Saving money.

Are any watmmer's doing the right thing and putting money away for when they get older? I'm not asking anyone to divulge private financial information in any great detail, but I'd be interested to see how many people are squirreling away the Benjamin's (or applicable currency) for those autumn years.

Personally, I have some money saved away, but not nearly as much as I should and it's a background worry. I'd love to be able to put more away, but it's just not financially possible atm.

Saving..? Money..?

money grows on the trees, does it not?

i recently raised my personal level of torrenting to about 100%...

Im lucky to afford vegetables and gas, let alone save money or buy anything fun...

just bought a house (that's my retirement plan for now), will do the ira thing soon.

other than that my saving money plan is to have a job forever and not have kids

I have a savings account that my parents opened for me when I was born, it has almost enough to buy a cheap car now. I try to plan my expenses as if that account didn't exist, knowing it's there for when I want to eventually start a family makes me feel a bit safer. But I never send any money its way. I'd save more if I had a job. Or better yet, I'd save more if people actually paid me for the work I do.

the only way I can save money is to not exist. this is very problematic for me.

blew all our savings on a deposit for a house, now paying off a credit card we used for furniture. savings not happening at the moment. We both are lucky to have pretty decent pension schemes though.

i was saving some money pretty nicely, but i recently used it to pay off every last penny of the debts i had for the past 6 years. so, i'm debt free. it's the first step to really saving some scrilla. it's funny, right before i opened this thread i was just thinking about how i feel pretty good about where i am in life. i have my own place, debt free, making music again, etc.

i recently applied for & received food stamps. i quit one of my jobs because it was stressing me out. i could easily just pick up more work at one of my other two jobs, but i'm really enjoying the stress free days of just having a morning routine and keeping my nights to pursue interests of art and music & so forth. at the moment, i'm not saving any money, and i'm not happy about that, but i will be soon.

typically, i'm pretty good with money; i'm good at keeping a savings account. but i like to live comfortably, and when i'm entertaining, i always treat money like it's nothing in order to have a good time. that whole plan like you'll live forever, live like you'll die tomorrow mentality.

I'll probably move to somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and grow my own shit.

this is an interesting topic for me when it comes up because my father is/was a financial adviser growing up and my wife works for a financial company and is super scrupulous with money, so I've been watching what my cohort has been doing compared with me.

of all of my young 30s friends not one has a house, not one has a savings account with anything more than a couple thousand bucks, not one has a long-term savings plan. they are all still scoffing at the idea that my wife and I are actively saving already.

And these aren't stupid people, one doctor, couple lawyers, couple teachers, a police officer, and an independent business person who owns a couple of small companies.

My wife and I on the other hand have paid now for 50% of our house (only 200 grand left lol) and have over 60 grand in locked-in long-term savings.

I think the main difference is that we're really not that social. It's super fucking easy to blow money on drinks, food, parties, hookers, drugs, parking, movies, clothes, and just fucking shit that you do when you're hanging out with ppl. I went out the other night and came home like 200 dollars poorer and had nothing to show for it. drinks, parking, food, snacks, I don't know. 200 dollars just like that. Usually I'm sitting here at my desktop reading posts or playing minecraft eating food from the grocery store and drinking water from the tap and downloading torrents and watching free porn.

So, I guess the first lesson is GET A SPOUSE that WORKS --you're doubling ur income

and the second lesson is stay at home and be anti-social:)

I gots one of dem gold plated pensions the Daily Mail hates so much.

I'm sorted.

No point in saving when inflation eats it all up is there? Just mortgage some real assets (ie. house) and let it work in your favor instead.

  On 8/21/2012 at 1:01 AM, Franklin said:

So, I guess the first lesson is GET A SPOUSE that WORKS --you're doubling ur income

and the second lesson is stay at home and be anti-social:)

good to hear. :cheers:

like OG Luke, i am paying off old debts (almost fully succeeded killing them all once a few years ago, but got driven to the ER whilst unconscious one night and woke up $3000 poorer!), trying not to go into much debt at school in the meantime, and like braintree, I would love to move back out into the country and grow my own munch some day to save money. living in the city is outrageously expensive (if you're a homebody like me), so nuts to this.

no savings account at the moment, just a checking acct that isn't empty. as a student i don't feel too bad about that.

also trying to figure out a plan to acquire a few associates/trade degrees while continuing to work... i want to do public power work, and get an EE degree, but i'm in the wrong program atm and almost done.

  On 8/21/2012 at 1:18 AM, zkreso said:

No point in saving when inflation eats it all up is there? Just mortgage some real assets (ie. house) and let it work in your favor instead.

i hope you folks buying homes to make money aren't in the US... that scam ended a while ago.

  On 8/20/2012 at 9:37 PM, theSun said:

other than that my saving money plan is to have a job forever and not have kids

Yep, pretty much this.

  On 8/21/2012 at 1:01 AM, Franklin said:

I think the main difference is that we're really not that social. It's super fucking easy to blow money on drinks, food, parties, hookers, drugs, parking, movies, clothes, and just fucking shit that you do when you're hanging out with ppl.

I hear that. I recently settled down with the missus and we had a kid (she's 18mths now). Thought I'd be skint but I'm actually better off month-to-month. I was spending so much on my social life that when I stripped it back I suddenly found that, for the first time, I wasn't running out of money a week before payday.

