What's a good level of savings?

needhelpguy

What's a good level of savings? I'm a 29 year old guy, 30 this year - single no commitments and I've €20k saved. Is this good/bad? Manage to save 1k a month at the mo but think I should have more saved.

What level are other people at? State your age and commitments, for perspective.

Tony Beetroot

<100k in the hole is grand.

silverfeather

Mind yo business. *side note* you're rich!

silverfeather

Tony Beetroot wrote: »

<100k in the hole is grand.

That sounds uncomfortable.

stimpson

20k? I wipe my ass with 20k.








And yes, it can still be used as legal tender.

Chucken

stimpson wrote: »

20k? I wipe my ass with 20k.








And yes, it can still be used as legal tender.

Your ass?

stimpson

Chucken wrote: »

Your ass?

I used it to make a sizeable deposit just this morning.

silverfeather

stimpson wrote: »

I used it to make a sizeable deposit just this morning.

Poetry.

mikom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiMHTK15Pik

kfallon

No point being the richest person in the cemetery OP

Slippin Jimmy

Ooooohhhhhh look at me, i've 20 grand

Tony Beetroot

silverfeather wrote: »

That sounds uncomfortable.

Once the bank manager is not riding you its grand.

Stheno

General advice is to have three months net salary saved

kfallon

Slippin Jimmy wrote: »

Ooooohhhhhh look at me, i've 20 grand

Jaysus what a coincidence, so does OP!!!

needhelpguy

Haha, I've no frame of reference that's why I'm asking! Good/bad I dunno.

retalivity

I am older than you and have less savings.

Rents a bitch.

SCOOP 64

needhelpguy wrote: »

What's a good level of savings? I'm a 29 year old guy, 30 this year - single no commitments and I've €20k saved. Is this good/bad? Manage to save 1k a month at the mo but think I should have more saved.

What level are other people at? State your age and commitments, for perspective.

Single at 30, no commitments ,Very Bad!

dxhound2005

stimpson wrote: »

20k? I wipe my ass with 20k.








And yes, it can still be used as legal tender.

The concept of legal tender is widely misunderstood. I am one of very few people in the country who fully understands it. Ask me anything.

Also any banknotes you have used in lieu (see what I did there) of toilet paper would be subject to the Banknote Recycling Framework (BRF).

silverfeather

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

Single at 30, no commitments ,Very Bad!

Then I am poor.:pac:

strobe

It all depends surely? If you're saving to put down a 40k deposit on a house when you turn 30, it's not very good. If you just want to have a bit of back-up cash to fall back on if your job goes tits up, then it's great.

My own metric is an amount of money I would need if I had to flee the country on a moments notice and hit the ground running when my plane landed on the other side (I know that's a bit weird, but there you go.) So I always try to have that much minimum put aside.

The Backwards Man

I had more money in the bank when I was 25 than I do now.

I'm enjoying life a hell of a lot more now than I was then.

Saving money (over and above rainy day funds) is stupid unless you are buying something. Invest it, stick it in a pension, or blow it.

Tony Beetroot

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Saving money (over and above rainy day funds) is stupid unless you are buying something. Invest it, stick it in a pension, or blow it.

Vegas?

Eugene Norman

The Backwards Man wrote: »

I had more money in the bank when I was 25 than I do now.

I'm enjoying life a hell of a lot more now than I was then.

Saving money (over and above rainy day funds) is stupid unless you are buying something. Invest it, stick it in a pension, or blow it.

Well i doubt the OP has a pension.

The Backwards Man

Tony Beetroot wrote: »

Vegas?

In 152 days, 5 hours and 44 minutes.

Not that I'm counting.:pac:

needhelpguy

To be honest saving does give me a sense of security but it never ends, there's always more that could be saved. I don't see the point in spending on frivolous stuff I don't need, like a new phone every year, or expensive holidays. I do however, have an awful habit of spending huge amounts in one go, like with a new car

Edit: I'm not seeing anyone else owning up :pac:

2011

needhelpguy wrote: »

What's a good level of savings? I'm a 29 year old guy, 30 this year - single no commitments and I've €20k saved. Is this good/bad? Manage to save 1k a month at the mo but think I should have more saved.

