How Much Is Everyone Saving?

pf2 on 16/12/2022 - 15:59

How much of your take home pay are you saving? If you are a good saver are you living at home/rent & mortgage free? Are you happy with your lifestyle?

Did some numbers yesterday and between my partner and I we can maybe save $50,000p.a. between us if we want to make an effort, but don't want to scrimp on everything because who wants to live like that? Depressingly - that's only a $1.5m house if we did that for the next 30 years with zero interest, which if you are living in Sydney or Melbourne barely gets you a decent sized home these days.

Poll Options

  • 152
    0% live pay check to pay check
  • 84
    <10%
  • 95
    10%-20%
  • 68
    20%-30%
  • 65
    30%-40%
  • 403
    >40%
Financial

Comments

  • Black Brown Blue on 18/12/2022 - 14:24
    +3

    Have paid off house. Save around 70-80% of my income per month. Do not have any liability or loans. I am extremely frugal most of time but sometimes I will spend generously on a nice holiday, experience. I have started focussing on my health and diet now as that is more important than money.

  • techlead on 18/12/2022 - 15:08
    +2

    With the way we are going, I reckon $1.5 million 30 years from now probably wouldn't even be able to buy a shack on any size land giving the way property prices as well as infaltion is going.

    • furyou on 18/12/2022 - 19:41
      +1

      1mil gets an apartment in Sydney..

      • techlead on 19/12/2022 - 19:03
        +2

        I said 30 years from now. I highly doubt $1 mil gets an apartment in Sydney in 2052.

  • ToyotaCrownHybrid on 18/12/2022 - 18:07

    10% in rent, 10% in food, bills and petrol

    • Mr Haj on 19/12/2022 - 16:18

      10% for rent is good. 20% of my wages (after tax) is going towards rent. and that is for one room of a sharehouse.

      • ToyotaCrownHybrid on 19/12/2022 - 21:20

        yeah man, it's a good score, got 3 other mates with me at the moment in a big house with 2 living rooms so we all get our own space or can hangout if we choose. Bills don't become much more expensive either, heating and cooling is the same, fridge is the same whether it's 1 person or 4.

  • furyou on 18/12/2022 - 19:40

    Put everything into mortgage, and use from there as well. Don't ever expect to finish it. Is that saving or not?

  • Jugganautx on 18/12/2022 - 19:45

    Supporting my young daughter and wife as a sahm is harder on my finances than I've had to face before. Saving money is a real struggle.

    Being single is a hell of a lot easier to save up. I saved 70k for my first home working at woolworths on $800 a week in 1-3 years.

    I probably don't even get to save 15k a year now if I'm lucky and I'm earning a lot more.

  • GourmetFoodie on 18/12/2022 - 21:17
    +1

    Based on this poll, RBA should be raising far more aggressively!

    • El-Rhi on 18/12/2022 - 21:38

      Why? If people are saving so much they aren’t spending and not adding to inflation

    • gromit on 18/12/2022 - 22:29
      +1

      People not spending is a good sign and is what the rba wants. So no, this thread if the poll is to be believed would make them happy and less likely to raise more. Having said that i suspect the poll is highly inaccurate

  • BlueberryOrangeJuice on 19/12/2022 - 02:33
    -1

    Being able to save $50,000 a year is amazing. Maybe check your privilege and understand that most Australians can’t save anywhere near that a year.

    “Australians are saving an average of $743 a month, but millions of us don't have any savings at all, according to a recent survey.”
    - https://amp.9news.com.au/article/349e474a-481a-4b63-ad0c-488…

    • Mr Haj on 19/12/2022 - 10:28
      +2

      Most Australians don't even earn that after tax

  • janster on 19/12/2022 - 10:44
    +1

    31M, doctor, no kids, no mortgage, single. Work pays for accommodation and utilities.

    I'm fortunate enough to earn 600k last FY pre-tax, saving 95%+ (by saving I also include recurring investments into index funds as well as cash on hand)

    My weekly expenses are about 100-200 a week (mainly food). No loans whatsoever

    I get that I'm the exception but I can't wait to have enough invested so that my passive income is able to support my FIRE lifestyle whilst I travel the world

    Hopefully able to find a partner to DINK for awhile, but that's not a barrier for me

    • cunningdrew on 19/12/2022 - 11:25
      +5

      I'm single. Male… but on that CV I could jump the fence!!!

