How much savings do you have and what age are you?

User9thousand · 21-05-2020 6:50pm

coolperson05 wrote: »

Oh god this thread is so depressing! I really should have stayed at home with my parents - I moved to Dublin at 20, renting ever since...I dream of savings sometimes...and a mortgage!:pac:

I pay rent in Dublin. But share a house. I would have thought a single non smoking person would have at least 30k by late 20’s. And it wouldn’t be unusual.

Even if salary is 30k =2k per month.
Rent around 600 but can get places cheaper if your lucky. 250 on food if you eat a lot. 20 on the phone. 30 for bills. 20 for subscriptions. 100 for transport. So 1020 in total. Leaves 980.

Take 250-300 a month in things you want. Might not spend all that in a month on activities and drink so keep some aside for a holiday. So you have 680 left over not spent.

680x12x4=32k savings.

Now maybe during those years that person spent 1000’s on traveling the world so they won’t have that so that would be different. But if your someone who worked 4 years and took a few weekly holidays each year you’d still save about 30k. Unless you spend over 300 a month on discretionary stuff which would probably mean smoking and drinking every Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and eating takeaways.

Sometimes it even sounds as though people earning over 50k struggle to save a 1000 a month. Could be true if they pay higher rent to live alone in an apartment. Go on lots of expensive holidays a few times a year. Australia, Asia, South America and to the farthest corners of the earth.

If I was in that position I’d probably sacrifice the expensive apartment so I could go on the exotic holidays but also save.

Rent is probably the big factor anyway. I couldn’t condone giving so much money to a landlord and not sharing when under 30 years old. It’s a total waste. But then some people don’t like living with others.

Obviously then some people earn under 30k. I definitely would be sharing an apartment then and limiting the amount of expensive holidays. Doesn’t mean you can’t spend or go on holiday. Just not the most exotic ones. But then if they want to see the world it is their choice. But don’t expect to have much savings.

Not talking about the people who couldn’t save because of education costs or parents who couldn’t support them though. They’d find it harder to save. Just the people who start working debt free! Maybe that’s not a lot of people though...

raze_them_all_ · 21-05-2020 8:03pm

User9thousand wrote: »

I pay rent in Dublin. But share a house. I would have thought a single non smoking person would have at least 30k by late 20’s. And it wouldn’t be unusual.

Even if salary is 30k =2k per month.
Rent around 600 but can get places cheaper if your lucky. 250 on food if you eat a lot. 20 on the phone. 30 for bills. 20 for subscriptions. 100 for transport. So 1020 in total. Leaves 980.

Take 250-300 a month in things you want. Might not spend all that in a month on activities and drink so keep some aside for a holiday. So you have 680 left over not spent.

680x12x4=32k savings.

Now maybe during those years that person spent 1000’s on traveling the world so they won’t have that so that would be different. But if your someone who worked 4 years and took a few weekly holidays each year you’d still save about 30k. Unless you spend over 300 a month on discretionary stuff which would probably mean smoking and drinking every Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and eating takeaways.

Sometimes it even sounds as though people earning over 50k struggle to save a 1000 a month. Could be true if they pay higher rent to live alone in an apartment. Go on lots of expensive holidays a few times a year. Australia, Asia, South America and to the farthest corners of the earth.

If I was in that position I’d probably sacrifice the expensive apartment so I could go on the exotic holidays but also save.

Rent is probably the big factor anyway. I couldn’t condone giving so much money to a landlord and not sharing when under 30 years old. It’s a total waste. But then some people don’t like living with others.

Obviously then some people earn under 30k. I definitely would be sharing an apartment then and limiting the amount of expensive holidays. Doesn’t mean you can’t spend or go on holiday. Just not the most exotic ones. But then if they want to see the world it is their choice. But don’t expect to have much savings.

Not talking about the people who couldn’t save because of education costs or parents who couldn’t support them though. They’d find it harder to save. Just the people who start working debt free! Maybe that’s not a lot of people though...

