How much do you earn and save?

[chickenslovechickens]

Just wondered how much people earned each month and how much they were able to save after expenses?

Also curious whether you rent or own?

My partner owns our house and I earn 2K a month, i put £500 towards bills/food and try to save £1K a month, that leaves me with £500 for my own bills ( car insurance, petrol, phone etc) as well as any treats and discretionary spending such as meals out and birthdays, clothes, haircuts. My own bills come to about £200 so leaving £300 approx.

Just interested in what other people had to spend as it doesn't seem like enough....

The rule of thumb I see is that you should save 15% of your gross income just for retirement, then additional for any other savings goals.

It sounds like you're doing fine. Are you contributing to a pension?

You get to save £1K a month, 50% of you post tax income? Sorry, what was your question again?

Just out of interest, you are living there rent free and saving £1K pm. If you and he split up, would you feel duty/honour bound to give him some of that?

@HollowTalk

Just out of interest, you are living there rent free and saving £1K pm. If you and he split up, would you feel duty/honour bound to give him some of that?

That's irrelevant as you don't know what I'm saving for. My question was is £300 enough for discretionary spending?

The rule of thumb I see is that you should save 15% of your gross income just for retirement, then additional for any other savings goals.

Does that include what you pay into a pension?

No I have £200 per month separately going into my pension pot

“my question was is £300 enough for discretionary spending?”

But you’re an adult, you get to decide that
If it’s all you have, and food is covered as you say it is - you’ll be fine.
If you feel that it isn’t, then you’re in the fortunate position of being able to reduce the £1K that you’re putting away now 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’ve had lots of different situations in my life. The period when I had no discretionary spending money? £300 would have been a fortune. When I had £500? I’d have noticed I had to not do / buy stuff if it dropped to £300.

If you like to read second hand books? It’s loads.
If you like to ride? It’s not a lot.

Do you run out of money before the end of the month?
Do you have to say no to things during the month?
Do you feel it’s enough?

I often feel like I have entered some sort of parallel universe when I read money related posts on this forum. You are saving a thousand pounds a month. 12 thousand pound a year. If you don't think 300 pounds a month is enough for stuff then save less. There will be people on here earning more than you, people earning less but vast majority won't be saving half their net salary. I'm struggling to see what your dilemma is here?

@Jmaho yes to the parallel universe! I feel this poster should have a chat with the one posting earlier today on Money Matters that £160K sounds like a lot, but is seen eaten up 🤣

Does that include what you pay into a pension?

Yes, the 15% would include any pension payments.

thanks @MissConductUS

Your position is definitely going to be seen as luxurious by most people. You're saving brilliantly. Everything is great.

Go have a nice glass of wine 🍷

@MissConductUS

The rule of thumb I see is that you should save 15% of your gross income just for retirement, then additional for any other savings goals.

It sounds like you're doing fine. Are you contributing to a pension?

That’s quite high. The usual “rule of thumb” bandied around is to be saving half your age when you first start a pension - so if you start at 20 then 10% needs to be going in etc.

OP like others have said this is very much a “how long is a piece of string” situation. You have to decide what you would rather have - more discretionary spends per month or more going towards savings.

That’s quite high. The usual “rule of thumb” bandied around is to be saving half your age when you first start a pension - so if you start at 20 then 10% needs to be going in etc.

This is one of many articles that suggest 15% as a goal:

How much should I save for retirement? - Aim to save at least 15% of your income annually for retirement.

Note that this was written primarily for a US audience and no doubt state pensions, taxes, etc. will be different in the UK. It will be more than is needed for some people and not enough for others. I think it is helpful as a starting point for people to evaluate their own situations.

I clear about £1350 a month.
I don’t have a mortgage or car payment.
I save £500-600 a month.

@19lottie82

I clear about £1350 a month. I don’t have a mortgage or car payment. I save £500-600 a month.

Thank you! How much do you feel you need for discretionary spending after all bills/food shopping is paid?

@MissConductUS

That’s quite high. The usual “rule of thumb” bandied around is to be saving half your age when you first start a pension - so if you start at 20 then 10% needs to be going in etc.

