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

c.p.w.g.w

fits wrote: »

40. have a few months expenses in cash. Saving up for next car as loan averse. Anything in excess of that the plan is to use to overpay the mortgage but hasn’t happened in practice yet and we just fixed for 5 years at 2.5%.

Have had investments in the past but am more risk averse now as I have a son with special needs and we need to make sure his future is secure. So we have a life assurance that will set him up with a trust fund. Anything else is used to minimise loan commitments and pay down mortgage.

Who are you with for your mortgage?

s1ippy

NSAman wrote: »

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.

I hear you, the old lade's the same. Instead of pressuring her to enjoy herself (how do you force someone to enjoy themselves??), I compliment how thrifty and sensibly-minded she is and get her simple presents that I know she'll like, or make gestures she'll appreciate. At the end of the day she is an adult who has earned the right to be as frugal as she wants and she obviously gets satisfaction out of it. She's delighted to have somebody acknowledge how sensible she is. I learned a long time ago that it's not worth getting annoyed about other people's priorities and live and let live if it'll make them happy.

Old dog new tricks etc.

I'm nearly 30 and all-told I have over €15k in investments, savings, crypto and gold and another €25 in non-liquid assets (edited from €15 to reflect assets I would never part with). OH has saved 15k. Most of it has been accumulated in the last two years, the savings account only exists to fund the mortgage because as many posters have said inflation will render it useless if it's just being held over long periods with the paltry interest rates available to civilians.

I moved county at 18 to study and worked throughout in a well-paid agency, cost of living was a lot less and rents were lower so I had a fantastic time in college but accrued no debt. I moved back to Cork at the end my final year and rented in town with friends and my partner. I didn't have a lot of regular work then but continued the work I was doing in college and I played music every weekend to pay the bills and rent. I also made good money from extra bits of work that came my way the odd time. I was very much living week to week then and saved nothing but absolutely tore it up and wouldn't trade it for anything.

Those were the best years of my life, I busked and played in bars while travelling around nearly every country in Europe, spent hardly any money on those trips as I recouped the day's costs and made a lot of friends who would put me up in their houses or point me to the safest, cheapest hostels. I had planned to go to Spain in July and make my way up the coast from Malaga to Barcelona then cross over to the islands. I'm a bit disappointed, but maybe some other time.

The idea would be to do something similar to what nthclare did - once we buy our property, we can be self-sufficient enough to be able to organise our schedules and work to only do what we want. Although currently my job involves travel, a lot of it is being put online now so it's looking like more and more of a possibility that we might achieve that, pending the housing market not going to absolute sh!t.

I'm gobsmacked by this thread tbh, there are some amount of people of all ages (Saving: Suitable for those aged 5 - 65) sitting on huge sums of money if it's to be believed! Fair dues to those people, I hope it means a nice break from working your ass off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN5iRsGukZc

fits

c.p.w.g.w wrote: »

Who are you with for your mortgage?

Haven


Another thing I’ll add. It’s great to be frugal but for goodness sake enjoy life too. Some people posting on this thread will get sick or die young or have sick children. Life can throw some curveballs so don’t put it all off into the future.

ILikeBoats

s1ippy wrote: »

I'm nearly 30 and all-told I have over €15k in investments, savings, crypto and gold and another €25 in non-liquid assets (edited from €15 to reflect assets I would never part with).

Just regarding the gold - have you invested in it and physically have it? Or how does it work?

blade1

'bout three fiddy

carzony

I'm 28 and have 35,000 saved, no loans to my name. I've been saving heavily in the last 3- 4 years.

HugsiePie

Jesus I thought I was doing really well till I came here. I'm 25 with about 17k saved. Now I am wondering where do I spend all my money that Im not up on 40-60k like the rest of people in my age bracket :P I went straight to full time employment after finishing college, I never did travelling or a masters or a major relationship or mortgage or family, my rent is cheap, I dont even have car expenses I just use public transport. To think I thought I was doing better than average. What the hell are you all doing for a living and how do I get in on it?!

c.p.w.g.w

fits wrote: »

Haven


Another thing I’ll add. It’s great to be frugal but for goodness sake enjoy life too. Some people posting on this thread will get sick or die young or have sick children. Life can throw some curveballs so don’t put it all off into the future.

