I don't know how to save!!!

Glimmerdog

I've never saved a penny in my life, for anything. I'm in my late twenties and make over 50k per year and still am not able to save. Is this ridiculous? I'm sure it is. What do people normally save per month? I came from the Celtic tiger era of if you wanted something you borrowed for it. I do have some debts...maybe 10k but surely I should be able to save money. I spend way too much on booze and going out

General Relativity

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I spend way too much on booze and going out

Cut down on that then.

Boombastic

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I've never saved a penny in my life, for anything. I'm in my late twenties and make over 50k per year and still am not able to save. Is this ridiculous? I'm sure it is. What do people normally save per month? I came from the Celtic tiger era of if you wanted something you borrowed for it. I do have some debts...maybe 10k but surely I should be able to save money. I spend way too much on booze and going out

Direct debit in to the credit union every week- you won't miss it

Ash.J.Williams

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I've never saved a penny in my life, for anything. I'm in my late twenties and make over 50k per year and still am not able to save. Is this ridiculous? I'm sure it is. What do people normally save per month? I came from the Celtic tiger era of if you wanted something you borrowed for it. I do have some debts...maybe 10k but surely I should be able to save money. I spend way too much on booze and going out

me too...just set up another account and set up a standing order to it and forget about it...pretend the account doesn't exist...then when it reaches a certain level stick it in the credit union..

Dravokivich

Give all your money to your mammy.

Phill Ewinn

saving? money? really?

direct debit into a savings account
i save between quarter-third of salary

eh, pay off your debt first and cut down on going out

the keen edge

Phiff, just send $1 a day to happy dude just like every body else does, although best make it $5 a day given your situation.

OldNotWIse

Boombastic wrote: »

Direct debit in to the credit union every week- you won't miss it

Agree. From experience, credit union seem to be the most reliable and fair source of credit (if needed). low enough interest rate if loan is secured, and the good thing is, if you DO need to borrow unexpectedly, you borrow against your savings and then re-pay loan but keep your savings intact.

Kosseegan

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I've never saved a penny in my life, for anything. I'm in my late twenties and make over 50k per year and still am not able to save. Is this ridiculous? I'm sure it is. What do people normally save per month? I came from the Celtic tiger era of if you wanted something you borrowed for it. I do have some debts...maybe 10k but surely I should be able to save money. I spend way too much on booze and going out

It is better to pay off debts first as the interest rate on the borrowings is likely to be less than the interest rate being paid on the deposit. Get rid of access to credit. Cut up the cards. Decide a certain amount of money will last for a certain period. When its gone, its gone. Do not borrow from friends or relations. Go without until you have the money. After a few months you will automatically become more economical.

Glimmerdog

Really? Is this norm? Am I an absolute financial retard? A third of your salary?

OldNotWIse

Dravokivich wrote: »

Give all your money to your mammy.

My mam takes all mine anyway :eek: But I never see it again :rolleyes:

Beruthiel

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I've never saved a penny in my life, for anything. I'm in my late twenties and make over 50k per year and still am not able to save. Is this ridiculous?

Yes. I would consider that ridiculous.

What are your monthly out goings?
IE - rent, lecky, weekly food shop, bills?

OldNotWIse

Glimmerdog wrote: »

Really? Is this norm? Am I an absolute financial retard? A third of your salary?

I dont think so. I think the "rule of thumb" is 10%? I consider myself "rich" if I borrow less than ten % of my wages

Glimmerdog

I'm actually embarrassed. Do most people have savings so?

you should have a few months' savings put by for emergencies and anything big

Glimmerdog

Yea 10% seems manageable. You see I'm actually quite good during the week but would easily spend 500 a weekend.

Ghandee

Jesus saves!




(Moses took the penalty)

JohnMarston

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I've never saved a penny in my life, for anything. I'm in my late twenties and make over 50k per year and still am not able to save. Is this ridiculous? I'm sure it is. What do people normally save per month? I came from the Celtic tiger era of if you wanted something you borrowed for it. I do have some debts...maybe 10k but surely I should be able to save money. I spend way too much on booze and going out

Buy only what you need, not what you want, pay back your debt as soon as you can. Maybe go out once a month and bring €x with you. No atm card

Glimmerdog

JohnMarston wrote: »

Buy only what you need, not what you want, pay back your debt as soon as you can. Maybe go out once a month and bring €x with you. No atm card

I really need to sort out my finances so. I usually have no money left by the least week of the month. My outgoigns are about 1k. What do most people live on for the month?

hondasam

Not everyone can save especially if you have kids. Single people living at home might save.
This idea that everyone should have money put away sounds good but is not always realistic or possible.

OldNotWIse

Glimmerdog wrote: »

Yea 10% seems manageable. You see I'm actually quite good during the week but would easily spend 500 a weekend.

