What % of your Income do you save?

[Bruce Wayne]

I'm still quite young but try to save at least £3,000 a year in my mini Cash ISA

[baselle]

Is an ISA like our IRA? (Individual Retirement Account)

[Bruce Wayne]

Originally Posted by baselle

Is an ISA like our IRA? (Individual Retirement Account)

The British government tax the interest you recieve on your savings. An ISA is a tax free savings package that allows you to invest £3,000 a year in either a cash savings package, a stock market fund or a mixture of the two.

[Tree0164]

Bruce that is awesome!

[Bruce Wayne]

Originally Posted by Tree0164

Bruce that is awesome!

Aye, it's not bad. Still think its wrong that savings should be taxed at all but there you go

[Russell]

Wow, interesting question and replies

I have my 401k maxed out. After that I put away $400 a month into my ING savings. I also started contributing to Roth in the last two years. However, the ROI is too low and I'm thinking about pulling out my contributions and putting them into ING too ? I'm investing in VIVAX and VTSMX index funds through ROTH.

Retire@50, wow! that's $15k a year savings on top of your 401K - what do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking ? maybe there's still time for me to change careers

[retire@50]

Originally Posted by Russell

Retire@50, wow! that's $15k a year savings on top of your 401K - what do you do for a living if you don't mind me asking ? maybe there's still time for me to change careers

I'm a Sr. software engineer. I test software. I only started making good money in the last 5 years. My first 15 years of working I was a machinist and had only made it to $30,000 a year when I got outsourced in 1996. I went back to college and got a two year degree in Computers and started making better money just recently. So part of the reason it's easy for me to save is I'm used to living on a $30,000 a year or less salary. I haven't increased my lifestyle very much with the higher paychecks. Each year I save at least half of my raises.

[Russell]

Originally Posted by retire@50

I'm a Sr. software engineer. I test software. I only started making good money in the last 5 years. My first 15 years of working I was a machinist and had only made it to $30,000 a year when I got outsourced in 1996. I went back to college and got a two year degree in Computers and started making better money just recently. So part of the reason it's easy for me to save is I'm used to living on a $30,000 a year or less salary. I haven't increased my lifestyle very much with the higher paychecks. Each year I save at least half of my raises.

Thanks for sharing.

I've been in the computers field all my life. I was one of those 24 year olds living in Silicon Valley, making six figure salary, driving exotic cars and enjoying overpaying jobs. Until the dot com crash

I was too young and naive to not save up the money when I could. Now 6 years later I'm married, have a baby girl and trying to figure out how to save up enough for retirement and for our daughters college. I married into some hefty student loans too. To make it even tougher I still haven't lost my passion for cars and racing so that eats up some spare chunk too. I've really cut down on it but I still have to enjoy life too. Unfortunately some people enjoy gardening and taking walks on the beaches while I enjoy abusing cars at the race track.

I love metal fabrication, welding etc (self taught) but I never got a chance to work on lathes, mills, CNC etc. Would love to retire in a small home with a big shop and own at least a Bridgeport

[Tree0164]

Russell,
Think long term. If you look at your statements each week you can drive yourself crazy. I am not familar with those two funds that you mentioned. Compare them to the indices that may track. Check our morningstar and other financial journals as well.

[Russell]

Thanks Theresa. The two index funds earned me .8% or so in the last 2 yrs.

I know 2 yrs is not too long but ING will give me 3.15% right now consistently and possibly higher as the interest rates start to climb.

So I'm a bit disappointed in my investing skills

[jodi]

I can't really say how much we save every month b/c it varies. Basically if there is money left before the next paycheck (which there usually is) I pick somewhere to put it. Since my and DHs IRAs are almost maxed out, we've been putting the extra toward student loans. I always pay a little extra on the car payment every month too. We have comfortable savings already (about 6 months of salary), so I don't work on building that up too much.

[marglo]

These days none. We do have an EF (though not enough), but we are on retirement income and we feel it is more important now to pay off all our debt. After that we will try to save more.

[dealsaver]

35% if you include mortgage payments toward principal.

[zoe]

I am going to try to save 15% but I will put it on my home loan - and get 6.74% interest tax-free!

[meaghanchan]

I *think* I'm saving 25% of my gross pay. It's all going to an emergency fund right now; I'm not saving for retirement yet (will start in November, when EF is at $5000.) I'm 23, so saving for retirement isn't exactly my top priority right now, although I do know how important it is to start sooner rather than later.

The reason I only *think* I'm saving 25% of my gross is that, as an independent contractor, I don't get taxes taken out of my paycheck. I put away 50% of my gross for taxes/savings, but since this year is the first year I'll have worked as an independent contractor the entire year, I'm not really that sure what my tax obligations will be. If they end up being 25%, I'll be right on track. If they end up being less than that, I'll be ahead of the game. If they end up being more than that... Well, at least I'll have the money saved up to pay the full amount, although my emergency fund may take a severe beating.

[jmjj215]

We're saving for a house right now. Retirement is waiting until I turn 25 and have a *real* job (starting next Fall). Right now we save income from the business, and live of my internship earnings. I don't know what percentage that is - maybe 50%?

[debtfreeme]

Full time job percent wise:
11 to long term savings
3 to short terms
3 to short term savings (second one)
1.5 to christmas and vacation
15 to 403B (voluntary)
2.5 to defined contribution plan (mandatory)

Part time
15 to stock purchse (25% off lowest price in 6 months)
25 to 401K ( they match great!)
5 long term
5 short term

[EHadden]

We're on a pretty tight budget that is heavy on percentage going to bills and taxes. My DW and I are still paying for MY past mistakes financially, so we are handling those. We are teachers, and therefore required by law to save 12% into our state retirement program. In addition, we put another 6% into our savings account, which funds our "to-do" bigger items...brakes, tires, garage door repairs, you know, the irregular spending items. I guess most would call that the emergency fund. We also save 4% for Christmas shopping and vacation. We are quickly dropping balances and increasing funds on hand, but it seems that SOMETHING always comes along to absorb some of that cash. I would like to save 2-month's worth of expenses and have that on-hand in case of emergency, but can't seem to get there.

[barbara L]

Right now I am only saving $140 per month. When my daughter starts making her car payment again, I hope it will go up to at least 10% of my take home pay, or about $260 - $300 per month.

[TBH]

Good thread. Thanks, dealsaver, for reviving it.

Primary job:
10 percent to 403b. Company matches 4 percent.

Second job:
Will be eligible for 403b in January, then will contribute 10 percent for a 5 percent match.

Spouse:
15 percent to 403b (he's older and needs to catch up)

Plus: $25/mo to a 529 plan.
All tax refunds, gifts, suprises go to short-term savings, my Roth, and the 529. This amount is extremely variable but usually amounts to several thousand a year.

I'm hoping to revise my budget this winter and start using "the 60 percent solution": fixed living expenses at 60 percent, 10 percent each to long term savings, short term savings, retirement and "fun money". Except if we're going to be saving 30 percent I don't think we'll be able to spend a whole 10 percent on having fun.