42 No Savings but Good Job

Minime2.5

I am a 42 year old single guy with zero savings . I don't want to get into why I've been so bad with money as its personal but at least I can say I have recognized it and getting the appropriate support to help with it. Anyway as I said I am single and don't have any dependents and I don't really want kids at this stage in life. I don't have a mortgage either. From my next pay check I can afford to save/invest 2k a month. I would like some advice on how to do this? Should I try my best to get on the property ladder or just save and /invest my money?Is buying a house something everyone should try to do or is this just something one has to do if they have a family How should one split their savings between long term savings/investing and saving in the short term for holidays etc. Appreciate the advice

The J Stands for Jay

Save up 3-6 months salary as an emergency fund. Then look at saving for a home (if you want to buy one), then look into a pension. Of there's an employer match on your pension contributions, do that first.

gogo

Ideally everyone should have three lines of savings, short, medium and long term.
-Short term is couple of hundred a month, this is where you go if the car breaks down or you need a new washing machine, out of pockets spends that you can’t cover from your current account but hopefully still building up at a low level every month and hopefully you won’t need it
-Medium term is funds you shouldn’t need to touch, approx 1k or more a month.. this is your property deposit or whatever is your medium term goal.. holiday of a lifetime etc, try to leave it alone unless it’s an absolute emergency
-Long term is funds you set aside for retirement etc’, most transfer funds into long term when you reach a significant build up in your medium term savings and haven’t used it. Most won’t have long term starting off yet, these are also the funds that tend to be invested as you shouldn’t really need them in the short term

Right now you need to start with short and medium term, divide your 2k between them, if you need access always remember to use the short term, and get into the habit of not touching your medium term.. leave it alone and build it up, hope this helps get you started

Static M.e.

How much debt do you currently have, including credit cards etc?

Are you maxing your pension contributions?

Do you expect to be able to save 2K a month for the next 12 months? - A lot of people are spending less now than they would during "normal" times. I would try and figure out how much you could reliably save every month for 12 months.

Minime2.5

Static M.e. wrote: »

How much debt do you currently have, including credit cards etc?

Are you maxing your pension contributions?

Do you expect to be able to save 2K a month for the next 12 months? - A lot of people are spending less now than they would during "normal" times. I would try and figure out how much you could reliably save every month for 12 months.

Yes. In a few years i espect to be able to save alot more . I take home 4k net a month. My rent is 605 a month. I dont have any credit card debt. I do have 10k left on a car loan . Im taking care of this loan with the half my salary ive set aside for living . Im still planning to save 2k on top of this

Minime2.5

Minime2.5 wrote: »

Yes. In a few years i espect to be able to save alot more . I take home 4k net a month. My rent is 605 a month. I dont have any credit card debt. I do have 10k left on a car loan . Im taking care of this loan with the half my salary ive set aside for living . Im still planning to save 2k on top of this

Im not maxing out pension contributions but ill be changing that

Darc19

You say you couldn't save for a specific reason previously, so I'd start with a notice deposit account.

You need to give 31 days notice of withdrawal. This makes you think twice about withdrawal

https://personalbanking.bankofireland.com/save-and-invest/savings/instant-access-and-notice-accounts/notice-deposit-account/features-and-benefits/

Then maybe look at an appartment or house in 12-18 months with a 20 year mortgage.