Math doesn't add up. 12 x 2 is 24...a whole fifth lower. And that's not including taxes, rent etc, just doing the math correctly drops your savings down 6 grand

User9thousand · 21-05-2020 8:06pm

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

Math doesn't add up. 12 x 2 is 24...a whole fifth lower. And that's not including taxes, rent etc, just doing the math correctly drops your savings down 6 grand

It’s saving 680 a month out of 2k for 4 years I was saying gets over 30k saved. Not 2 years. That’s even if you spend 300 a month on holidays and social stuff.

Income €2000
Rent 600 food 250 phone 20 bills 30. Subscriptions 20. 100 for transport. So 1020 in total. Leaves 980.

Take 250-300 a month in things you want. Drink drugs and some for a holiday.

680 left in the month to save.
680x12x4 is over 30k saved.
While still drinking and holidaying.

NSAman · 21-05-2020 8:08pm

coolperson05 wrote: »

Oh god this thread is so depressing! I really should have stayed at home with my parents - I moved to Dublin at 20, renting ever since...I dream of savings sometimes...and a mortgage!:pac:

As I said earlier, I think "time of life" has a lot to do with this also.

I always remember wondering how people afforded to take holidays that I couldn't and own houses that I couldn't.

The simple facts are, we all come into our own at different times in our lives, some later than others.

Just live your life and forget about what others have..;)

Jim Root · 21-05-2020 8:09pm

I’ve no savings, as in cash on hand, but I put 20% into my pension.

c.p.w.g.w · 21-05-2020 8:19pm

Have roughly €50,000 at 32...

Also have a house, I reckon we have at least 40% equity judging by a back of an envelope calculation done by an auctioneer friend(he does valuations for banks during the mortgage process

Considering trying to pay off a good chuck next year and try and move to LTV rate...But with Covid-19 i don't know if i'll still have my job

Das Reich · 21-05-2020 9:37pm

Unearthly wrote: »

About 100k in property, and 50k in savings.

34

Most of it was saved during my 20's living at home, then life and responsibilities hit me

Same as me at 38. Returning to my country in few years with that money would make me on the top 5%.

LawBoy2018 · 21-05-2020 10:15pm

I'm 24, have €0 in savings and still owe approx 4.5K from college/professional exam fees! Fml haha. I'm due to start a new job once things go back to 'normal', but I have a lot of catching up to do by the sound of things.. Well done to the OP though! That's a serious amount to have saved at such a young age.

Padre_Pio · 21-05-2020 11:02pm

LawBoy2018 wrote: »

I'm 24, have €0 in savings and still owe approx 4.5K from college/professional exam fees! Fml haha. I'm due to start a new job once things go back to 'normal', but I have a lot of catching up to do by the sound of things.. Well done to the OP though! That's a serious amount to have saved at such a young age.

Never too late to start. At 24 I was still in college, and 25, and 26....:eek:

RandomViewer · 21-05-2020 11:24pm

dockysher wrote: »

I have no savings but do own 172 tigers and lions.

Carole??

LawBoy2018 · 21-05-2020 11:25pm

Padre_Pio wrote: »

Never too late to start. At 24 I was still in college, and 25, and 26....:eek:

Hopefully it all pays off in the end! I was working in a large firm in Dublin up until March, but I was still only earning roughly 1950 a month after tax, while paying €900/m to share a tiny apartment with a married South American couple! Haha. Lovely people but I found it quite a lonely existence, working long hours while living with people who rarely spoke English. I'm still grateful for the opportunity though and appreciate that some folk only dream of having a roof over their heads.

Hopefully things pick up soon and I'll have the loan paid off before I turn the big 25 next year :rolleyes:

snoopboggybog · 21-05-2020 11:29pm

User9thousand wrote: »

I pay rent in Dublin. But share a house. I would have thought a single non smoking person would have at least 30k by late 20’s. And it wouldn’t be unusual.

Even if salary is 30k =2k per month.
Rent around 600 but can get places cheaper if your lucky. 250 on food if you eat a lot. 20 on the phone. 30 for bills. 20 for subscriptions. 100 for transport. So 1020 in total. Leaves 980.