Oh i hear you...I don't go mad with being frugal still enjoy a steak every week, good quaility beer when i drink...I also have this mad dream of building a house in the country and keeping bee's...so the sooner i can clear my current mortgage the better

Geuze

HugsiePie wrote: »

Jesus I thought I was doing really well till I came here. I'm 25 with about 17k saved. Now I am wondering where do I spend all my money that Im not up on 40-60k like the rest of people in my age bracket :P I went straight to full time employment after finishing college, I never did travelling or a masters or a major relationship or mortgage or family, my rent is cheap, I dont even have car expenses I just use public transport. To think I thought I was doing better than average. What the hell are you all doing for a living and how do I get in on it?!

You say your rent is cheap, and you don't have a car.

So you could be saving 500 - 1000 per month?

After three years work, that's 20k.

voluntary

WARNING! Young savers are often staying savers for life. They save and postpone enjoying life for later and the 'later' never comes. I think the first time you regret this will be when you hit 40 and realize you can't get the lost moments back even with 10 times the amount of cash you managed to save.

Thank you for your attention.

august12

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You sound like you know a thing or two about credit cards. I've never used one. So I'm curious, if I take out a credit card that offers 0% interest for 12 months (off the top of my head, I think An Post are doing this at the moment), can I then use the card to, for argument sake, pay €10k off my mortgage, and so long as I pay the 10k back to the credit card within 12 months, I am effectively after getting a 'free' loan?

Doubtful you would.get a 10,000 credit limit on a credit card and secondly, credit card won't be accepted for mortgage payments, as far as I know.

tobottherobot

I'm 31, almost 32. In the last 12 months we've bought a house in Dublin, got married and a new car so I'm back to ground zero (or ~€5k in stock, savings etc.).

Not fully sure on the exact amount as I had so much going in and out for the past 18 months but probably had 70-80k put aside. I don't mind that though... I'm pretty good at saving and should clock up north of €15k this year. I'd class myself frugal but I still travel a fair amount (although when I do I wouldn't be too flash with the accomodation), drink nice beer, eat nice food etc. I came out of college in 2010 and didnt really start a proper job until mid-2013 due to the recession and going back to college etc. so it probably took me 6 years to save that.

To some people, saving is the net balance between what you earn and what you spend... I've never really worked like that - if I leave money in my current account I'll find a way to spend it. The day I get paid is the day my savings leave my account and go into credit union... out of site and and of mind. I think a lot of people would be suprised at how much you can reduce outgoings by limiting the amount you allow yourself to spend on them.

Jim2007

voluntary wrote: »

WARNING! Young savers are often staying savers for life. They save and postpone enjoying life for later and the 'later' never comes. I think the first time you regret this will be when you hit 40 and realize you can't get the lost moments back even with 10 times the amount of cash you managed to save.

Thank you for your attention.

Except it does not have to be one or the other... you can save, spend sensibly and still enjoy yourself.

Josuke

Not going to lie, reading this thread has really scared me. I've just turned 26 with about 4k saved and recently purchased my first car. About to leave my postgraduate course due to illness so will only have a bachelors degree and research experience. I have a long-term partner and want to someday move out of my parents home (next 2 years) have children (in 5-7 years) but it feels like wishful thinking at the moment

nutjobb

29 now have 12k in bank, bout 2.5k in shares.

Started my apprenticeship at 22 and had no money until I turned 26 and went from 30k pa to 57k, got lucky with a MNC job.

In the time since I have house deposit paid (160k house), paid for a college course online (7k) and had 4 big holidays.

I'm almost at the stage now where I would take a significant drop in money for an easier life. 160km round trip and long days.

Money isn't everything and while I would have been extremely motivated by a big bank balance, I now realise time and health is more important. I suppose its easy to say as I know many people struggling financially so I do feel very fortunate to be where I am today.

In my experience I would say most of the posters in this thread this far are far above average but wish everyone success.

Gmol

I think there is a lot of personal wealth being held. People remember the 2008 recession and are more conservative in saving money and paying down debt.

Geuze

Gmol wrote: »

I think there is a lot of personal wealth being held. People remember the 2008 recession and are more conservative in saving money and paying down debt.

Yes.

There is 800 bn in household wealth.

