How much should I be saving

shadowcomplex

I am earning a decent wage but I'm very bad with money, I'm a single guy with no dependents and I make about 36k a year net. I dont really have much savings which is a disgrace considering my income and outgoings

My current monthly outgoings are

rent-250
esb-0
phone-50
loan-360
cost of running car/pertrol/tax/insurance-250
Sky/setanta-56
internet-20

I havent included entertainment because I dont limit myself , what I want I just go get.

Theres really no excuse for not being able to save 1000 a month, any advice?

The_Morrigan

Open two savings accounts... One you don't touch, maybe a fixed term deposit account and another as a squirrel account that you can dip into for emergencies, or short term goals like holidays.
How much you put away only you could decide, it may take a few months for you to figure out how much you can put away on a regular basis.

snubbleste

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Theres really no excuse for not being able to save 1000 a month, any advice?

So you have no excuse but you want an excuse

Corkbah

you don't spend any money on food/drink ?

Realistically you could save 1K a month - but in reality you are probably wasting your money somewhere (maybe sky/internet could be combined, clear off the loan with any excess money, hard to believe you dont have ESB/GAS expenses ?

800 should be handy enough.

Anything between that and 1k.

mikemac1

Are you renting for 250 pm with bills included? That's not bad at all.

Are you sure you don't have these bills?

Overpay that loan and clear it off and also 50 pm on the phone seems a good bit. Shop around for a good deal, possibly bill pay

Nervous Wreck

shadowcomplex wrote: »

Theres really no excuse for not being able to save 1000 a month, any advice?

Save 1000 a month.

wmpdd3

Living at home? If so save as much as possible, its a chance in a lifetime to get some savings behind you.

Sarn

If you're pulling in €36k net that's €3k a month into your hand. You should easily be saving a €1k a month assuming you didn't mean gross income. Get a spending diary and see where your money is disappearing to. Then set up a regular savings account.

shadowcomplex

Sarn wrote: »

If you're pulling in €36k net that's €3k a month into your hand. You should easily be saving a €1k a month assuming you didn't mean gross income. Get a spending diary and see where your money is disappearing to. Then set up a regular savings account.

No I didn't mean gross , I get 3k a month after tax

smcgiff

Clear off the loan. After that we'd need more info - what do you want to save for? retirement, house or sports car...

mel.b

I get about €400 a month less than you and between Aug 2012 and May 2013 i saved €17000. I pay rent of €270, full ebs/gas myself etc. it is possible if you put your mind to it. I used to be like you and just buy myself what i wanted when i wanted and had lots of expensive holidays (in 2011 for example i went to Madrid, germany/france/venice/florence/switzerland and Kenya& Tanzania for Xmas). It's about learning about wants & needs and starting to have some discipline and a goal to work towards. I really wanted to buy a house so that was my goal to work towards. For example, i dropped my samsung galaxy down the toilet. Instead of going out and signing up to an expensive plan or buying a new phone outright i made do with a plastic piece of crap for about 4-5mths. I felt like dying inside everytime i had to use the stupid thing, but in the end my mum upgraded her phone and i got her old iphone. So i saved money and got a decent phone and it didn't cost me anything - i wanted a new phone but didn't need it.

So saving €1000 per month is very realistic and acheivable for you, but maybe start at €400-€500 a month so it won't be such a shock to the system and so you are not dipping into it and then gradually increase it each month until you are saving your target. Set up a seperate account (kbc is good as you have to write to them to withdraw your money so it helps stop you from dipping into it) and have a standing order set for the day you get paid so you never even see the money in your account.

shadowcomplex

It's kinda bad when you think if I saved 1000 a month , I'd still have 500 a week to live on

shadowcomplex

I don't get the advice of paying off the loan early , what advantage does that serve as oposed to saving it instead ?

The_Morrigan

shadowcomplex wrote: »

It's kinda bad when you think if I saved 1000 a month , I'd still have 500 a week to live on

Thats great..but considering the financial problems most people have these days, maybe lay off the bragging! !
Open savings accounts and get all that spare cash saved.

smcgiff

shadowcomplex wrote: »

It's kinda bad when you think if I saved 1000 a month , I'd still have 500 a week to live on

And if you are living at home that's plenty.

The_Morrigan

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I don't get the advice of paying off the loan early , what advantage does that serve as oposed to saving it instead ?

You pay less interest on the loan if you pay it off early, you wouldn't earn an equivalent amount on the interest earned on a savings account

shadowcomplex

The_Morrigan wrote: »

You pay less interest on the loan if you pay it off early, you wouldn't earn an equivalent amount on the interest earned on a savings account

It's a fixed rate loan

smcgiff

shadowcomplex wrote: »

It's a fixed rate loan

Your car I presume. You can still pay it off, you'd pay something like 6 months of interest as a penalty. Might still be worth your while.

The_Morrigan

shadowcomplex wrote: »

It's a fixed rate loan

Ring your bank and ask them if you can reduce the term and increase the payment. It's fixed rate over the term of the loan, if you reduce the term you tend to pay less.

Henry Ford III

shadowcomplex wrote: »

I don't get the advice of paying off the loan early , what advantage does that serve as oposed to saving it instead ?

Simple. If the loan costs you 12% and you earn 3% on your savings you'll be better off paying off the loan quicker.

Red About Town

shadowcomplex wrote: »

It's kinda bad when you think if I saved 1000 a month , I'd still have 500 a week to live on

It's far from 'bad'.


The situation you are in now won't last forever so make the most of it in terms of savings.

Mort5000

Max out the pension contributions, then spread the rest around.

I'm only after properly saving since Xmas and manage 800 a month. What I've been doing with that money before i have no idea.
Good luck!