How much do you have saved?

HavocXphere said:
Like 10%. Not even slightly stressed about it though. Getting 25%+ raises p.a. (off a low base) with no major increases in living costs so its all fun & games at this stage. Plus I seem to be doing better than my peers savings wise....hell two have approached me for short term loans...

See also related thread I created here...
http://mybroadband.co.za/vb/showthread.php/440157-Emergency-cash-reserves?highlight=


Very interesting thread you had there. But I dont think while saving and trying to live within /below our means we should stop doing nice things and spoiling ourselves a little. I see some guys don't even have DSTV all in the name of saving, that depriving yourself of important things. I downgraded mine but I cant imagine my life without watching sport on TV and no internet access all because I want to save more.
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I have about 20% of my salary going purely to savings/investments.

Then beyond that my wife and I throw another 10% or so of our incomes into overpaying our bond which amounts to it being done in less than 10 years and should ultimately be an investment in its own right.

The "nice" things come out of tax returns and bonuses, they aren't guaranteed and fall firmly in the nice to have category so we don't get accustomed to an impossible lifestyle.

I do plan to "retire" by 45 though, in the sense that I will no longer work for a boss and do what I do now but instead bring in only what I need once everything is bought and paid for.
 
Kbeat said:
You have no idea how many of us were raised from that R600 pm (back the). And today its just over a R 1000 and its still bringing up kids.
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In Cape Town I've seen the pits that cost around a thousand Rand a month to rent. To raise a child you'd have to really cut back on the food, live somewhere really dodgy and forget about things like paying for an education.

SauRoNZA said:
I do agree that there is a certain threshold at which it becomes quite difficult, but then at the same time things like UIF and TAX are a constant equivalent for everyone and simply because it's forced people manage to make do with those amounts falling away from their salary.

So imposing those "forced" charges on yourself is really where savings come from regardless of how much you earn and that is the discipline that Cius is referring to.
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That actually doesn't make logical sense. Someone has taken some of my money by force, so it's really not going to make any difference is some more is subtracted from my income.

However your point regarding financial education is a very valid one and I wish they would spend less time on other **** in school and teach people real world life skills like matter.
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School should get back to focussing on academic subjects. They've strayed far enough from that already with all this practical and outcomes silliness. Education should be for it's own sake. Besides any knowledge of the financial sort could easily be imparted in one or two lessons a week.
 
noxibox said:
That actually doesn't make logical sense. Someone has taken some of my money by force, so it's really not going to make any difference is some more is subtracted from my income.
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Yeah it's bizarre to suggest that tax and UIF are financial equalizers just because everyone gets SOMETHING deducted. You still have huge discrepancies between net salaries, and that's what we're talking about here.

All I'm really saying is that below a certain point you are just going to prioritize other things above savings. Your term view of finances becomes increasingly narrowed as your present means are constricted. If you do save, you do it primarily so that you don't get whallopped with unforeseen expenses like car failures and so on; it's not got a lot to do with compound interest or retirement income as a percentage of final.
 
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What I'm saying is that savings should be invisible costs much like tax and UIF which you don't take into account from one month to another.

It's about the discipline. I see so many people who fail at the discipline because one month they save and the next month something or another is too alluring and they use the savings money to buy it instead.

20 years down the line they don't have nearly enough to go around and find themselves in a pickle.

So much like tax/UIF your savings should come off your gross income and not be taken into account as part of your net income every month.
 
SauRoNZA said:
What I'm saying is that savings should be invisible costs much like tax and UIF which you don't take into account from one month to another.

It's about the discipline. I see so many people who fail at the discipline because one month they save and the next month something or another is too alluring and they use the savings money to buy it instead.

20 years down the line they don't have nearly enough to go around and find themselves in a pickle.

So much like tax/UIF your savings should come off your gross income and not be taken into account as part of your net income every month.
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I get the whole pay yourself first thing. It's still somewhat of a luxury to be able to pay yourself first. I'm not really arguing against doing that, as it's undoubtedly very very sound practice. Just that it's not within everyone's reach when nappies, or rent, or other basic necessities are at stake. Once you hit a certain minimum viable threshold though it's irresponsible to yourself not to practice some kind of savings discipline.
 
cerebus said:
I get the whole pay yourself first thing. It's still somewhat of a luxury to be able to pay yourself first. I'm not really arguing against doing that, as it's undoubtedly very very sound practice. Just that it's not within everyone's reach when nappies, or rent, or other basic necessities are at stake. Once you hit a certain minimum viable threshold though it's irresponsible to yourself not to practice some kind of savings discipline.
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Expenses will always expand to fit the income. There isn't a minimum viable threshold because one's idea of "necessities" changes along with your salary. So if you're waiting to hit this mythical "minimum viable threshold" then you'll never hit it because it doesn't exist.

