but if it is 2 years you will need to ease up as you risk a very expensive splurge, could you have one weekend a month when you buy lovely food and one other small treat each makes it more bearable, but I think house wise prices are low may go a bit lower but the market will go up again and you will have to save more, I don't enviage people getting 100% mortgages for years and years but there are some 90% deals around, your saving discipline will get you some brownie points as you will be easily able to illustrate affordabilty asyou have cut bills back good luck

I am on extended ML right now but used to save 10% regularly

Original poster

MorallyBankrupt · 29/10/2011 14:31

But are people not saving because they already have large pots? The last savings thread nearly everyone said they had well over 20k already saved! So maybe if you have that much you don't feel the need to keep adding to it on a regular basis?

OP posts:

lurkerspeaks · 29/10/2011 14:31

Nothing at present but I'm on a jolly working abroad year..... and earning less money in a much more expensive location. It is also easier to travel from here so I'm doing that too.

I usually save about 15% of my post tax income.

quornsausages · 29/10/2011 14:35

On average about 72% a month of take home salary. We're lucky that we've been able to keep our bills fairly low over the years and live a pretty simple life.

I look at the MSE website a lot and find a lot of bargains on there and free or reduced days out (e.g National Trust Properties/ Castle open days). Half price vouchers for eating out and so on.

We've been doing this for about 7-8 years and I'm used to it now, in fact I hate paying full price for things nowadays. I'm not stingy with other people though.

In our case we've got a fixed goal in mind and that keeps us motivated.

OP, if you haven't been on MSE before, have a good look at the site and the forums. There's a good budget planner on there, so have a play with that to see you if it can save you more and get to your goal quicker.

TheBrideofFrankenstein · 29/10/2011 14:38

But are people not saving because they already have large pots?

Well, it depends what you mean by a large pot. £20k is actually not very much to rely on in your old age. What's the point in buying a Ferrari now if I'm not going to be able to afford to turn the heating on when I'm 80?

Original poster

MorallyBankrupt · 29/10/2011 14:39

We don't have the heating on now!

OP posts:

TheBrideofFrankenstein · 29/10/2011 14:44

I guess my point was that IMO it's physically impossible to have too large a savings pot. If you look at current annuity rates, you need a pension pot of >£100k to have an income that would be better than being on benefits. It's insane.

Anyway, I have a plan. Drink lots of wine and die at 70.

SardineQueen · 29/10/2011 14:44

Used to save a lot and have a lot saved.

Now save sod all and no savings in the bank.

Hopefully things will pick up again in a while!

twinklytroll · 29/10/2011 14:59

I have a pension on top of my savings but 20k is not a lot for someone wanting to buy a house.

knittedbreast · 29/10/2011 14:59

ok, I went to a really really bad school so excuse me.

How do you work out a percentage?

TheBrideofFrankenstein · 29/10/2011 15:02

take the amount you save. Divide it by your total income. Times the answer by 100.

Trills · 29/10/2011 15:05

The % doesn't mean anything by itself, so YABU to ask that.

FanjoString · 29/10/2011 15:07

We're in the exact same position, OP. Saving for a deposit by putting away 33% joint income. To do it, we've downshifted supermarket brands and generally economise but we still live a little, have nice days out making the most of free entry into places etc. The only people who know of our age (26) who have bought their own house were either gifted an extremely large deposit by their parents or married someone 10 years older who had initially bought pre-2000 and seen huge house price gains. I'm sure we'll get there one day under our own steam, but it can be demoralising when the goal seems far off.

ThoseClementineShoes · 29/10/2011 15:10

Currently save big fat nothing, but plan from next year when we are both earning is to save about 35% of our joint income towards a deposit plus a little bit for travelling in time off.

We're lucky in that we know we can live happily as we are even if it is a little tight, so even with saving more than half of my salary we should still feel richer than now. If it goes out before we see it we should be just fine. I'd rather do it this way than get accustomed to living on all of our income and I think we still both think we're young and student-like, lots of student friends so haven't developed too many expensive habits yet.

If you're miserable as you are though maybe you should make it 20-25%. Think about if you seriously think it's worth it. You only get these years once and you would still be saving a reasonable whack. Just how important is the house to you? And of course you could get hit by a bus tomorrow (hope you don't of course )

ArthurMcAffertyhastwocats · 29/10/2011 15:11

10% of my gross salary into a pension.
My income varies (a chunk of my salary is a monthly bonus) but I save around 15% of my basic salary for regular expenses and emergencies (insurance, car tax etc) and about 5% in savings/mortgage overpayments. Annual bonus and any bonus each month over and above expectations is allocated according to the following formula - 30% mortgage overpayment, 40% savings, 20% emergency fund, 10% into my "what the hell why don't I go to Rome for the weekend" account (have never done this but like the idea
of a pot of money just for frivolous stuff).

That looks insanely complicated now I look at it. But after a messy and expensive divorce which involved a lot of unpleasant financial shocks I am v focused on rebuilding my security net for me and the dcs and am fortunate to have a job that lets me do that.

northernrock · 29/10/2011 15:12

Ha ha ha ha ha. Saving. Oh! Good one!

crazyspaniel · 29/10/2011 15:12

I save about 15% of my take-home pay, and 8% of my salary goes into the work pension scheme.

Annanymous · 29/10/2011 15:16

OP I think you need to live a little. Life is short; you need to have fun.

I don't understand why you are so hung up on renting? Seems like a wise move in these times of falling house prices. You only need to buy when prices are going up (not for a long time)

trixymalixy · 29/10/2011 15:16

8% into my pension and that's it. I have got a year's salary offsetting the mortgage. At the moment we're using any spare money to get the house finished, once that's done we'll start saving.

CaptainNancy · 29/10/2011 15:16

We need a 25% deposit to keep our mortgagedeal, so atm we save about 50% of income. Other times we'e saved more, other times much much less. You shouldn't be going without food or heating to do it though! I like the 'save the chldren' slogan- we believe in life before death.

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