How to amass money?

[emotionwreckage]

This is a bit of a loose question! I am continually mystified by people's ability to pay for holidays and still save money. I see so many people who appear to have endless money to go out, holiday, new cars,even though thouhey can't be earning huge amounts. Also how do people amass saving? We both work full time, albeit not earning big wages. I save £100 a month but things break and need replacing so the money never grows. I find it so frustrating and wonder what I'm doing wrong! does anyone have advice/insight?!

purplemurple1 how did you set things up so that £2 goes into savings when you use your card? It's a great idea but I have no idea how to go about it.

Was chatting to a friend today...her bank account slingshots money into her savings everyday and on checking the other day found she'd amassed over 500 quid over a period of time without feeling the pinch.

The slingshot rounds down the pence unit and sends it to savings each day.

Who said money begets money? This is horribly true. We started getting v comfortable financially when our salaries shot up and we saved several thousands per month instead of spending it. This led to savings, led to interest gains, share dividends, high risk investments which paid off and the whole thing snowballed. The other big reason is that I'm having our first baby in my late 30s this year and so have never paid £££ for childcare.

This is hard to reach if you don't have high salaries (or you get a large inheritance which some people do) plus low fixed costs, plus good health and lucky career moves etc to start with. What I'm saying it that a lot of things have to go right and for most it's an uphill struggle so it's not just the feckless who remain poor.

emotionwreckage
Envy is one of the most useless emotions and can use up a lot of energy. Take some of the feelings you have and turn them into doing something positive rather than wallowing in envy.
Can you ask you brother for some tips for example?
You say you are ok with money, but could do better, so what are you going to do?
Set your self some goals and tasks? These really work for me.

Also with regards to your OP question, remember we normally see where people choose to spend not where they don't.

Don't knock yourself OP, at least doesn't sound like you've got massive debts (plenty folk do). I suggest put anything spare you have towards paying off the mortgage early, if you possibly can. Very safe and reliable investment decision.

We live well below our means (I'm very insecure about money, I don't care about image, and a £50 spend for a night out just kills me emotionally). DH is zealous about price checking between supermarkets too (almost embarrassing). If you're brave enough to put your full incomings & outgoings into a thread the MNers will nicely (or not so nicely) pick it apart for you.

We knew a couple (quite young, no savings, no kids, one with insecure job) who bought a (new build) 3-bed house on interest only mortgage; promptly spent £3k on a kit car and another £2k on audio-visual system. Big wedding, nice honeymoon, No effort to invest & get that mortgage paid off.

DS has working 17yo mate, 17yo put £800 towards a car (parents also helping) and spent another £400 on... designer clothes. Hugo Boss etc. Which he ends up bored with & trying to flog to DS for 1/4 the price. Sheesh. Then blags a lift from us rather than pay for a taxi. Even DS sees why I wasn't impressed.

It was Karl Marx in Das Kapital who said "money begets money". Never a truer word...

I don't earn a lot but try and save as much as I possibly can. I am a reformed spender and used to fritter away. I try and live well within my means.

-I joined MSE and take part in several of their challenges which has helped me to save as much as possible. It really is a great motivator.
-I collect nectar points and clubcard points fanatically and spend them on Christmas.
-Quidco for everything possible and put money straight into savings
-Standing order of regular amount into savings on the day I get paid, have a budget to tick to and on the last day of the month anything left over also gets put over.

• With regards things like clothes and shoes, I would rather pay more and pay once, as I think its false economy to pay out on cheaper things more often that don't last.

-The boden sale is great for kids clothes, shoes and coats. They often have clearance stuff (and 5% cashback from quidco). They resell well too. -anything extra I get I put into savings. Till spits, vouchers, birthday money, ebay profits. Like a PP I also pay for expenses out of my own money and bank the cheque into savings.

• I have a savings account I can view online, but I need codes to be able to withdraw which were sent to me . I shredded these so that I can't withdraw without contacting the bank to get the codes again, so no dipping into savings willy nilly.
• I think the thing that has really helped me best is to try and get the same thrill out of my growing savings as I used to from buying something.

I also bank with TSB and am signed up to their 'Save the Change' programme, so every time I use my debit card they round it up to the nearest pound and put the difference in my savings account. This can really build up over the month.

I think a lot of people must either borrow a lot or they played the property market well. DH and I have what I regard as a good joint income (ca 200k) but I find it really bizarre that we don't have and do not feel we can afford amazing cars, mssive perfect house, five-star hols in tropical destinations etc. on that money. I think it's a combination of outgoings being higher because of lifestyle (e.g., work clothes, dry cleaning, taxis, first class train so can work on train a bit) and our own attempts to amass money so we can upgrade our house without getting a big mortgage.

