38 no savings no assets earn 55k a year and live from pay cheque to pay cheque

[Lucashood]

Would appreciate some help on sorting myself out with regards my finances , I am very bad with money and live pay cheque to pay cheque when I should have 50-100k saved. I have been in permanent employment since 2008, my annual gross wage is about 34k but it rises to 55k since I am on 4 cycle shift.

I don't have a mortgage or any dependents, my monthly net wage is around 3000-3300 a month .The following represents my expenses

Rent-500
Car-145/50 a month for insurance(I started late and still on a provisional)/Petrol
Phone-40-Stupidly locked myself into a 2 year contract with Vodafone for a new Samsung s6
Internet-45
Electricity-100
Gym-30

The above represent my fixed expenses , with regards food and entertainment I don't really budget and I drink quite alot

 

[Joe_90]

So that's €900 of your €3,300 per month so that's not the problem.

You should either keep a diary of your spending or pay for everything with a debit/credit card and keep all receipts then at the end of the week export your transactions and analyse them out.

I'd imagine that you will discover that your are spending significant amounts on coffee/lunches/snacks/ dinner out/ beer money/weekends away.

Then what are the major one offs how often do you go on holidays? Health insurance?

Once you have a summary together you can get an understanding of where you can start to reduce the expenditure and then put away x per month.

 

[Clamball]

It sounds like you have no debts which is good so you are in a position to start saving. You need to have a goal so decide what you would like to save for, a car, a holiday, nothing too mindblowing like a house to start.

Then decide to save an amount each month that sounds reasonable to you and won't make you feel like you are penny pinching. Say €100, set up a saving account and transfer it in every month. (If you get paid weekly, do €25 or €30 a week. So you might want to go on holidays in summer 2018, by then you will have saved €1800, it makes it a lot easier to have the money in the account to pay for it. You can spend the time before the holiday planning and checking out where to go, how to get the best bang for your buck.

So maybe by this summer saving €100 a month looks easy, you don't even notice it and you think you can do better. So think of maybe that car, perhaps a cheap €2400 one, but you don't want to wait forever to save for it, then put €200 a month aside for that and by the time you come back from that holiday in 2018 you have the money for the car saved and you are in the habit of saving €300 a month.

What you can do then is save to build up a nest egg, no specific goal but to have rainy day savings in the bank. It is hard to change habits, start slow and build up, don't plan to save €1000 a month from this month, you will resent the lack of spending power you have after the first pay cheque.

 

[gnf_ireland]

Agree 100% with what is said above. You need to work on your discretionary expenditure and work out where it goes. I am guessing you already know, or at least have a feeling. You need to have some way of tracking this, whether it be a spending diary, some sort of app or use contactless so you have a record on your bank statement.

I also agree that you need to send up a standing order into a regular savings account for maybe 400 euro a month. It still leaves you with 2000 a month for casual spending - that's 500 euro a week. If that is a step too far, start on 100, rise it to 200 and then to 400.

I would also advise to minimise the cash you keep in your wallet - most people if they have cash in the wallet are tempted to spend it.

Good luck OP, but I think the issue is quite simple - you are spending like you are in your 20's with not a care in the world but you are thinking you need to start being a bit more mature about your finances.

BTW - push yourself to get your driving licence. I was late learning to drive as well, but its just a matter of applying yourself and you will be thankful of the benefits.

 

[PaddyBloggit]

with regards food and entertainment I don't really budget and I drink quite alot

That's where the money is going. Those 3 items alone will eat into any money you are earning.

Without going into details, this is what you need to look at first.

I'd also be examining what "I drink quite alot" means.

 

[PGF2016]

Following on from what other posters have said you need to set up a direct debit to put 400 euro per month into the highest interest savings account on the market (KBC?). 100 euro per month or 25 euro per week is nothing. Aim higher. you've got plenty to play with. I would guess that once you've got this set up you'll barely notice it. Good luck.

 

[MrEarl]

Hello,

There are long term, medium term and short term objectives for you here if you really want to change your finances for the better (and to be honest, you really should because your paycheck may not be there for ever !)

Short term:
You have accounted for €900 out of approx €3,300 per month. So thats €2,400 unaccounted for each month, or say €600 per week if you rather.

For one week, keep a small pocket diary and write down everything you have spent your money on because the first thing to do is identify where your money is going - so you can then start cutting back on things you don't need or start spending a little more wisely.

For the second week in that same month, stay in for a full week (don't worry, your social life won't disappear for evermore and you don't have to go anywhere at the weekend etc). It's no big deal, it's only 7-days. Stay in, watch a few movies or read a good book, order in a curry rather than going out for a meal. Again, keep a note of how much you have spent and what you have spent the money on. Whatever is left over from the €600, stick it straight into a savings account immediately, somewhere that is not very easily accessed (i.e. can't be obtained via bank card). Perhaps open a credit union account if you don't already have one and stick it in there.

For the remaining two weeks of this month, put €100 per week into the same savings account. It will only be 15% of your "disposable" income fo two weeks, so it won't hurt you even if you think it will.

Spend those two weeks comparing the list of things you spent your money on during week one and week two, then asking yourself if your spending your money wisely each time you go to spend it:

• could you buy at a better price somewhere else ?
  
• do you really need to buy at all ?
  
• is there a loyalty card you could get to earn discounts or rewards from whatever you are spending your money and if so are you using it to get recognition for the custom you are giving them ?

If you follow those steps successfully then in one single month you will have:

• €400 - €500 (or quite possibly more) in a savings account
• a lot more detailed information on what you have been spending your money on

Then you'll be ready to start setting some goals for yourself, start saving regularly and start cutting back on unnecessary expenditure or spending a little more wisely and there's many a good person on here that will offer further sensible suggestions to help you with medium and longer term objectives.

Very best of luck, it's only a month so take a chance you've nothing to lose