Financial assets have been rising, while liabilities have been falling.

nthclare

HugsiePie wrote: »

Jesus I thought I was doing really well till I came here. I'm 25 with about 17k saved. Now I am wondering where do I spend all my money that Im not up on 40-60k like the rest of people in my age bracket :P I went straight to full time employment after finishing college, I never did travelling or a masters or a major relationship or mortgage or family, my rent is cheap, I dont even have car expenses I just use public transport. To think I thought I was doing better than average. What the hell are you all doing for a living and how do I get in on it?!

I know a lot of people who used to be at this in the 00's oh how much is your house worth ???

Well mine went up by so much thousand in the last so many month's, the usual jocks who are into wuby and gaa and their whole lives revolved around bootcut jeans and gammy shoes.

You'll see them in copperface jack's in Dublin and O'Riordans in Cork, shower of wannabe toffs.
Zero class or any interesting about them, they're as boring as fck too.

Go on YouTube and search for Billy Connolly toffs for dinner

And around 4 minutes in he rips the sh1t out of the middle classes.

It's really interesting to listen to, and I totally identify with his observation.

The working class honest people and the toffs seem to get along, it's the middle class **** who **** the whole thing up for everyone

RandomViewer

Gmol wrote: »

I think there is a lot of personal wealth being held. People remember the 2008 recession and are more conservative in saving money and paying down debt.

Wouldn't worry to much about the saving but try to avoid the debt, if you fall behind they make it almost impossible for you to catch up

Tar.Aldarion

Lyra Fangs wrote: »

This thread is making me panic something fierce :eek:

I'm in my current role almost 2 years making a reasonable wage. Before that I was 3-4 years working for much less in Dublin (< 25k gross/yr). For the full 6 years I've been paying the usual mental rent, bills etc etc.

I feel like I've only really been able to start saving these last two years and even then it's not much to write home about...

Any words of wisdom from the people doing so well?

(I spent my 20s with my head stuck in a book so no fear that nights out are where my money went )

I have quite a bit saved, but I could have a lot more or less and really it wouldn't make much odds to me. I could have 3 or 4 times my salary by moving to the US, but I don't. Once you save for rainy days (or particular goals like a deposit) and your retirement in a reasonable way I wouldn't focus too heavily on money. Enjoy your hobbies, friends, and your life.

Some people save too little, some too much, find a balance. I still spend money eating out a lot with friends, dance classes, climbing, gym and so on, but the main thing is to budget and have goals in mind. At the end of the day save somewhat and enjoy your relationships with people, that is what you will remember.

If I had one tip about saving it would be putting money into a pension for the tax deferred growth, especially if you can get employer to match. Compound interest adds up to a lot, and as it is taken from your wages you easily learn to deal with it, since you never had it in your hands. Apart from this, save at least a few months expenses and aim for saving more on top of this. I use separate bank accounts for this.

s1ippy

ILikeBoats wrote: »

Just regarding the gold - have you invested in it and physically have it? Or how does it work?

http://www.moneyguideireland.com/is-buying-gold-a-good-idea.html

I bought through Uphold https://uphold.com/

It's a great site, will sort you for good few crypto as well.

lainey_d_123

Geuze wrote: »

You say your rent is cheap, and you don't have a car.

So you could be saving 500 - 1000 per month?

After three years work, that's 20k.

That's about what he or she HAS saved. Assuming finishing college at 22, they've saved 17K in under 3 years, which seems like absolutely loads to me.

Seems like a different world now to how it was when I graduated. I have only been able to save 500-1000 a month since I was 33, and then only because I flatshared, with all the lifestyle sacrifice and strain that comes with sharing with randomers in your thirties.

For me, a lot of the numbers here simply do not add up. I think a lot of the young people saying they've saved thousands have had significant help, either from inheritances, trust funds, living with parents while working full time or other things. Maybe a minority of them have extremely well paying jobs in tech or finance, but the average salary and the average living costs simply do not allow large amounts of money to be saved each month.

lainey_d_123

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

For me, a lot of the numbers here simply do not add up. I think a lot of the young people saying they've saved thousands have had significant help, either from inheritances, trust funds, living with parents while working full time or other things. Maybe a minority of them have extremely well paying jobs in tech or finance, but the average salary and the average living costs simply do not allow large amounts of money to be saved each month.

Does this some how make savings invalid? People were asked their savings it doesn’t really matter how they have accumulated them. You can just say “the figures don’t add up” if for example people who are happy to live at home for much longer have saved more. Yes many can’t but a large number if people who move out do it by choice.