Oh, also, I would say that truly rich people don't get rich by spending their money. So you should always look for bargains and voucher codes! But it depends on whether you want to amass pots of money or would rather amass slightly less but have a bit of fun.

never have household appliances that break . A bad few months is a killer.

I agree floppity. DH and I are both high earners, he earns six figures, I earn more than him and am a top rate tax payer. We still think hard about every purchase and financial decision. I spent hours yesterday trying to get the cheapest flights for our holiday. We certainly don't feel like we can afford "luxury".

I recommend mse budget brain to work out where the money goes and guilt trip you into admitting how much you waste

I have the bare minimum in my 'spending' account for food & shopping. Everything else is budgeted for in other accounts that are transferred automatically on pay day so I don't look and think I've 'spare' money.

We do appear to live quite well (2 cars , mortgage, 4 kids) for our income ( student + ft min wage) but it's done through deals , modest tastes and me working in casual jobs/surveys /focus groups.

Every pay rise I have had for the past 15 yrs, I have put half into a standing order to my savings account (stopped over maternity leave). The amount now transfered is pretty good.

Can you possibly increase your savings amount? It needs to cover the holiday PLUS emergancy spends. It sounds like after a few unlucky months, you are just covering your emergancy spend?

Can you cut your spending anywhere? How often do you buy lunch, or a coffee, or snacks/drinks when out with the kids? Take snacks/lunch and a water bottle with you, and save the ? from there (it adds up scarily fast!)

But yes to whoever said you conflate what other are doing: one family priorities holidays, one eating out, one nice cars, and you tink you should be able to do it all: you can't without a lot of debt

Amassing Wealth - A lot of people don't have lots of savings. They have lots of debt. There is no get rich quick scheme. You work, you live as far below your means as you can tolerate, and you put the difference between how much you get paid, and how much you spend into savings. It really is that simple.

Pensions - Unless you have a ridiculous amount of excess money available to you, or are cornered into it (and the Government are going to try to corner all of us into it), then putting money into a pension is probably a very foolish mistake to make. Firstly, you will pay the vast majority of all growth to a pension company in fees. Secondly, you will have zero insurance against loss in stock market crashes. And thirdly, you have no means of preventing a cash strapped government from nationalising your pension pot 'for the good of the country'.

Things I've learned that help me save...

Pay off all your debts. I accept most people need mortgages, but they don't need loans for TVs, Cars, Holidays, Sofas, Christmas. Debt will make sure you never amass any substantial savings.

Never buy a car on credit. Buy a cheap crappy car and save up for a better car, but always buy a car with money you already have. Yes, use a credit card for the credit card protection, but pay it off immediately.

If you have something and you're going to get rid of it, sell it. Sell it online, whatever, just don't give it away unless it is absolutely not worth your time/effort, or it is going to a friend/family member who needs it more than you want the money.

Eat as cheaply as you can, and eat a lot of vegetables. They are a ridiculously cheap form of nutrition when compared to anything you can buy in a packet on a shelf, and you will be surprised how little you can feed you family on.

Stop using your bank card. Draw your money out of the bank in cash every month pay for everything in cash. Yes, you'll still need to leave money in for your mortgage, electricity bill, insurance, etc. But if you have to pay for everything in cash, you will become acutely aware of how much money is passing through your fingers.

Put what savings you do accrue into assets that do not depreciate. Do not put too much of your hard earned cash into savings vehicles. They are not insured. You may think they are, but if you take a look at the economics underlying that £85K insurance, you will see where the weakness lies. If you cannot touch it, you do not own it.

And if we all save a lot of money, we will become the scourge of the government and blamed for not spending and destroying the British economy.

Money begets money is thetrick. It is the only way to escape slavery

Since we started work 13 years ago the DP and I have worked on the premise of one third income on accommodation one third on expenses and one third saved

We now get around a grand each month in savings interest. If we keep this up we should be able to retire at 45 but probably we will buy a holiday house or something, but whatever it gives you a lot of freedom

It's simply earning more than you spend. I have always been frugal but penny pinching only gives you pennies which can be critical for some people but as my husband once said to me before a work review - you saved everything like crazy for a year. A tenner each week on groceries, skipped a £50 night out a few times. Didnt buy many clothes etc. But now you are reluctant to ask for a 5% payrise which in one swoop would be worth twice all that hard work saving for a year instantly.......hes right. Go after the money and dont live too frugally. You dont make a 10th as much cutting corners as you do going after bigger money.