Take 250-300 a month in things you want. Might not spend all that in a month on activities and drink so keep some aside for a holiday. So you have 680 left over not spent.

680x12x4=32k savings.

Now maybe during those years that person spent 1000’s on traveling the world so they won’t have that so that would be different. But if your someone who worked 4 years and took a few weekly holidays each year you’d still save about 30k. Unless you spend over 300 a month on discretionary stuff which would probably mean smoking and drinking every Thursday, Friday, Saturday night and eating takeaways.

Sometimes it even sounds as though people earning over 50k struggle to save a 1000 a month. Could be true if they pay higher rent to live alone in an apartment. Go on lots of expensive holidays a few times a year. Australia, Asia, South America and to the farthest corners of the earth.

If I was in that position I’d probably sacrifice the expensive apartment so I could go on the exotic holidays but also save.

Rent is probably the big factor anyway. I couldn’t condone giving so much money to a landlord and not sharing when under 30 years old. It’s a total waste. But then some people don’t like living with others.

Obviously then some people earn under 30k. I definitely would be sharing an apartment then and limiting the amount of expensive holidays. Doesn’t mean you can’t spend or go on holiday. Just not the most exotic ones. But then if they want to see the world it is their choice. But don’t expect to have much savings.

Not talking about the people who couldn’t save because of education costs or parents who couldn’t support them though. They’d find it harder to save. Just the people who start working debt free! Maybe that’s not a lot of people though...

Most people have a life though and not going to live frugally for four years. The 20's are the best years of your life. Not saying go mad and waste everything but living off just 250-300 for socializing/clothes/holidays/car/ is just madness.

At that age I was at every Irish match, every concert possible, foreign holidays as much as I could, out drinking most nights, decent car. Didn't regret one bit of it.

A lot of people with good savings will just die on their death bed with the money in the bank. It's almost a mental illness.

snoopboggybog · 21-05-2020 11:47pm

One other thing i find funny is young people maxing out their pension in their early 20's and plan on doing it till they retire.

If your not going to spend the money in your youth your not going to spend it when you retire.

krissovo · 21-05-2020 11:52pm

Jim2007 wrote: »

That is an opinion, not a fact.

I would argue with a decent strategy it is fact, look at the share picks thread 2020 most are doing very well or have low risk potential that have been highlighted. My short term picks are there to see and I have made a easy 30% gain with just 3 tech stocks. The big gains are coming once oil, cruises and airlines start taking bookings again.

User9thousand · 22-05-2020 12:03am

Ah yeah. Don’t have a car though. And would rather spend the money on a holiday than giving €80 to the FAI to see Ireland lose!

I suppose it’s a matter of getting the balance right. Even if you change the scenario I gave above and instead of spending just 350 a month you could spend 600 and go to concerts, matches and holidays and drink lots of pints. Then save the 400 a month left over for 4 years between 24 & 28 gives around 20k. Just seems like people easily spend €1000 each month on activities and holidays in their 20’s because they’re young and free. And don’t think of saving anything or thinking about future and how they might need money for house purchase etc . Money saved in 20’s wouldn’t be going to the grave anyway because it will disappear when buying apartment/house.

Probably wouldn’t bother maximizing the avc’s. As long as you maximize the amount of employer contribution thats what I’d do. No point in thinking so far ahead away as 40 years when you will start to see the benefit of those avc’s you maximized. You could keep that bit of money to do nice things when your young and able and alive.

krissovo · 22-05-2020 12:05am

snoopboggybog wrote: »

One other thing i find funny is young people maxing out their pension in their early 20's and plan on doing it till they retire.

If your not going to spend the money in your youth your not going to spend it when you retire.

I find this quite sad, enjoy your 20's save a little for a mortgage deposit and start a small pension pot but remember to enjoy yourself. The earning of decent money comes in your mid to late 30's with life experience and then plan on building the pension pot. You can never go back to gain lifetime memories.