It is all relative, that amount will buy you a great holiday but if you want to buy a house in Dublin €20k won't get you very far.

What level are other people at? State your age and commitments, for perspective.

I won't give specifics.
However I use my extra cash to pay extra off my mortgage and make additional contributions to my pension (tax free). This makes far more sense to me than building up savings with interest rates so low.

silverfeather

needhelpguy wrote: »

To be honest saving does give me a sense of security but it never ends, there's always more that could be saved. I don't see the point in spending on frivolous stuff I don't need, like a new phone every year, or expensive holidays. I do however, have an awful habit of spending huge amounts in one go, like with a new car

Edit: I'm not seeing anyone else owning up :pac:

To be honest. You announcing you have x amount of money is not smart. Anyone can see.

TeaBagMania

OP, do you own a home? Better to have your $$$ invested in something that appreciates, sitting in the bank it only depreciates

Mr_Muffin

Anything under 100k is poverty level savings.

silverfeather

Mr_Muffin wrote: »

Anything under 100k is poverty level savings.

I am so so poor.

Chucken

Mr_Muffin wrote: »

Anything under 100k is poverty level savings.

I'm going to admit to having about 700 euro in savings.

I don't owe anyone anything and as my granny used to say....I haven't died a wet day yet.

The Backwards Man

Chucken wrote: »

I'm going to admit to having about 700 euro in savings.

I don't owe anyone anything and as my granny used to say....I haven't died a wet day yet.

Nobody has been dug up yet for not paying the undertaker.:)

Chucken

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Nobody has been dug up yet for not paying the undertaker.:)

:pac::pac::pac:

GTDolanator

25 male single.been working since im 16 but havent a penny to show,stopped partying recently and have about 500 saved.its a good feeling,but im not saving for anything in particular.just because i feel i should

Aka Ishur

29 married and 2k saved. Just bought a house so that sucked all the savings up. Save a similar amount to OP 1k per month. Will build up emergency fund that will pay all bills for 6 months. (6k) Anything more than that will be invested. Having 20k liquid sitting in your bank account is silly unless you expect you might need to use it at short notice. Well done on saving that much tho!

posturingpat

In my 30's about 12k saved but i could easily have that gone by Christmas. I save when I've nothing on and when I've a good bit gathered as i have now ill probably head to one of the racing festivals for a week or visit pals in Australia for a fortnight and blow a few grand easily enough and Xmas i tend to get my parents something pretty big and the same anytl Xmas I've a missus. Hence why i try get rid of them before December

Spanish Eyes

Aka Ishur wrote: »

29 married and 2k saved. Just bought a house so that sucked all the savings up. Save a similar amount to OP 1k per month. Will build up emergency fund that will pay all bills for 6 months. (6k) Anything more than that will be invested. Having 20k liquid sitting in your bank account is silly unless you expect you might need to use it at short notice. Well done on saving that much tho!

Invested in what though?

Sam Kade

kfallon wrote: »

No point being the richest person in the cemetery OP

Slippin Jimmy wrote: »

Ooooohhhhhh look at me, i've 20 grand

Begrudgers

NotASheeple

Tony Beetroot wrote: »

<100k in the hole is grand.

Whch is a waste of time because it isn't guaranteed.

Streetwalker

How the heck can you save a 1000 a month Op?

DoYouEvenLift

20k isn't bad but at least you're able to save €1k/m now.


What's your plan for the savings?


If you're tech savvy you could do a lot with that disposable income by starting an online business, lots of people do this nowadays for some side income on top of their full time job, it's amazing what's possible with 3G and 4G connections with a smartphone or tablet nowadays. The ideal option being affiliate marketing for this kind of option since I'm sure you wouldn't be able to get away with constantly being on your phone/internet at work.

