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Shares / Re: How much do you save ?
« on: March 22, 2016, 11:36:18 am »
I think the best answer here is "as much as you can". Do you get any type of matching in terms of a pension fund etc, and if so can you up the % you contribute?
Also if you haven't maxed out an RA between you and your company (27.5% of gross salary allowed) do so. Not paying tax on all that money will mean you in effect save more for less. If you're in the upper tax brackets that'll be a huge boost!
I'm probably a lot more frugal than most, I've pretty much had 50% of my take home pay automatically invested every month. Initially into my bond, then a unit trust, and now ETFs. It's meant I've felt poor on occasion, as the money was taken out in the beginning of the month, so I just had to live on the rest, but it's also meant I avoided the excess of new cars and luxurious houses.
But I can see where you're coming from though, things are definitely tightening up. My annual increase was only 4%, significantly lower than the current real inflation. I'm running out of things to trim spending on!
Also if you haven't maxed out an RA between you and your company (27.5% of gross salary allowed) do so. Not paying tax on all that money will mean you in effect save more for less. If you're in the upper tax brackets that'll be a huge boost!
I'm probably a lot more frugal than most, I've pretty much had 50% of my take home pay automatically invested every month. Initially into my bond, then a unit trust, and now ETFs. It's meant I've felt poor on occasion, as the money was taken out in the beginning of the month, so I just had to live on the rest, but it's also meant I avoided the excess of new cars and luxurious houses.
But I can see where you're coming from though, things are definitely tightening up. My annual increase was only 4%, significantly lower than the current real inflation. I'm running out of things to trim spending on!