In my 20's I maxed out a credit card in a single weekend in vegas which was about £8k and took 5 years to pay and while it was 100% irresponsible it was fun and a story I will tell until the day I die. There are a million ways to spend much less money and still have great memories and in the following 3 years they were picking fruit in Europe getting paid for my holiday until I could afford to have a decent holiday again.

Padre_Pio · 22-05-2020 12:07am

User9thousand wrote: »

Probably wouldn’t bother maximizing the avc’s. As long as you maximize the amount of employer contribution thats what I’d do. No point in thinking so far ahead away as 40 years when you will start to see the benefit of those avc’s you maximized. You could keep that bit of money to do nice things when your young and able and alive.

I just don't like giving that money to the taxman.

rob316 · 22-05-2020 12:12am

32, renting, wife and kid. About 10k savings but I ploughed my life savings into a construction/property deal a couple years back that hasn't yielded anything yet though.

ted1 · 22-05-2020 12:18am

Padre_Pio wrote: »

Never too late to start. At 24 I was still in college, and 25, and 26....:eek:

Similar enough here

Started college at 18, did a two year cert.
Then at 21 went to work in intel. Took voluntary redundancy a year later.

Went back for a 1 year diploma (level 7) then a 2 year degree ( Level 8) Finished at 24.

Went back to do a part time MSc at 31, took 3 years.

vikings2012 · 22-05-2020 12:58am

I understand why people say enjoy your 20s and spend as much as you can on social activities.

I’m in my early 20s and have a good nest egg. While I do spend my money on a Saturday night out, ski trip, a big match I would be quite reserved in splashing out and treating myself.

I find it hard for a number of reasons.
- I like the security of having an emergency fund available on hand.
- I sometimes feel guilty buying myself expensive treats (e.g. 180 trainers) when I know that my mother spent €20 on shoes for herself in shoe zone trying to rare our family
- knowing that I or my family member might need funds for a more important future need.

I could be wrong but I feel a lot of people who would have no trouble spending hundred each month on themselves grew up in an environment where money wasn’t a big worry.

Padre_Pio · 22-05-2020 1:05am

vikings2012 wrote: »

I could be wrong but I feel a lot of people who would have no trouble spending hundred each month on themselves grew up in an environment where money wasn’t a big worry.

Each to their own.

My own mother takes great joy being frugal.

nthclare · 22-05-2020 1:12am

I'm 44 and have my own 4 bed house in the Burren, beautiful location.
Had my house paid off by the time I was 28.

Gave up the cooperative world in 2005, spent money on land, re-educated myself.
Realized that fluff jobs are only for gambler's and intelligent idiot's.

Sustainable living, studied horticulture and arboriculture, working as a full time tree surgeon and part time vegetable gardener and garden and park designer.
Have a few horse's an owl and pet free range raven, two lurchers, 3 cat's and a carp lake.
Hold on I'll check my savings... €688.17 to my name.

Money's only important if I don't have it.

NSAman · 22-05-2020 1:14am

Padre_Pio wrote: »

Each to their own.

My own mother takes great joy being frugal.

This drives me nuts.

The woman should not have a care in the world. We pay everything for her. She refuses to go to dinner unless she is paying (so of course we say yes and get the bill), she refuses to spend money on herself (so of course the grandkids is the perfect excuse to bring her to the shops and we get the bill)

She refuses point blank to travel.... no getting around that one.

Yes saves, she turns the lights off, she keeps the house heating down.

The one thing we as a family always want is for her to not want for anything, yet she economizes, she saves, she re-uses, she fixes things (in her 80s that is amazing).

She has her funeral paid for. She has the money for her "wake".

She always tried to pay for petrol, which of course we do not let her pay for. Then she gets annoyed at us for spoiling her.

I think it is innate that she has always looked after us as kids and wants to continue that. As adults we just want to make her enjoy herself.

sKeith · 22-05-2020 1:15am

User9thousand wrote: »

I am 28 and have around €50,000 saved. Is this too much or not enough at this stage? I can only manage to save €1,000 per month though. Do others of a similar age save much more?

I'm 43 myself and have about €120,000 invested. Have a rainy day fund of about €20k in easy to liquidate assets. I've still earning, so am continualsy adding to the fund.