    • Mintee on 19/12/2022 - 13:43

      Wow…. I got into the wrong field, with two jobs, im still thinking how can I start my own side hustle to even get me close to 6 figures…

    • Mr Haj on 19/12/2022 - 16:20
      +1

      how u single? post your income on tinder

    • GourmetFoodie on 19/12/2022 - 21:39

      What kind of doctor? You must work in a regional area?

    • janster on 20/12/2022 - 14:57

      Yes I work regional, and note that I also put in 80-90hrs a week on average

  • pharkurnell on 19/12/2022 - 10:56
    +2

    I had to google what the word "saving" meant…

    sorry cant help you…

  • Gabbatron44 on 19/12/2022 - 11:11
    +2

    I'd highly recommend the Barefoot investor book to give you some practical tips to dividing your money as soon as it arrives. Money for disctrionary spending, money for every expenses, money for long term saving goals and to have a rainy day fund.

  • cadwalader on 19/12/2022 - 11:20

    Depends if I'm having an overseas holiday or not.

    More than 40% week to week and month to month. Annually, that is around my normal saving rate too. However, been on two long overseas holidays this year that was more that was around 15% of my annual take home pay, so it would be around 30-40% factoring that in.

  • cunningdrew on 19/12/2022 - 11:23
    +2

    I call a shambles on this poll. Half of Ozb's are saving 40% of their income? lol

    • El-Rhi on 19/12/2022 - 12:28
      +1

      The poll should have a >75% option… most would be in there!

      • BlueberryOrangeJuice on 19/12/2022 - 13:57
        +1

        I guess it would be good to see a breakdown of ozbargain user demographics.

        I mean how are you saving 40% of your income after:
        - rent / mortgage
        - utilities
        - internet / phone
        - food
        - transport / petrol / parking
        - insurance (personal / vehicles / home)
        - medical
        - leisure
        - kids?

        🤔

        • geshc on 19/12/2022 - 14:35
          +1

          No need to breakdown, we all earn $250,000+ here on Ozbargain and work in IT/Engineering/Mining!

    • Kail on 19/12/2022 - 20:59

      Not everyone has kids? I feel like that's a major factor.

      • BlueberryOrangeJuice on 19/12/2022 - 23:58

        Even without kids I find it hard to save. So idk how people with kids are still saving 40% 🤷‍♀️

        • El-Rhi on 20/12/2022 - 11:04
          +1

          Depends on income, lifestyle, partner income, mortgage size…. Lots of variables

  • Wilson Wallace on 19/12/2022 - 11:47
    +1

    I actually have no idea how much I'm saving. Bought my house @ 535k in 2017 when I was 29 and have about 250k left for my mortgage. Only paying it down myself.

    • Freestyle on 20/12/2022 - 00:18
      +1

      thats pretty good

  • eek on 19/12/2022 - 12:14

    Single income family, two kids at daycare, three mortgages to service…..not much is saved :(

    • BlueberryOrangeJuice on 19/12/2022 - 13:58
      +2

      Three mortgages? 🤔

      • eek on 19/12/2022 - 16:15

        PPOR and two rentals, yes. All just freehold residential houses though. Wouldn't mind diversifying into Commercial maybe??

    • GourmetFoodie on 19/12/2022 - 21:40
      +5

      Why are your kids in daycare if your partner is not working?!

      • eek on 20/12/2022 - 09:41

        Lazy I guess. I live a very unfortunately life where I work full time, take care of the kids when I'm home/weekends and do the majority of the housework etc.

        • pf2 on 20/12/2022 - 10:27
          +2

          Partner needs a kick up the bum

        • GourmetFoodie on 20/12/2022 - 19:17
          +1

          And you’re still married why?!

  • AsSeenOnTv on 19/12/2022 - 14:15

    The OP's calculation of $50k x 30 years to get a $1.5m house is not that accurate. You need to:
    - subtract the cost of rent which you would not longer be paying
    - add additional costs such as rates and maintenance
    - add interest
    - factor in inflation - so if you still owe $1m in 20 years that will be worth a lot less than $1m in today's dollars.

