How much do you save a month?

[twinkledag]

Would love to know how much others save a month?

I am 38. Pay 1% into a pension and company match it.

Save £100 a month for DS who is 3.

That’s it!

What should I be aiming for?

I'd rather not save for DS (or less) but up my pension contribution. it's far too low but you know this. Pension is definitely more important than saving for DS

Shocked at how much people save. This can’t be representative of MN, because many mn’ers are on the the breadline, or have low wages. Not that many are on £100K+.
We don’t save anything. Neither does anyone we know, who have school aged children. My pension is 3% company 3%.

Oblomov, it’s mostly about the mindset. When I was in a low paid job, I also got another job to increase my earnings and lived in shared room to decrease my costs. I made those sacrifices to ensure I had a pension and savings. These days, yes, we are well off but it only some of it is down to having climbed up the career ladder. Most of it is probably down to the savings/investments when we were younger.

it’s mostly about the mindset
Sorry but that is utter piffle.

50% of workers in the UK are on less than £19,000 a year
50% of families are on less than £23,000 a year
it is not possible to live in shared rooms and work extra hours when you have small kids and are trapped on zero hour contracts.

The majority of adults in the UK have no savings whatsoever
(1% auto enrollment pensions will never look after anybody in their old age)
the rich forget about all of teh poor people who "enable" their lifestyle.

I’m another non saver. I keep trying to, I’m very strict with budgeting and never buy anything that’s not needed. Unfortunately though, every time I get up to about £500 something happens, car repairs or expensive school residential trip and it has to be used. My partner works days and I work evenings. We both work alternate weekends so that we never pay out for childcare and work the maximum hours we can, we’re still really struggling.

Thanks everyone for your replies! I need to sit down and take notes and respond properly but wanted to post a thank you in the meantime.

I'm 28, just bought my own home with my fiance.

6 months joint expenditure saved (only to be spent if we both lose our income, as we can live off one of our salaries).
17% top up to the 1% pension, plus 2% employer contribution, totaling around £450.
£500/month for our wedding for the next four months.

I'll reconsider it all once the wedding is all saved up for.

Chances are we will then start saving for 6 months of one of our salaries in preparation for shared parental leave so we don't feel a pinch then.

Ta1kinPeace, the actual facts are that the median disposable household income for tax year 2106-17 is £27,200 (as per office of national statistics).

The median gross salary (including part time workers) was 22.5k in 2014-15.

If you look at the median disposable income for a family with 2 parents and 2 children under 13, that’s over 3k per month.

So the average person or family can easily save on a regular basis. And so can majority of people with below average earnings.

I’m not saying it’s possible for a single parent of 4 on benefits but hopefully you understand that’s a very unusual posit to be be in and not the norm.

£600 in my savings account, and another £200 in a share save scheme. I also have another £500 in AVC to my pension. I earn a relatively high salary, but grew up in a very happy, but very financially struggling house. I am grateful for my earnings and want to build a safety net so I can maximise the chances of being ok if any job or illness issues strike in the future.

it’s mostly about the mindset. When I was in a low paid job, I also got another job to increase my earnings and lived in shared room to decrease my costs. I made those sacrifices to ensure I had a pension and savings

Bullshit. It's not about mindset, its about money. Women with children and families can't get two jobs and live in a shared room, can they?
When you have no money left over, you cannot save. No mindset can change that fact.

Jojo
Household £26300 - www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/personalandhouseholdfinances/incomeandwealth/bulletins/householddisposableincomeandinequality/financialyearending2016

If you look at the median disposable income for a family with 2 parents and 2 children under 13, that’s over 3k per month.
So the average person or family can easily save on a regular basis. And so can majority of people with below average earnings.
That will be news to families paying out over half of their income in rent - common in the South east
and then with rising food cost inflation
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/20/five-a-day-eating-targets-will-be-unaffordable-for-millions-after-brexit
savings are frankly not feasible for most families
hence why they do not have them

it’s mostly about the mindset

Most of it is probably down to the savings/investments when we were younger.

Sure you didn't mean to be, but saying things like this is just offensive. You should acknowledge that being able to make savings and investments is down to pure good fortune.

In answer to you, OP, I'm mid-twenties and save about 5% of my salary into my pension and my employer pays just over 20%, plus I put £200 per month into a savings account then use an app to save affordable little bits as I go on top of that for 'savings I can spend' iyswim. I also have about £7k in an ISA from when I was younger waiting to be used for a deposit on a house eventually, I hope. Part of that was what my parents had saved for me to go to university with which I never did and worked instead, so no student debt plus a bit of a bonus fund.