I still consider myself quite young, so have about 60% invested in quite risky investments, with about 30k invested in p2p. This is an interesting market at the moment. Most sure timers have left the market already, and i've enjoyed helping them leave the market. More profit for me.

It is very posible I could lose out of this covid-19 pandemic, but honestly, who hasn't?

I'd hate to profit on other peoples misfortune and loss.

ted1 · 22-05-2020 1:30am

nthclare wrote: »

I'm 44 and have my own 4 bed house in the Burren, beautiful location.
Had my house paid off by the time I was 28.

Gave up the cooperative world in 2005, spent money on land, re-educated myself.
Realized that fluff jobs are only for gambler's and intelligent idiot's.

Sustainable living, studied horticulture and arboriculture, working as a full time tree surgeon and part time vegetable gardener and garden and park designer.
Have a few horse's an owl and pet free range raven, two lurchers, 3 cat's and a carp lake.
Hold on I'll check my savings... €688.17 to my name.

Money's only important if I don't have it.

You sir are the richest person so far

snoopboggybog · 22-05-2020 1:31am

sKeith wrote: »

I'd hate to profit on other peoples misfortune and loss.

That's how people become millionaires.

snoopboggybog · 22-05-2020 1:33am

nthclare wrote: »

I'm 44 and have my own 4 bed house in the Burren, beautiful location.
Had my house paid off by the time I was 28.

Gave up the cooperative world in 2005, spent money on land, re-educated myself.
Realized that fluff jobs are only for gambler's and intelligent idiot's.

Sustainable living, studied horticulture and arboriculture, working as a full time tree surgeon and part time vegetable gardener and garden and park designer.
Have a few horse's an owl and pet free range raven, two lurchers, 3 cat's and a carp lake.
Hold on I'll check my savings... €688.17 to my name.

Money's only important if I don't have it.

Nice, that's what I want. I'll be buying pretty soon. Once I have a roof over my head paid off I'll be living the easy life and doing some contracting here or there. Get myself a decent house for 150K with a lovely back garden and that'll do me! Plan on paying mortgage as soon as possible.

SusieBlue · 22-05-2020 1:35am

I’m 28 with about 7k saved. I moved home last year after spending most of my 20’s renting and thus haemorrhaging money, there was very little left for me to save at the end of each month after rent & expenses were paid.
My salary is quite a lot below average and I still owe about 3k on a college loan.

I could have probably saved a bit more last year but I did a lot of travelling, after spending years living hand to mouth paying extortionate rent I took a trip to 3 cities on the West Coast of the USA and I did 4 European city breaks. I don’t regret it because I enjoyed every second of them.

If I still have a job after lockdown I’m going to really knuckle down with the saving for a mortgage, the odds are already stacked against me with the lending rules, 3.5 times my wage as a single woman isn’t going to buy much so a hefty deposit of at least 70/80k is going to be needed.
Reading this thread is depressing but I do hope to own my own home one day.

ted1 · 22-05-2020 1:44am

SusieBlue wrote: »

I’m 28 with about 7k saved. I moved home last year after spending most of my 20’s renting and thus haemorrhaging money, there was very little left for me to save at the end of each month after rent & expenses were paid.
My salary is quite a lot below average and I still owe about 3k on a college loan.

I could have probably saved a bit more last year but I did a lot of travelling, after spending years living hand to mouth paying extortionate rent I took a trip to 3 cities on the West Coast of the USA and I did 4 European city breaks. I don’t regret it because I enjoyed every second of them.

If I still have a job after lockdown I’m going to really knuckle down with the saving for a mortgage, the odds are already stacked against me with the lending rules, 3.5 times my wage as a single woman isn’t going to buy much so a hefty deposit of at least 70/80k is going to be needed.
Reading this thread is depressing but I do hope to own my own home one day.