    So the picture is probably not as bad as you think even though prices are ridiculous.

  • endolphin on 19/12/2022 - 15:06

    Averages about 60%. That includes the principal repayment of my home loan (basically forced savings). E. G. I only count the interest component as an expense.

  • monky on 19/12/2022 - 19:07
    +3

    No saving for monky… Tree and banana too expensive…

  • Freestyle on 20/12/2022 - 00:16

    40% is the goal, more is good when I don't spend as much.

  • locknuts on 20/12/2022 - 07:54

    10k net income. 2k into investments, 2k cash savings, 2k in interst on our investment loans. Paid off mortgage on the PPOR. Live onbthe rest with 2 kids. Happy with our lifestyle. We're pretty frugal though. We can stretch that 4 k per month quite a long way.

    • pf2 on 20/12/2022 - 10:30

      Good on you! How did you pay off mortgage on PPOR if you are on 10k net income if you don't mind me asking?

      • locknuts on 20/12/2022 - 13:02

        Bought first house in 2008 for 250k with 60k deposit. Saved it by living with my wife in a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 other people. We made minimum wage then. Paid 100k off that house in 4 years. Living that tight hurt our marriage though. Wouldn't recommend it. Bought our current house for 345k in 2012. It needed work. Sold the first house for 269k and paid the 160k equity straight off our mortgage. Started investing in 2013 using interest only loans and offsets. Paid 3 - 4k to offset our mortgage as our incomes got higher. Only took 7 years or so to save enough in the offset to pay it off completely. I got scared of using all my savings though until earlier this year and bit the bullet and got the title deed. Oh and we lived in a pretty bad area for our first home. Full of crime.

        • GourmetFoodie on 20/12/2022 - 19:18

          Let me guess, the house you first bought in worth $800k now lol?!

          • locknuts on 20/12/2022 - 19:49

            @GourmetFoodie: First one is only worth around $350k now. It was in Gailes, QLD. A very low socio-economic area. My PPOR is worth about 800k now though.

  • archieduh on 20/12/2022 - 09:37

    This poll is such a big reality check :(

  • pf2 on 20/12/2022 - 10:24

    Forgot I made this post!
    Some good insights but when nearly half the poll are people saving more than 40% it's even more depressing lol.

    I know everyone's circumstances are different - just starting out/young family/near retirement, no kids/young kids/grown kids/trying for kids, single/family/divorced with child support/single parent, living at home rent free/paying multiple mortgages, different investment portfolios (if any!) etc etc the list goes on.

    Obviously my no-interest-$1.5m-home is absolutely unrealistic, I was just illustrating a point.

    It didn't cross my mind at the time of posting that everyone has a different version of savings, my bad!
    My interpretation as to what counts as savings is:
    - post regular mortgage repayments (extras that sit in your offset is savings)
    - extra super contribution above SGC
    - investments of liquid assets (shares, managed funds, ETFs, crypto etc - ignoring any P&L)
    - post any other loan repayment (e.g. car loan)
    - anything that remain in your control that you would not feel bad about taking out of (subjective I know)
    What doesn't count:
    - mortgage repayments
    - money you are putting away/"saving" for whatever reason (e.g. money in lieu of pet insurance, IVF, private school funds)
    - money you pay to family & friends (e.g. rent to parents, pocket money to your kids)
    Disclaimer - that is my interpretation only - you may disagree and that's fine, just that a few pointed out that there may different assumptions in what counts as savings so I'm just stating mine.

    • Mr Haj on 20/12/2022 - 15:50

      Some good insights but when nearly half the poll are people saving more than 40% it's even more depressing lol.

      So you and your gf are clearing at least 125k after tax (50k / 0.4)? Saving 50k a year is impressive. I wouldn't be too concerned with your savings rate.
      Don't worry about what everyone else is doing. If you are content in your job then you will be okay :)

  • CheapWrangler on 20/12/2022 - 16:02

    I save about 40% of my income, together with my partner we are saving 80k a year

  • mitt on 20/12/2022 - 21:14
    -1

    If paying down my mortgage counts as saving (the amount I pay each fortnight minus interest charged), then about 70%.

    Hoping to pay off this place fast enough to be able to buy someone else's broken dreams at the end of next year. Go interest rates go!

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