And I'm not critizing here - that mentality affects everyone. Come to think of it, my original post in this thread has a strong streak of the same symptom in it. Sauron has a point...it will be much less painful if its "invisible". hmm I should set up a scheduled transfer to move 20% somewhere else right on payday.
 
SauRoNZA said:
If you got it horribly wrong then surely you'd want to educate your children about the mistakes you've made so that they don't do the same.
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People feel shame about these things. Its very difficult for parents to tell their kids "I fckd up - here are the details". They feel guilty for not being able to provide. Its also very much subject to social class. i.e. If you're from a middle class background then chances are you'll get an OK baseline of knowledge at least. If you're from a poor background then the parents might simply have no knowledge to pass on.

I'm fairly fortunate in that regard and yet even my parents play their cards close to their chest. Essentially they won't volunteer info openly but will answer all questions truthfully.
 
I try to save around 10K every month... But yeah I have very bad discipline. lol
 
HavocXphere said:
Expenses will always expand to fit the income. There isn't a minimum viable threshold because one's idea of "necessities" changes along with your salary. So if you're waiting to hit this mythical "minimum viable threshold" then you'll never hit it because it doesn't exist.
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That's certainly not what I'm talking about. Anyone who can talk about giving up luxuries or putting off purchases to be able to save clearly doesn't grasp the situation some people are in.

SauRoNZA said:
What I'm saying is that savings should be invisible costs much like tax and UIF which you don't take into account from one month to another.

It's about the discipline. I see so many people who fail at the discipline because one month they save and the next month something or another is too alluring and they use the savings money to buy it instead.

20 years down the line they don't have nearly enough to go around and find themselves in a pickle.

So much like tax/UIF your savings should come off your gross income and not be taken into account as part of your net income every month.
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That would only make people on the borderline poorer because while being forced to save they'd have to take out loans to cover having somewhere to live and food to eat. Your premise that everyone can save is fundamentally incorrect.
 
HavocXphere said:
Expenses will always expand to fit the income. There isn't a minimum viable threshold because one's idea of "necessities" changes along with your salary. So if you're waiting to hit this mythical "minimum viable threshold" then you'll never hit it because it doesn't exist.
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R200 a month can be the difference between having enough nappies to change a dirty bum or letting them run around in a sagging half-off nappy; renting in a decent area or in a hovel; indulging in the 'luxury' of proper coffee. Of course you could always go lower, but there's a certain point that if you don't have to, you aren't willing to sacrifice more because it affects your mental state - a lot more than the benefits of gaining an extra r200 towards some future retirement does for certain. You know how demoralizing it is to have to make such fundamental choices between necessities on a constant basis, and you expect people still to save on top of that? You don't know what you're talking about.
 
*sigh* Itching to respond to cerebus's old comment there...but its 2 years old...so moving swiftly along.

Right now very little - 10-20%. Burned through a mountain of cash while travelling recently - largely thanks to a mybb thread.

Very cool but now its time to focus on saving a bit. :) And hope like hell the market doesn't crash shortly thereafter. :o
 
Icarium said:
I'd noticed that my contributions per my pay slip and what appears on the odd statement didn't quite add up, but never looked at it till now. Now I see that they charge an admin fee of R44, consulting fees of R40 and then a "Risk" fee equal to 10% of the monthly contributions. They're basically pocketing 12% of my total monthly contributions up front, every month.
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Not the ****.

Someone is stealing from you
 
HavocXphere said:
*sigh* Itching to respond to cerebus's old comment there...but its 2 years old...so moving swiftly along.

Right now very little - 10-20%. Burned through a mountain of cash while travelling recently - largely thanks to a mybb thread.

Very cool but now its time to focus on saving a bit. :) And hope like hell the market doesn't crash shortly thereafter. :o
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Go on then, respond away. I'm sure my own views have changed in the interim since as well.
 
Planning for the day when you no longer earn a salary from fulltime employment?

The general rule of thumb most financial planners/experts will cite is that your annual drawings shouldn't exceed 4% of your income-generating savings.

So, if you have R100 saved in whatever form (pension fund, income-producing property, bonds, stock, whatever), you can draw R4 per year or R0.33 per month.

In other words, you need R3m saved and earning interest for every R10K per month of retirement income you require.

All this assumes that paper investments remain pretty steady and there's no financial crash, which in my view is a reckless assumption given the high rate at which governments are running the printing presses...
 
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