I've got £2k saved, borrowing £15k from my parents for a deposit on a house. Finish paying off my student loan in October, 11 years after graduating. I did have a property with equity in it but had to walk away from it after a nasty split with my ex, so sort of had to start from scratch. I did fork out £11k on a wedding in Italy two years ago - which was nice, but the wiser thing would have been to put it into premium bonds or towards a deposit on a property. Saving's not going to happen for a while as I'm due to become a father in September - but I'm not worried, got a decent and relatively secure job in a university which means I'm in the local government pension scheme.

  On 8/21/2012 at 11:15 AM, Contact Light said:

  On 8/21/2012 at 1:01 AM, Franklin said:

I think the main difference is that we're really not that social. It's super fucking easy to blow money on drinks, food, parties, hookers, drugs, parking, movies, clothes, and just fucking shit that you do when you're hanging out with ppl.

 

I hear that. I recently settled down with the missus and we had a kid (she's 18mths now). Thought I'd be skint but I'm actually better off month-to-month. I was spending so much on my social life that when I stripped it back I suddenly found that, for the first time, I wasn't running out of money a week before payday.

Is that also the case of just having to be more organised and sensible with an extra dependent?

  On 8/21/2012 at 12:06 PM, jhonny said:

  On 8/21/2012 at 11:15 AM, Contact Light said:

  On 8/21/2012 at 1:01 AM, Franklin said:

I think the main difference is that we're really not that social. It's super fucking easy to blow money on drinks, food, parties, hookers, drugs, parking, movies, clothes, and just fucking shit that you do when you're hanging out with ppl.

 

I hear that. I recently settled down with the missus and we had a kid (she's 18mths now). Thought I'd be skint but I'm actually better off month-to-month. I was spending so much on my social life that when I stripped it back I suddenly found that, for the first time, I wasn't running out of money a week before payday.

 

Is that also the case of just having to be more organised and sensible with an extra dependent?

I'd say I've had organisation and sensibleness foisted upon me. Even before we had our daughter, the missus was very insistent that, for example, I take lunch with me to work rather than buy it every day. A thousand little things like that and I took to that way of thinking, so I am more sensible and organised now, and it's really helped.

Got a couple of hundred £ saved, so not too much, but it's a start. Have a pension scheme at work that I joined on a whim about 5 years ago and have seen it steadily build.

Christ, I'm boring. What happened?

  On 8/21/2012 at 12:17 PM, Contact Light said:

  On 8/21/2012 at 12:06 PM, jhonny said:

  On 8/21/2012 at 11:15 AM, Contact Light said:

  On 8/21/2012 at 1:01 AM, Franklin said:

I think the main difference is that we're really not that social. It's super fucking easy to blow money on drinks, food, parties, hookers, drugs, parking, movies, clothes, and just fucking shit that you do when you're hanging out with ppl.

 

I hear that. I recently settled down with the missus and we had a kid (she's 18mths now). Thought I'd be skint but I'm actually better off month-to-month. I was spending so much on my social life that when I stripped it back I suddenly found that, for the first time, I wasn't running out of money a week before payday.

 

Is that also the case of just having to be more organised and sensible with an extra dependent?

 

I'd say I've had organisation and sensibleness foisted upon me. Even before we had our daughter, the missus was very insistent that, for example, I take lunch with me to work rather than buy it every day. A thousand little things like that and I took to that way of thinking, so I am more sensible and organised now, and it's really helped.

 

Got a couple of hundred £ saved, so not too much, but it's a start. Have a pension scheme at work that I joined on a whim about 5 years ago and have seen it steadily build.

 

Christ, I'm boring. What happened?

Ha we've just done the packed-lunch thing in the last 6 months. Yeah I agree it's the lots of small things that make a difference. We freeze a lot more food now and eat leftovers etc.

  On 8/21/2012 at 12:51 PM, Stickfigger said:

Saving for a house come January ... like some others said... thats part of the savings plan ... value going to go up quicker than interest and all signs are indicating that Gen - Y will be the last to be able to somewhat easily enter the housing market in Australia.

How does the value of housing rise if there's a drop in people who buy houses?

It is dangerous to just assume that people won't be able to buy a house in the future, or that house prices will have increased between the time you buy and sell. Yes, for the vast majority, you can buy sensibly to ensure that you sell > buy but many have been burnt in recent years. Also, jobs security is in general reducing and people are moving to contracted employment, you may get a mortgage on a salary but then shift to a contract and suddenly you're a risky prospect.

  On 8/20/2012 at 11:53 PM, Braintree said:

I'll probably move to somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and grow my own shit.

  On 8/20/2012 at 11:53 PM, Braintree said:

I'll probably move to somewhere out in the middle of nowhere and grow my own shit.

Bought a house.

Got a few premium bonds left.

Spent all my ISAs.

Got no pension - as far as I am concerned they are a waste of time.

Saving is difficult now I have a massive mortgage - but at least if I can keep paying it off, its an investment of sorts.

  On 8/21/2012 at 2:21 PM, feltcher said:

Saving is difficult now I have a massive mortgage - but at least if I can keep paying it off, its an investment of sorts.

it's totally an investment - I hate the fact that I have to pay rent. Just feels like I'm pissing money away...