How much do you save a month?
- Thread starter norwoodman
- Start date
My wife and I save more than 50% of our take home pay without really trying. Helps that we've paid our PPOR off. We certainly don't live frugally, but we don't live extravagantly either.
I seriously scratch my head as to what other people spend their money on. There are plenty of people I work with of similar age to me, far greater combined income who are still struggling with a huge mortgage, have barely a penny saved and are fretting about their retirement nest egg. Maybe they use $100 notes as paper towel and toilet paper?
I do keep track of income vs expenses though, and have done since my early 20's. Doing so, it's pretty easy to see what's eating all your money for very little 'life' return. It annoyed my wife to do so at first, but now she's the one who wants to keep doing it even though we don't really need to anymore. Life's good.
I seriously scratch my head as to what other people spend their money on. There are plenty of people I work with of similar age to me, far greater combined income who are still struggling with a huge mortgage, have barely a penny saved and are fretting about their retirement nest egg. Maybe they use $100 notes as paper towel and toilet paper?
I do keep track of income vs expenses though, and have done since my early 20's. Doing so, it's pretty easy to see what's eating all your money for very little 'life' return. It annoyed my wife to do so at first, but now she's the one who wants to keep doing it even though we don't really need to anymore. Life's good.
Yes, everything tracked. However I'm not sure this is the most efficient, depends on your personality and it can be a lot of work. A simple and powerful time tested kludge is just to 'pay yourself first', have a set amount deducted each week from your pay to whatever high interest account or offset account and just make sure the rest of the money covers everything else....Or should I be asking instead: how many of you keep track of your income and expenses?
Currently trying to build up a deposit after starting work full time 7 months ago. Worked out after all expenses (including rent) that I'm saving over $2000 a month.
Well, I keep track to an estimate. I currently do use a high interest saver account with an automatic savings plan, which is where the $2k figure comes from. If I was more exact, that figure would actually be higher.
I've got a spreadsheet on which I enter my bank account, credit card and mortgage balances + properties at cost every ten days (1/11/21 of month). The last column has a +/- figure for the current balance v. three months ago (rents coming in and rates etc going out make any shorter term comparisons somewhat meaningless).
I'm with you Fifth - regular cash deposits into the offset is a form of savings, it's not really any different to using a high interest savings account.
All of our spare cash gets parked into the offset. We don't aim to save a certain amount but we generally avoid touching any of the rent that comes in from IPs which is nice when we check the balance every couple of months.
Cheers
Jamie
save 2k per month? Wow, alot of high income earners on this forum then.
For a young single professional with after-tax pay of, say $800/week. Rent $300/week. Transport, food & bills at least $200/week....where are the savings....?
For a young single professional with after-tax pay of, say $800/week. Rent $300/week. Transport, food & bills at least $200/week....where are the savings....?
Where is the remaining $300 going? I'm not a high income earner. My income is just over $890/week after-tax and my husband is on a third of that (working PT while studying). We pay $380/week for rent. It is amazing what you can save if you really examine your spending and prioritise.
its easy when you have a couple earning say 110K (just plucked that figure out )plus between them. most bills/rent/mortgage is shared. entertainment/holidays/food somewhat shared + a little extra
what im saying is its easier for a couple do save than a single
Two words: Shared accommodation. Also, in a place like Gladstone transport costs are significantly less due to short commute distance/time and no parking fees anywhere... until you throw in commutes to and from Rocky into the mix.
This is a perfect example of why the thread topic should be considered in context..... Ie. the context of diposable income.
80% is fine for a high income earner or someone that has been able to achieve a low cost of living via either owning their own home outright or sharing accommodation or living with parents.
If, however, you are in the early accumulation phase, have a moderate income and/or your circumstances lead to a higher cost of living, then perhaps 80% is unrealistic. Ie. Single income family of 4 with mortgage or rent obligation, with after tax income of $60K would definitely not survive on $12K a year (saving the other 80%).
If you were on $200K per year, then yes, saving 80% is quite achievable, even supporting a family.
My point: it is all relative... relative to disposable income and personal circumstances.
Some people will find it difficult to save 20%, whilst others will find it easy to save 80%. Personally, I currently save between 45-50%, but my current circumstances allow me to do this. Next year, I expect that to change as my circumstances will change considerably. Hence my response will alter significantly as I am not financially at a "steady state".
Besides, 50% is meaningless to anyone as it is all relative to disposable income, personal circumstances & family composition. Ie. Do I support 1 or 5 people, earn 50K or 250K, have mortgage/rent commitments or have very low living expenses?
Being under 30, single, not earning a huge amount and 2 years into a PPOR mortgage with the goal of acquiring IPs as frequently as possible, I keep track of my expenses, have a rigid budget, am happily existing quite frugally as I work towards my financial goals. Believe it or not, the best two years of my life have been the last two.
My fixed loan only allows $10k extra repayments a year which I've managed to meet in years 1 and 2 and will achieve early in year 3 as well - this is where all my "savings" are being directed at present, which averages $192/week, or $833/month.
My fixed loan only allows $10k extra repayments a year which I've managed to meet in years 1 and 2 and will achieve early in year 3 as well - this is where all my "savings" are being directed at present, which averages $192/week, or $833/month.
Taking this into account...
I save 42% of my after tax incoome, all bills paid, rego, insurance, mortgage repayments, fuel, $300 p/w spending/food/entertainment money, rates, memberships everything.
Have a girlfriend who doesn't live with me, I live at home with parents
Approximately $3000 p/month living with the folks.
However now that I've moved into my temp-PPOR/IP (1st week!), my finances seem to hit have a plateau or even gone negative due to the numerous initial expenses incurred with renovations/bills.
Time to learn how to cook and stop my 'eat out everyday' lifestyle to begin saving! It depresses me when I see no movement in my bank account at all
However now that I've moved into my temp-PPOR/IP (1st week!), my finances seem to hit have a plateau or even gone negative due to the numerous initial expenses incurred with renovations/bills.
Time to learn how to cook and stop my 'eat out everyday' lifestyle to begin saving! It depresses me when I see no movement in my bank account at all
It's hard to move out, everything just costs money these days.
It depresses me when I see no movement in my bank account at all
I hear you! My offset account was upto $44,000 now its dropped under $34,000 shouldnt be spending so much on the car and holidays... but oh well im young.
It will be over $50,000 by the end of the year!