EEK!!!!!

ahnowbrowncow

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I'm actually embarrassed. Do most people have savings so?

Don't be embarrassed, be proud. From the looks of things you are single handedly keeping our economy afloat

jack presley

OldNotWIse wrote: »

I think the "rule of thumb" is 10%?(

10% of salary or 10% of disposable income?

Glimmerdog

Yes I'm def keeping some of the social scene in Dublin in business. My friends are the same. We must be retards. So what do people normally live on per month after they pay bills?

bfocusd

I used to be the same op, stage one for me was getting rid of the laser cards! You'd be surprised the s#it you buy with the ease of those cards, on a night out bring a certain amount of money. Try activities that are not all based on money, ie casinos bad, parks / beach good!

I managed. To save 9k in 6 months, after paying rent, and car payments which are my biggest debt (about 7k a year, car, petrol, insurance, tax, servicing it) im into my last year of car payments so next year I'll be going hell for leather saving!

Make meals at home too, dinner out is fine but madness when it's totalled up monthly.

Also I used to think, will I buy this unnecessary item that costs me 3 hours in work? It actually works! Compare the price of overly expensive items to how long you spent slaving and you will find a million better ways to enjoy it.

Good luck!

BrianD3

The Small Firms Association will be pleased to hear that you are not saving.
http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/getting-irish-people-to-save-less-would-release-1billion-into-economy-3144852.html

Laughable stuff from this vested interest. Give us your money instead of saving it. The same crowd (and ISME) also regularly whinge about paying tax, whinge about the minimum wage being too high and attack public sector workers' pay and conditions.

I find this sort of stuff motivating for saving. Everytime Patricia Callan, Mark Fielding et al call for my income to be cut I feel like saving more. I have never saved less than 50% of my net yearly income but these days it's closer to 75%. It helps a lot that I don't drink, I prefer to keep my money for myself instead of giving it to fat bastard rich publicans and nightclub owners.

Beruthiel

Glimmerdog wrote: »

would easily spend 500 a weekend.

That's pretty shocking.
That's a weeks wages for a lot of people.

Boombastic

Well if Sean Quinns children can't live on €2,000 / week, I don't know what they expect the rest of us to do:rolleyes:

POKERKING

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I'm actually embarrassed. Do most people have savings so?

No i don't and most of my friends don't who are similar age to you, however i don't have debts(except mortgage), im at a stage where i earn enough to cover bills and pay for a low key social life that keeps me happy. I dont have any spare to save at the moment but hopefully in future i will be able to. I'm happy to be in my position though, what i do if there's a serious emergency im not so sure but will cross that bridge if i get to it.

The odd time i do save i end up spending it, isnt that what its there for?
like i might save for a holiday, go on it and then maybe start again for something.

Glimmerdog

bfocusd wrote: »

I used to be the same op, stage one for me was getting rid of the laser cards! You'd be surprised the s#it you buy with the ease of those cards, on a night out bring a certain amount of money. Try activities that are not all based on money, ie casinos bad, parks / beach good!

I managed. To save 9k in 6 months, after paying rent, and car payments which are my biggest debt (about 7k a year, car, petrol, insurance, tax, servicing it) im into my last year of car payments so next year I'll be going hell for leather saving!

Make meals at home too, dinner out is fine but madness when it's totalled up monthly.

Also I used to think, will I buy this unnecessary item that costs me 3 hours in work? It actually works! Compare the price of overly expensive items to how long you spent slaving and you will find a million better ways to enjoy it.

Good luck!

Great advice!! I spend money like it it has some sort of disease. I don't know where I learned it from. My parents are excellent with money. Is saving learned or is it just in your personality?

Jester252

Only pay with physical money and have none on you. So when you what to buy something you have to go to the ATM and take it out. It gives you a long time to think about it

viclemronny

Glimmerdog wrote: »

Yea 10% seems manageable. You see I'm actually quite good during the week but would easily spend 500 a weekend.

Half that anyway. 250x40=10,000. Granted there's interest on the debt too but still, there's no reason that you couldn't pay that off in a year.

Just to stress, this isn't judgment as it's your money and kudos on having a nice solid salary but how would you go about spending 500 on a weekend? Genuinely, I can't think of how I would spend that much on a weekend unless I was trying to spend that much deliberately.

As a general rule I think everyone should have enough savings to continue a nice standard of living for as long as they will need to survive if the have to look for a new job and are really going for it job-hunting. At least, it's a decent number to aim for.

OldNotWIse

jack presley wrote: »

10% of salary or 10% of disposable income?

I'm not sure, as I never do it lol, but I imagine its 10% of net income?

BorneTobyWilde

I have 60k plus savings and earn 1/4 what you do

JohnMarston

Glimmerdog wrote: »

Great advice!! I spend money like it it has some sort of disease. I don't know where I learned it from. My parents are excellent with money. Is saving learned or is it just in your personality?