Do you Intend to stay single.
I’ve a few friends who were in the sane situation as you. Some bought the coupled up then were left with a property that did t suit their needs. Some blew every cent they had , meet a guy or girl and pooled their resources. Don’t feel obliged to follow the herd

jimbobaloobob · 22-05-2020 1:45am

Have to agree fair play to those savers. Had a good savings that went into investments and property prior to the last recession. Lost the lot

Live day to day now in a small cottage rented very rurally to make it affordable. Working but not now with pandemic.
Don’t regret the choices I made but c’est la vie. Good on ye with the bulging bank accounts.

SusieBlue · 22-05-2020 2:04am

ted1 wrote: »

Do you Intend to stay single.
I’ve a few friends who were in the sane situation as you. Some bought the coupled up then were left with a property that did t suit their needs. Some blew every cent they had , meet a guy or girl and pooled their resources. Don’t feel obliged to follow the herd

Ideally I’d prefer to meet someone & buy a property together, even if he wasn’t a high earner it would be a lot lot more doable and less pressure on two incomes.
But I suppose I can’t wait for that to happen and I need to start putting a dent in it now just in case it doesn’t come to be.

I’m stuck in the middle really, while my wage is low enough to qualify for social housing, I’d be extremely low on the list of priority because I don’t have kids yet.
But then on the other hand, the 3.5 lending rule means it’s going to be very difficult for me to buy alone.
So my options are to stay at home, save, and pray I meet someone to jointly apply with or spend the rest of my life blowing the majority of my income on rent.

I wish there was a middle option for people like me. If long term renting for a reasonable price was available I’d do it in a heartbeat.

nthclare · 22-05-2020 2:21am

ted1 wrote: »

You sir are the richest person so far

In spirit and I had to do it, because I hated the cooperative world.
It was soulless and full of narcissist's.
I got huge inheritance and said to myself now's your chance to get the hell away from these ruthless bastard's.
Property was still affordable back then.
I'll admit now and again I think to myself will I go back to the cooperative world and make more money for a year and cash in, but my gut says leave the fckers behind.
It's a different world.
Anyhow I'm a bearded shaved headed guy with tats and my tolerance for dishonest transactions is very poor, I don't conform very well to White collar skangers in suit's etc...and people getting prompted for their looks and charm rather than intelligence and productivity.

Have you ever noticed attractive looking people getting promoted above talented normal pleasant looking people ???

Sometimes I go to office's such as a Procurement department, in my tree surgeon gear and you'll see the gouls in their suits trying to cock block you with disgusted look's.
Actually I like dealing with gay guy's or woman in procurement as they're usually great banter and it drives the other boring knobs mad that you've brightened up the gay guy or attractive lady in accounts day.
One office used to call myself and my colleague Seamus the diet coke guy's.
Much to the disgust of Rob and Martin in accounts...

I love it I do

nthclare · 22-05-2020 2:25am

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

Have to agree fair play to those savers. Had a good savings that went into investments and property prior to the last recession. Lost the lot

Live day to day now in a small cottage rented very rurally to make it affordable. Working but not now with pandemic.
Don’t regret the choices I made but c’est la vie. Good on ye with the bulging bank accounts.

Remember buddy it's all in the head, enjoy your small farm house and cherish the moment.
Because from where I'm sitting I think you're doing ok .

I'm rural myself alone in a bigger house, but it's a happy home..

Better Than Christ · 22-05-2020 2:43am

A modest amount - combination of inheritance and general savings. I recently made a major sacrifice with regard to my living arrangements, which means I'm now spending 20% of my income on rent and bills (it was more than 60% before). I don't drink or smoke, I live quite frugally and I do a lot of overtime, so I'm currently able to put away at least 60% of my income every month. Ideally, I'd like to be in a position to buy a home without requiring much of a mortgage in maybe four or five years, or whenever the next major crash happens.

Oh, and I'm 38¼

Dr Bolouswki · 22-05-2020 2:53am

I'm 49, worked mcjobs til age 28, then got into tech - then earned about somewhere between 50k-90k a year varying for about 15 years once established.

Don't work now, spent it all, have no savings.

Happiest I've EVER been.

PommieBast · 22-05-2020 3:11am

38 and I would say about €15k in genuine savings.