Am I terrible for thinking of inheritance as a pension

Not terrible, but I think this approach is slightly foolish.

What happens if your parents (assuming that’s who you’re hoping to inherit from) need years in expensive care homes? That could exhaust ££££.

What if one of your parents remarries and leaves everything to their new spouse, not you?

What if there’s less money in the pot than you think? Or debts you aren’t aware of?

I personally wouldn’t rely on inheritance.

I feel the need to defend the 'mindset' comments a bit, because mindset does affect the conversation. Of course it does.

After university, I moved out to a different city to live by myself on £1000/month take home pay and was saving £200/month minimum. My food shopping was £13/week. I wrapped up in blankets and hot water bottles to keep warm. I only socialised very cheaply and had no holidays, entertaining myself mostly with TV and internet (and one curry a week for £7, half of which I had for lunch the next day).

I was willing and able to deprive myself to keep a budget because saving was important to me, and my mindset is such that I would never have started a family in such circumstances if it meant giving up savings.

Now, I'm earning just under 40k, anticipating a substantial rise soon. I have, if anything, a more hard line attitude to savings than I did before. I do understand my privilege though. I couldn't have made the decisions I did without knowing that my parents were financially able to support me if it all fell through.

But some people are - innately or through upbringing, I don't know - able to skimp and save, and would consider what other people think of as normal as risky. That is a mindset thing, and I don't know if it's changeable. My first thought with every payrise I've had is how much I should now adjust my savings by. I know for a lot of other people they think first of the extra things they can afford.

Am I terrible for thinking of inheritance as a pension

Not terrible, but I think this approach is slightly foolish

I hope it works out for you but what a crazy approach!
I don't rely on anything until it has happened!

I have a civil service pension so I pay a fair whack into that. DH and I also put £100 each into a savings account and his pension is paid into an ISA, that's about £250 per month. We don't want to touch that til he retires which is likely to be in a few years if he beats the cancer, sooner if not.

I couldn't have made the decisions I did without knowing that my parents were financially able to support me if it all fell through.
So you have no idea what its like to know that your parents have nothing to leave you and may need you to help them out, not the other way round.

Am I terrible for thinking of inheritance as a pension
No, you are silly.
Private secure dementia nursing homes cost upwards of £1500 a week ....
Money does not exist until its under your control.

I have tried to install it into my lads to 'save some, spend some' and tried to encourage a 1\3 x3 approach a third on bills and stuff,( car insurance is huge for young people in our area ) a third on fun money and a third on savings and to put any overtime money straight into savings.

This approach won't work forever but while they are single and haven't got a family and large house hold expenses it is a good way of getting money into their accounts. They have had a pension going since they were 17

They have had a pension going since they were 17
Blimey - did they pay into that from their holiday wages or did you ?

They have had a pension going since they were 17
Blimey - did they pay into that from their holiday wages or did you ?
They work. DS1 had no intention of going to college or uni. He wanted a job and got an apprenticeship when he was 16. He got kept on and is 21 now.
Our financial adviser advised him about getting a pension when he checked over our finances. He also advised getting a credit card at 18, using it for bits of stuff BUT make sure it was paid off in full immediately. DS did this to build up his credit rating for when he needs a mortgage or a loan.

Aha, that makes a lot more sense.
Well done him (and you).
I have the joys of student loans to contend with !

My workplace pension hasn't been set up yet but my employer will pay 1% the first year, 2% the second year then 3% the remaining years. I'm only employed by them for another 3 years.

In my outgoings, I pay £60 into my LISA and DH matches this for me. I can only pay into until I'm 50 and then I can access it when I'm 60.

I then save £80 into my ISA £30 into my emergency savings and £20 in DS bank account.

I also save £10 a month to pay for toiletries and make up and all my loose change goes into a sealed jar until it's full, paid into bank and transferred to my LISA.

And I've got the value of a third of my Dad's house to come to me too but that depends how much the house sells for so I don't know exactly but it's around £40,000.

Emily
My workplace pension hasn't been set up yet but my employer will pay 1% the first year, 2% the second year then 3% the remaining years.
They better get their skates on, the deadline is pretty close
www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/doc-library/increases-in-minimum-contributions-automatic-enrolment.aspx#s23109

Then again, the AE percentages are so low as to be pretty pointless.

Thank you for that.

They employed from September this year until August 2020.

What happens if they don't enrol for one?

I know they've had the form as they told me but nothings done yet as far as I know.