Should I be Worried?

Farmer C

Hi Folks

Just want to get peoples view on this.
I just turned 30 and have only opened a savings account this month saving 100 a month. The last few years have been a bit nuts with work and college and renting in Dublin. I moved back home to the south east a year ago and have only secured a permanent job last may, was working contracts till then. Never been unemployed. I work in Sales and make 26k basic with commission and bonuses.
I moved back home but still pay rent to my folks. I have around 6k to my name at the end of each month after bills and college repayments Ect. I just completed a personal training course to give myself a side earner.

I am single with no kids.

Is this the norm for most people or should I be worried that I am below average when it comes to my personal finance?

F

Axel Lamp

Farmer C wrote: »

Hi Folks

Just want to get peoples view on this.
I just turned 30 and have only opened a savings account this month saving 100 a month. The last few years have been a bit nuts with work and college and renting in Dublin. I moved back home to the south east a year ago and have only secured a permanent job last may, was working contracts till then. Never been unemployed. I work in Sales and make 26k basic with commission and bonuses.
I moved back home but still pay rent to my folks. I have around 6k to my name at the end of each month after bills and college repayments Ect. I just completed a personal training course to give myself a side earner.

I am single with no kids.

Is this the norm for most people or should I be worried that I am below average when it comes to my personal finance?

F

You have 6k left at the end of the month?????

No it's not norm, it's way outside the norm, on the god side though.

blackbird98

with €6000 disposable at the end of each month, why are you only saving €100?? most people don't even have that amount gross, never mind net!! I don't understand what the problem is

Barely There

Presume he means €600.

He probably only clearing about €2K a month on his salary.

In answer to your question OP - do you have a 3rd level qualification or not?

26K sounds low for someone in their 30's, but unless you can do something about it why worry?

Rubberchikken

if it's 600 euro a month left over, then that's good. are you saving for anything in particular? could you increase the savings amt each month if you have enough left over and nothing much to do with it?

outside of that, are you happy with the way your life is? i don't know anything about how much people in sales are paid, but it's probably a reasonable amount for a person starting out. the personal course sounds interesting and could allow you to earn more as time passes.
good luck

Wesser

Hi there

First to clarify if you have take home 6 k a month then you should be saving about 4 k a month no bother.

You have a permanent position which is gold dust these days... It means you can relax a bit in life and and it means you can get a mortgage if you want but I suppose you would need a deposit.

If you're not earning 6k a month....then you need to look at your life overall .... Not just your salary. Do you like where you live and enjoy your work and enjoy a good social life? Are you satisfied? I suspect not if you are posting here. If you are not satisfied......then don't worry about it, just do something about it. Given that you are big in to gym work etc then you know all about passion drive focus etc. so work on your own business to build up clients or open your own gym. It'll be not too risky for you to do this as you know you have the permanent position to fall back on if it goes wrong.

Don't compare yourself to others!

Rachiee

Hi OP I'm assuming you mean 600 at the end of the month not 6k !!!
In terms of how you are doing financially compared to other people your age that's a difficult one.
26k is on the low side but there are plenty of people on less and there are people on more. Plenty of people spend their 20's travelling and studying so hit their 30's with no savings and often times in massive debt. So you are doing better than some and worse than some.
It's great that you are starting to think about finance a good guide is 20% of salary going to savings but for many people this isn't do able! You need to ask yourself what you want out of life if you want a well paid job you may need to retrain or change sector or is there room to move up the salary scale in your job? Do you want a mortgage down the line? If yes the ability to demonstrate savings is very important particularly as your income is low you may need to convince the bank to lend outside of normal guidelines!
So I'd say yes you are a low earner (but you are an earner!!) And if you have no debt you are doing better than a lot of people. It's a pity that you only just started saving so in all likely hood you have some catching up to do but you have started.
Rather than comparing yourself to others decide if you have enough for what you want and if not figure out how to improve your situation.

Rachiee

Hi OP I'm assuming you mean 600 at the end of the month not 6k !!!
In terms of how you are doing financially compared to other people your age that's a difficult one.
26k is on the low side but there are plenty of people on less and there are people on more however if bonus and commission are good that will bump your take home so maybe you will earn a lot more than that what are your OTE?

Plenty of people spend their 20's travelling and studying so hit their 30's with no savings and often times in massive debt. So you are doing better than some and worse than some.

It's great that you are starting to think about finance a good guide is 20% of salary going to savings but for many people this isn't do able definitely put aside at least 10%.
You need to ask yourself what you want out of life if you want a well paid job you may need to retrain or change sector or is there room to move up the salary scale in your job? Do you want a mortgage down the line? If yes the ability to demonstrate savings is very important particularly as your income is low you may need to convince the bank to lend outside of normal guidelines!
So I'd say yes you are a low earner based on your basic (but you are an earner!! And if it's just a starting salary it's decent) And if you have not much debt you are doing better than a lot of people. It's a pity that you only just started saving so in all likely hood you have some catching up to do but it's great that you have started.
Rather than comparing yourself to others decide if you have enough for what you want and if not figure out how to improve your situation.

silverbolt

Barely There wrote: »

Presume he means €600.

He probably only clearing about €2K a month on his salary.

In answer to your question OP - do you have a 3rd level qualification or not?

26K sounds low for someone in their 30's, but unless you can do something about it why worry?

I earn less that half that and im in my mid thirties. The joys of working two jobs and still a recession in Roscommon.

OP what exactly are you worried about? You have a good job, somewhere to live and disposable income.

Chemical Byrne

I would have thought 26k was low for someone of 30. No offence, just an observation.

I'm 29 and I'm on 30k, probably going up to 34k next month. Tbh, I would still consider it a shíte salary given that I'm a masters qualified civil engineer. I'm bowing out of this career as I know long term, although salary will increase, it's never going to be a big bucks occupation. I want to go developing property within the next year. Plenty sites going around here and houses are selling I want to get in before the market runs away on me.

blackbird98

Chemical Byrne wrote: »

I would have thought 26k was low for someone of 30. No offence, just an observation.

A few people have stated that 26k is a bit low, but OP says it's 26k basic, plus commission and bonus. Obviously a sales position, Op could be earning 60k +

Most sales people have a relatively low basic with a good commission structure. I would think that 26k basic is reasonable for a sales position