Blew £100k inheritance from grandfather by living in New Zealand and jet-setting around Asia. I have no regrets.

ted1 · 22-05-2020 3:15am

PommieBast wrote: »

Blew £100k inheritance from grandfather by living in New Zealand and jet-setting around Asia. I have no regrets.

I wouldn’t call that blowing it. I’d say you made you grandfather smile

onrail · 22-05-2020 7:10am

PommieBast wrote: »

38 and I would say about €15k in genuine savings.

Blew £100k inheritance from grandfather by living in New Zealand and jet-setting around Asia. I have no regrets.

Depends on his grandfather!

Yeah I'd agree that enjoying your 20s properly is a far superior choice than having a bank balance. I'm 32 now, wife and child and I must say that spending €20-30k travelling the world was money well spent. Don't regret one penny.

That being said, there's a balance to be had. I worked while travelling and my bank balance is a small bit healthier because of it, and I actually found working to add as much to the experience as anything.

Mister Vain · 22-05-2020 8:09am

SusieBlue wrote: »

Ideally I’d prefer to meet someone & buy a property together, even if he wasn’t a high earner it would be a lot lot more doable and less pressure on two incomes.
But I suppose I can’t wait for that to happen and I need to start putting a dent in it now just in case it doesn’t come to be.

I’m stuck in the middle really, while my wage is low enough to qualify for social housing, I’d be extremely low on the list of priority because I don’t have kids yet.
But then on the other hand, the 3.5 lending rule means it’s going to be very difficult for me to buy alone.
So my options are to stay at home, save, and pray I meet someone to jointly apply with or spend the rest of my life blowing the majority of my income on rent.

I wish there was a middle option for people like me. If long term renting for a reasonable price was available I’d do it in a heartbeat.

I can relate to this. The catch 22 of needing a partner to get a place but needing a place to get a partner. The stigma of living at home vs haemorrhaging money on rent and having little or no disposable income. I'll probably end up getting a log cabin at some stage.

lainey_d_123 · 22-05-2020 10:02am

I'm 34 and have about 9000 euro saved. Nowhere near what I'd want it to be, but I haven't had much of a choice. Until fairly recently, I was earning poverty wages and I've been paying full rent and bills since I turned 18. I've paid a six figure sum of rent in my life, which is painful to think about. I've had some really good jobs as in they were challenging and fulfilling, but working in higher education, it was a lot of poorly paid contract work and instability. I had to live off savings in between contracts and pay my own relocation expenses every time I moved for work, so there was really no chance to put money away.

No assets either - again, have not been able to afford anything. I have travelled a bit and obviously spent money on that, but was either freelancing or teaching abroad at the time, so it wasn't really all 'holidays', and I was saving a lot of money by basing myself in cheaper countries. Have never been a huge spender on material things.

I feel quite depressed by my situation, especially seeing what other people have saved. I often feel like I'm walking on quicksand. I sacrifice a good bit to save anything at all and then as soon as my savings start to look decent, something happens and I end up spending a chunk of them. It feels like I can never get on my feet. Anyone else feel like that?

Donald Trump · 22-05-2020 10:16am

These threads always remind me of this character:

theteal · 22-05-2020 10:36am

I had lots when I emigrated at 28 (9 years ago), saved my celtic bubble pocket money. Took a year off work for a bit of travelling and committed to studying up for the planned career change. Climbed the ladder and swapped jobs until the salary was decent enough to get a sufficient mortgage. Just over 2 years ago, the remaining savings went on the deposit, about 25% of purchase price. Mostly since then, it's been a case of accumulate some savings and then spend on a project in the house. Not far off being finished that cycle, the house is nearly where we want it. I've swapped jobs twice more since we got the house and salary is much healthier so there is now a rainy day fund (a few months mortgage payments) and the pension contributions are being maxed now for the first time in my life.

I'm not a big spender, I like to buy wisely and make stuff last, the 07 Mazda and 05 Yaris on the driveway are evidence. Yeah we had to move out to the sticks but the house was a bargain and a great learning experience and in spite of the brits voting habits has actually increased in value by a healthy amount - I'm sure COVID will have a thing to say about that.