Sorry, I have work to do, so I haven't read the thread, but I am a firm believer in look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves.

If you buy say 2 magazines a week and a coffee and chocolate bar every other day, that's around £100 pm or £1200 a year. Well on the way to that holiday. If you have two adults doing it, that's £2400. If you buy a drink for DCs after swimming every week......

My dad has a saying "you can only spend it once". So even if it is "only" £1 or £5, once it's gone, it's gone.

What you do with your spare money (if you're in the fortunate position to have it) is important.

Yes, save until you have your three months' salary cushion in an instant access account. After that, invest. Cash savings will, at best, keep pace with inflation, but investing in well-chosen shares will increase your wealth.

That's what has made the difference for us. That, plus paying down our mortgages ASAP.

We are possibly one of those- but looks are deceiving ...
Our cars are both company vehicles so only fuel running costs
I earn probably a lot more than people inc close friends and family expect
My clothes are not expensive but for well and capsule well
We spend money on an expensive gym which is where as a family we spend all our time, with no big day out type coats
I sniff out all good deals, I bit scary clothes when on sale sometimes years ahead
I get loyalty points or vouchers with everything I do
I do my food shopping in various locations to be cost effective - that often includes wait rose and I think many people just see that
I save %salary each month from payday and manage from there, some months are flush others tedious

We decided several years ago that we were getting no where fast with us both working average jobs and paying childcare. We took the plunge and DH started contracting. We cut back on everything for a few years to build up some reserves. DH earned large amounts and still drove a car worth less than £1k for years. Now he has a car he loves but it is the first thing we will sell if the work dries up.

Our finances are more complicated than most people's and I am always working out how long we can survive for if he doesn't have any work. We are both pretty good at watching what we fritter away (e.g. I rarely buy the kids drinks etc if we are out) but if DH thinks we have spare money, he will make big purchases. Seeing as he earns it and I manage it, I tend not to tell him if we have spare money

I take the approach that if we can cut 10% off the cost of everything we spend we can save a couple of hundred a month. But the number of days hubby works and the rate he is paid makes a HUGE difference to us. He rarely takes time off and spends lots of time and money on training to make sure he can command a good day rate. He also commutes to get a better rate. A friend of his works from home but get a much lower rate - it's a lifestyle choice. DH won't be able to do it for years, but it feels like the only way to get ahead.

Could you change the way you work??

We are fortunate that our mortgage is paid off - this is largely due to our first house being relatively inexpensive with a small mortgage which we paid off by being frugal. When we sold it a few years ago, we made a large profit on it which added to our savings bought the home we have now.

Other than that, we are careful with money. We don't have car loans - both cars are paid for in full. They are decent cars but not top of the range.

We don't buy anything on credit - we save for what we need/want to avoid paying interest. DH has a credit card with a £7500 limit on it but he only ever spends around £200 a month on it which is automatically paid off as soon as the wages go in so again, no interest paid.

We buy good quality clothes which last but we don't buy excessive amounts. I don't buy loads of clothes for DS (19 months) - he is dressed nicely but doesn't have more clothes than he needs.

We look carefully for the best price for things, I meal plan to avoid wasting food. I also use a mixture of supermarkets/aldi/local butcher to keep food costs down. Neither of us smoke and we don't drink a lot.

We save in stocks and shares ISAs (managed funds) so that we get the best interest on our savings - DH is a bit of a whizz at working out which funds are best to invest in and we move funds if one isn't doing well anymore. We have set up one for DS too.

So, all in all, we are good with money and not very materialistic (but we buy good quality items which last) which means we can save and live comfortably.

We take DS on day trips but often have a picnic instead of buying food plus I take drinks/snacks for DS to avoid buying when he is peckish.

In terms of holidays - we don't go abroad. I can't stand flying so that puts me off some places but we do like the UK.

This year we are going to the Lake District which will be far cheaper than going abroad and we will enjoy it just as much. We also go to Devon/Cornwall/Somerset sometimes and have always had a lovely time.

I think it depends partly on people's priorities. My parents wouldn't dream of taking their holidays in the UK but we like it. I also like knowing that we have a cushion if we need it which means I think carefully whether we actually need something before buying it.

YY to not using a card to pay, particularly contactless. It's so quick that your brain hardly registers what's happened. My bank statement recently showed me that I had spent £58 in one coffee shop in one month

Take out cash for what you think you need, anything left put either into a coin jar or savings account depending on value.

And put money into a savings account on pay day as suggested. Then it's a case of living within your means, as unglamorous as that sounds.