This is one of many articles that suggest 15% as a goal:

How much should I save for retirement? - Aim to save at least 15% of your income annually for retirement.

Note that this was written primarily for a US audience and no doubt state pensions, taxes, etc. will be different in the UK. It will be more than is needed for some people and not enough for others. I think it is helpful as a starting point for people to evaluate their own situations.

Ah I missed your username. Looks like the advice does differ between countries then as the main uk financial advice websites (MSE etc) recommend the “half your age” guide.

I put £3k pm into my work pension (including my employer's cont), take home just over £3k, my household bills are around £300 (no mortgage), I save c£1k on and have the rest to spend on food and anything else plus short term savings like holidays and medical expenses. My credit card bill is around £1,200pm.

Not sure how this information helps you though?

I earn 1k a month and save none of it as I can't afford to. My outgoings are £600 a month for mortgage and bills. The rest goes on food, the odd tank of petrol and then other things that crop up.

I put money into savings at the start of each month- then use it by the end! Every single time.
Enjoy the fact that you can save something.

I think it's ample as discretionary money since many will be struggling to eat and heat their homes this winter count yourself very very lucky

For me it would depend what you were counting as personal bills?

e.g. if you've got "personal bills" of £180 per month for a car on finance, and £20 for a phone, and you also need to pay for life/car insurance, and you have a commute that means your petrol costs another £150 per month, plus needing to pay for an MOT or new tyres when they come round then you're probably leaving yourself short.

Personally I prefer to account for all that stuff like car insurance or car tax that you pay once a year by saving up via "short term" savings so when those costs come out they don't impact the monthly budget, as the money had already gone into a separate account for them. I do the same thing for holidays.

If that's the case, then assuming you don't spend too much on petrol £300 sounds okay? It allows some money for clothes and going out for dinner etc. But this depends on if you feel like you are getting the best use out of your money.

I earn about £2600 per month, bills Inc. Mortgage are about £750 per month, plus annual bills add about £100 to that. Then I have luxuries like a gym membership and a cleaner (£170 per month). Food, petrol etc, will be about £200 per month. So that totals £1220.

I automatically save about £850 per month.

So that's about £2100.

That leaves about £500 per month on top of the luxuries for truly discretionary spending as well as boring things like DIY equipment etc. I don't usually spend that much, I think it averages £400 including any holidays.

Obviously that's a super super lucky space to be in, but it maybe gives you an idea of what someone else with fairly similar uncommitted income does.

I find these questions slightly crazy. They either reassure (inaccurately) or make people feel shit.

My advice is always: what does it matter what other people save if you’re starving to death.

As for pension saving: www.retirementlivingstandards.org.uk/

is FAR more useful than ‘half your age’ - that’s frankly misleading. If pressed I say 15% (few have saved enough) - U.K. Chartered Adviser, but usually we work out what is needed and then what’s missing.

I think the amount you're saving compared to your discretionary spending is quite high. In your shoes I would save less and live more! This is very personal however, some people are frugal, have less active social lives or just want less. If you're currently living on this budget then you must know if it's enough for you or if you're making too many sacrifices.

To answer your question in the thread title....my husband and I have joint finances and live in Ireland. Between us our take home pay is €6755 a month (after pension contributions). Bills, mortgage and groceries are €1570. We save €2000 a month so spending money between us is €3185. We could definitely save more but we're both in secure jobs and have good savings so we don't really need to.

@shivawn

I think the amount you're saving compared to your discretionary spending is quite high. In your shoes I would save less and live more! This is very personal however, some people are frugal, have less active social lives or just want less. If you're currently living on this budget then you must know if it's enough for you or if you're making too many sacrifices.

To answer your question in the thread title....my husband and I have joint finances and live in Ireland. Between us our take home pay is €6755 a month (after pension contributions). Bills, mortgage and groceries are €1570. We save €2000 a month so spending money between us is €3185. We could definitely save more but we're both in secure jobs and have good savings so we don't really need to.

Thank you. I think it's too frugal but partner thinks it's easily do able Just interested in what others thought