So, to actually answer the question, some, not lots.

theteal · 22-05-2020 10:36am

PaddyLocks wrote: »

How do people manage to save with the cost of living in ireland

. . .by moving to England

Mister Vain · 22-05-2020 10:40am

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

I'm 34 and have about 9000 euro saved. Nowhere near what I'd want it to be, but I haven't had much of a choice. Until fairly recently, I was earning poverty wages and I've been paying full rent and bills since I turned 18. I've paid a six figure sum of rent in my life, which is painful to think about. I've had some really good jobs as in they were challenging and fulfilling, but working in higher education, it was a lot of poorly paid contract work and instability. I had to live off savings in between contracts and pay my own relocation expenses every time I moved for work, so there was really no chance to put money away.

No assets either - again, have not been able to afford anything. I have travelled a bit and obviously spent money on that, but was either freelancing or teaching abroad at the time, so it wasn't really all 'holidays', and I was saving a lot of money by basing myself in cheaper countries. Have never been a huge spender on material things.

I feel quite depressed by my situation, especially seeing what other people have saved. I often feel like I'm walking on quicksand. I sacrifice a good bit to save anything at all and then as soon as my savings start to look decent, something happens and I end up spending a chunk of them. It feels like I can never get on my feet. Anyone else feel like that?

I started to make more of an effort to save last year. Cut back on takeaways, started shopping in Aldi, spending less on clothes and so on. I saved a fair bit but then the gearbox in my car decided to die and it cost me an arm and a leg to get it fixed.

Donald Trump · 22-05-2020 10:41am

PaddyLocks wrote: »

How do people manage to save with the cost of living in ireland

People who say such things are often those with decent jobs.

There are probably people much less than you but who can survive. And you are probably earning more than you were 5 years ago.

It is generally the case that people set their point of reference where they are now. If you get a 10% raise next year, you'll go and buy something new or reset your reference point in some other way.

Canyon86 · 22-05-2020 10:51am

I have 22,000 saved, currently in the process of applying for a mortgage,

I intend to start a pension when i have the house sorted, and then build up an emergency fund from there

no loans or credit cards, thankfully, they are evil

Thargor · 22-05-2020 11:14am

Johnny0232 wrote: »

42,

Bought my first house aged 34. Sold 4 years later and made a good profit.(€70k) Pooled together a 85k redundancy to buy a bigger property with a lot of rental potential.
House worth roughly 295k is now paid off.
Utilising the 14k per annum tax free room rental.
Current rental income 18k. decided to just work part time for now.
17k in savings.

If you have 18k in rental income from any source you can't claim the 14k rent a room scheme, the minute you exceed 14k it all gets taxed. Revenue will spot that eventually and come after you for the whole amount plus interest and costs.

thomasdylan · 22-05-2020 11:22am

I'm 31. Have 24,000 in savings. 480,000 odd owed on mortgage (between two). 6,000 owed on loan for wedding which I'll probably pay the balance on now.

So overall minus a lot of money. I work a lot but would go out for dinner often and would pay for big purchases for my parents (like car).

antimatterx · 22-05-2020 11:40am

Canyon86 wrote: »

I have 22,000 saved, currently in the process of applying for a mortgage,

I intend to start a pension when i have the house sorted, and then build up an emergency fund from there

no loans or credit cards, thankfully, they are evil

Loans and Credit cards are absolutely not evil. They're tools to be used, and there's no reason to ever pay interest on your credit card.

Donald Trump · 22-05-2020 11:43am

Thargor wrote: »

If you have 18k in rental income from any source you can't claim the 14k rent a room scheme, the minute you exceed 14k it all gets taxed. Revenue will spot that eventually and come after you for the whole amount plus interest and costs.

Yeah, the relief is only if the total is under 14k. If you take in 14001, then it isn't that you are taxed on the marginal 1 Euro - you are taxed on the entire 14001 because you no longer qualify for the waiver

How much savings do you have and what age are you?

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