Gone Drinking

Streetwalker wrote: »

How the heck can you save a 1000 a month Op?

This is what I was thinking. Do you live with your parents OP?

I'm 31, I've no savings but I go on at least two holidays a year and spend lots on doing social stuff at the weekends. My girlfriend is in the same boat as me.

We keep saying we'll start but there's always something on!!

Aka Ishur

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

Invested in what though?

Leaning towards AVC's but may split with Vanguard funds.

Greentopia

These people saving 1k a month...have kids and a mortgage do ye? I'm guessing not. :pac: fair play if you do and still can, it's just that I don't know many people who can save €100 a month, never mind a grand with a few kids to clothe, feed and educate and mortgaged up to the gills.

beks101

I think if you're debt-less with a decent roof over your head, can afford private healthcare and to eat well, entertain a hobby, travel and drive and are contributing to a hearty pension, you're in pretty good nick.

On top of that enough to live without any income for six months would probably be a decent figure.

Tigger

At thirty I had about 12k
You should have a safety net but there's no need to go crazy

dxhound2005

Greentopia wrote: »

These people saving 1k a month...have kids and a mortgage do ye? I'm guessing not. :pac: fair play if you do and still can, it's just that I don't know many people who can save €100 a month, never mind a grand with a few kids to clothe, feed and educate and mortgaged up to the gills.

I would say they have no mortgage. But they would want to be able to demonstrate to any prospective lender that they can save €1000 a month. If they can't do that how could they repay a mortgage?

Back in another lifetime people had to save a set amount each month for two years with the building society (banks did not offer mortgages back then) in order to be even considered for a mortgage. And they had to have 20% of the value of the house saved. It was necessary in a world where mortgage interest rates were typically 15%.

DoYouEvenLift

Greentopia wrote: »

These people saving 1k a month...have kids and a mortgage do ye? I'm guessing not. :pac: fair play if you do and still can, it's just that I don't know many people who can save €100 a month, never mind a grand with a few kids to clothe, feed and educate and mortgaged up to the gills.

They're their priorities. If saving and making money were their priorities I'm sure they'd be doing that provided they're hard, or more importantly smart, workers. A lot of people who think they can't save money really could but they just have bad spending habits which are easy to fix with a bit of will power. A good example is people who go out for lunch everyday and spend at least €5, that all adds up and right there is an extra €100/m needlessly spent when they could prepare much better food and for cheaper at home and bring it in with them.

bear1

We had about 45k saved up last summer.
Then we got approved for a mortgage so most of the money went on deposits, fees and furnishings.
Once that was finished we started again and are up to roughly 15k.
We save about 1k a month as well.
Just became parents as well so the savings will be called upon at some point.
Have a few holidays a year, 2 cars and all bills paid on time.
Sense of security always feels nice.

bilbot79

20k is great. I used to save 1300 per month. It's amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it. Key is to keep outgoings low and identify the little things hat are siphoning your cash like a bag of crisps and can of coke each day. That's 720e a year!

Greentopia

dxhound2005 wrote: »

I would say they have no mortgage. But they would want to be able to demonstrate to any prospective lender that they can save €1000 a month. If they can't do that how could they repay a mortgage?

Back in another lifetime people had to save a set amount each month for two years with the building society (banks did not offer mortgages back then) in order to be even considered for a mortgage. And they had to have 20% of the value of the house saved. It was necessary in a world where mortgage interest rates were typically 15%.

I think you're right. Depends on the house price and where it is of course but I guess you'd be looking at figures like 1k a month for anywhere half decent in Dublin.

Yes, hard to believe now that 15% interest rates were a reality at one time here.
I own my little house outright but if I was getting a mortgage today I'd still aim for having at least 20% savings to put down on a house. My parents instilled in me the value of saving my money not spending it and I'm very glad they did.