Depends. We had enough growing up to get by. But that was it. My folks were adamant about keeping level-headed with money. They never spent beyond their means. It was an attitude that became ingrained into me.
We had the occasional nice thing growing up but were never spoilt.

Saying that, my brother had massive debt at certain points in his life, and my sister never saves either so yeah. You just gotta have discipline.

meoklmrk91

I have been saving since I was 14, just babysitting money mind you, I am a student but I am comfortable because I have savings to back me up if I need it and get income from the grant.

If I have any less than €2k in the bank then something is very wrong and I start to panic. Once you start saving and realise how quickly your money builds up you will happily do it, when you want to buy a car or go on holidays and you find that you don't have to even consider taking out a loan then that is when you really realise the value of savings. There is nothing like being debt free.

My parents were terrible with money when I was growing up, they constantly fought over it and were up to their eye balls in debt, they still are. I made a conscious decision to never be like that, so that means saving, budgeting etc. As somebody else said if you put a direct debit into a credit union account each week you wouldn't miss it.

Finally there is nothing wrong with enjoying yourself but €500 is a lot of money to spend on weekends out, if you cut down to 1 weekend a month and saved the rest you would be saving €1500 a month, or €18000 a year, now I don't know about you but to me that's a crazy ammount if money to be literally pissing down the toilet.

shuridunno

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I'm actually embarrassed. Do most people have savings so?

I've never earned enough to save and I'm embarassed that I have no savings at 35.
Just cut back on your spending, look at what you spend on socialising, try taking out a certain amount in a week and stick to it.
Set up the direct debits as suggested. I'm paying off my last loan and can declare myself debt free and ready to save in November. This excites me no end.

If you're bored you could have a game of..what if I lost my job..

Go a few weeks living on the equivalent of the dole...not sure what it is, see how fast you'll rethink saving then. I mean this constructively, I'm not taking the piss.

BraziliaNZ

I'm the same OP, absolutely useless, I was better in the past though. I guess I get bored easily so spending money is one way to counteract that. I'm changing though, as of Sunday, cutting down majorly on the booze and stupid spending, I should be able to save about 1/6 of my salary really.

du Maurier

I'd love to know what you do, to take home that kind of wedge. Going on some of your posts I've ruled out a number of things..

du Maurier

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I have 60k plus savings and earn 1/4 what you do

You must have been saving since you started working then? Your username pun wouldn't suggest so:pac:

BorneTobyWilde

du Maurier wrote: »

You must have been saving since you started working then? You username wouldn't suggest so:pac:

Yea i save save save since a young age, and i'm still young,, Not sure why i save , Like OP said its a condition you have or don't,

Immaculate Pasta

OP you're a disgrace. An absolute disgrace. :cool:

Glimmerdog

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

I have 60k plus savings and earn 1/4 what you do

Wtf? How? What age are you?

Glimmerdog

I actually feel sick now. I guess it's just a habit I got into. If I check my account balance near the end of the month and I have a few hundred quid in there it will play on my mind until I spend it on something. Is that some kind of a disorder?

anniehoo

Glimmerdog wrote: »

My outgoigns are about 1k.

If you earn >€50k and that's all your outgoings, then yep you should be able to save...easily... at a minimum €700 a month. I could understand if it was the odd weekend where you'd be out fri-sunday spending €500 but EVERY weekend :eek: Madness!! Your goal shouldnt be spending all your money every month just because you have it. I struggle to save anything these days but i pay a mortgage/all house bills/run a car. My aim now is to do a proper budget and start sticking to it.

JohnMarston

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I actually feel sick now. I guess it's just a habit I got into. If I check my account balance near the end of the month and I have a few hundred quid in there it will play on my mind until I spend it on something. Is that some kind of a disorder?

It seems like you may have an addiction of sorts. Is there someone you can ask to keep a percentage of your money each week?

Boombastic

JohnMarston wrote: »

It seems like you may have an addiction of sorts. Is there someone you can ask to keep a percentage of your money each week?

I'll volunteer to be the keeper of monies:D

Meauldsegosha

Glimmerdog wrote: »

I actually feel sick now. I guess it's just a habit I got into. If I check my account balance near the end of the month and I have a few hundred quid in there it will play on my mind until I spend it on something. Is that some kind of a disorder?

I would be the total opposite I love looking at my savings account and seeing the balance. As others have said set up a direct debit so the money is gone from your account so you can't spend it.

Cina

I'm 24, live in Dublin, get €35k a year and I stick €700 in a savings acc every month which I'm unable to go near. It's the way to go because I know I'd be spending it on random nonsense if I didn't.

OldNotWIse

Cina wrote: »

I'm 24, live in Dublin, get €35k a year and I stick €700 in a savings acc every month which I'm unable to go near. It's the way to go because I know I'd be spending it on random nonsense if I didn't.

I'm so jealous...