Rent is much lower for some too, especially for the period after the recession up to a few years ago where people in decent houses on good money were paying no more than around 300 euro a month for a room (outside Dublin anyway).

Similar for a gift/inheritance/redundancies etc lots of people get these so you can’t just exclude them when having a discussion about savings for an age etc.

Mrcaramelchoc

Its amazing the amount of information people give away in here.

Mrcaramelchoc

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

Its amazing the amount of information people give away in here.

Its an anonymous message board and it’s only numbers what is anyone going to do with the information of some random username has x amount of money?

lainey_d_123

Bradley Wide Snotty wrote: »

Does this some how make savings invalid? People were asked their savings it doesn’t really matter how they have accumulated them. You can just say “the figures don’t add up” if for example people who are happy to live at home for much longer have saved more. Yes many can’t but a large number if people who move out do it by choice.

Rent is much lower for some too, especially for the period after the recession up to a few years ago where people in decent houses on good money were paying no more than around 300 euro a month for a room (outside Dublin anyway).

Similar for a gift/inheritance/redundancies etc lots of people get these so you can’t just exclude them when having a discussion about savings for an age etc.

It makes the comparison invalid. People are feeling really bad about themselves because they can't work out why other people have saved so much more. In the vast majority of those cases, it's probably those other people have had substantial financial help, usually from parents.

People are very slow to admit their good fortune, and very quick to make out that they've been good with money. If you have a full time job and live at home, it's not even a sacrifice to put 1000+ euro away every month. You can do that and still have money for going out, holidays, etc. Try putting away 1000 euros a month when you're paying Dublin rent, bills, food and transport costs.

The truth is that a lot of people, especially under 30, are doing well to save anything at all if they have an average salary and average living costs.

Padre_Pio

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Mister Vain

I know a bloke who buys a tin of baked beans on Tuesday so he can have a bubble bath on Wednesday.

lainey_d_123

lainey_d_123 wrote: »

It makes the comparison invalid. People are feeling really bad about themselves because they can't work out why other people have saved so much more. In the vast majority of those cases, it's probably those other people have had substantial financial help, usually from parents.

People are very slow to admit their good fortune, and very quick to make out that they've been good with money. If you have a full time job and live at home, it's not even a sacrifice to put 1000+ euro away every month. You can do that and still have money for going out, holidays, etc. Try putting away 1000 euros a month when you're paying Dublin rent, bills, food and transport costs.

The truth is that a lot of people, especially under 30, are doing well to save anything at all if they have an average salary and average living costs.

Everyone’s situation is different that’s not up for debate but where should we draw the line on who can say they have savings. Live at home: invalid, cheap rent:invalid, inheritance: invalid, redundancy: invalid, well paid job: invalid and so on. Basically only people who meet a very strict criteria are entitled to give their savings number and any other persons numbers “don’t add up”.

Would make for a fairly pointless thread. People were asked to give their age and savings we will get a very varied response from people in different situations but they are all equally valid.

Josuke

Josuke wrote: »

Not going to lie, reading this thread has really scared me. I've just turned 26 with about 4k saved and recently purchased my first car. About to leave my postgraduate course due to illness so will only have a bachelors degree and research experience. I have a long-term partner and want to someday move out of my parents home (next 2 years) have children (in 5-7 years) but it feels like wishful thinking at the moment

At 26 I was doing well to have anything saved.

Below is my situation, based on real-life, written out twice. Both these describe me at the moment:

1) I'm 32 in two weeks. I have my house nearly paid off (less than 40k to go to clear the mortgage) have about 10k in savings and work a relatively well paid job.


2) I'm 32 in two weeks. I have nearly paid off my house, but it's in a siht-hole area, so I'm hoping to clear the mortgage as soon as possible so i can try and save aggressively to buy a derelict rural house that I can do up and move to. I bought my house off the council so got a discount on the market rate. I've about 10k saved, but I can't access it as it's held as security against the mortgage along with the house (credit union). I have no formal education and contract for a company who pay me well, but the job could disappear overnight.


In 1) i sound like I'm on top of the world. In 2) I sounds like I'm about 15 years behind where I 'could' be, and it acknowledges the luck I've had with getting a cheaper house, and how ultimately it's not a great area so i want to move away, making it an expensive, but not entirely beneficial, purchase.

It's easy to make your situation sound a lot better than it is. I imagine there's lots of that going on in this thread.