30 and barely any savings

[coocoonana]

HI all. gonna turn 30 but barely any savings. Pay is not high. God. What to do? Just start saving asap as much as possible?

 

[BBCWatcher]

HI all. gonna turn 30 but barely any savings. Pay is not high. God. What to do? Just start saving asap as much as possible?

First of all, presumably you have some savings in CPF (if you're a Singaporean citizen or Permanent Resident). If so, congratulations.

Second, savings is equal to the difference (surplus) between income and current consumption, or in equation form:

S = I - C

Raise your income, reduce your consumption, or both, and your savings increase. If your consumption is higher than your income, then your savings rate is negative, meaning you're incurring debt.

Third, make sure your savings are working as hard as they can be but while still being prudent. Just to pick a simple example, if you don't need all your CPF Ordinary Account dollars as Ordinary Account dollars, and if your Special Account is below the Full Retirement Sum, then you're allowed to move OA dollars into SA. OA earns 2.5%, and SA earns 4.0% interest. SA wins! Of course SA dollars are reserved for your retirement (age 55+) whereas OA dollars can be used for housing. So it depends on your situation.

Relatedly, if you have high or moderate cost debt -- credit card debt, for example -- then paying that down and off offers an excellent yield.

Fourth, defend yourself against downside catastrophic risks using genuine insurance necessities. For most people that means the "big three": term life insurance (if they have at least one genuine dependent), Disability Income Insurance (DII), and an Integrated Shield plan designed to cover public hospital B1 ward stays on an "as charged" basis.

Fifth, keep an emergency reserve fund on hand, at least 6 months of normal household expenses. Financial celebrity Suze Orman recommends a minimum of 8 months, and many people like to have 12 months of emergency reserve. You can place this emergency reserve fund in some combination of the highest SDIC protected bank/bank-like deposit accounts you can find and, for emergency month 3 onward, Singapore Savings Bonds. (Although I don't think the current SSB is particularly attractive.)

Good luck!

 

[havetheveryfun]

at least u are still starting from 0

some ppl starting from negative

 

[NewInvestor]

Not even 30 yet. U have lots of time left. Why even worry? First thing is to bring your spending down as much as you can. Just focus on that and get used to spending as little as possible.

 

[testingabc]

Don't worry as long as you are not in debts. Depends on your pay and lifestyle, get a good bank saving accounts for the start. Currently Singlife give pretty good interest of 2.5% for the first $10K. For simple bank accounts, CIMB Fastsaver gives pretty good rate with simple requirements. After that try to save slowly.

 

[limster]

Don't worry as long as you are not in debts. Depends on your pay and lifestyle, get a good bank saving accounts for the start. Currently Singlife give pretty good interest of 2.5% for the first $10K. For simple bank accounts, CIMB Fastsaver gives pretty good rate with simple requirements. After that try to save slowly.

somehow I doubt that choosing a particular bank account at age 30 is one of those lifechanging choices that will shape your future. And the 2.5% is not guaranteed.

Millionaire Next Door gives a good guide - millionaires succeed because they control spending and increase their employment income.

so if your pay is low, consider investing in yourself through acquiring new skills or networking.

 

[peppermint7]

somehow I doubt that choosing a particular bank account at age 30 is one of those lifechanging choices that will shape your future. And the 2.5% is not guaranteed.

Millionaire Next Door gives a good guide - millionaires succeed because they control spending and increase their employment income.

so if your pay is low, consider investing in yourself through acquiring new skills or networking.

We actually have quite a lot of millionaires here at moneymind
Perhaps should get them to share with us how they get there

It'll inspire ppl to save more spend less

 

[testingabc]

somehow I doubt that choosing a particular bank account at age 30 is one of those lifechanging choices that will shape your future. And the 2.5% is not guaranteed.

Millionaire Next Door gives a good guide - millionaires succeed because they control spending and increase their employment income.

so if your pay is low, consider investing in yourself through acquiring new skills or networking.

Of course it don't make a big difference, but I feel changing bank accounts is the first step to it. Few years ago, me still using POSB savings accounts with 0.05% IR. Singlife and CIMB is a good start. TS does not have any savings, so you cannot ask him to start investing yet. Second steps, will be for him to control his wants, reduce his wants. After that he can read more, and see whether he want to start any side line mini jobs or learn more on how to invest. Bit by bit, TS is still young. I do agree the best thing is to always invest yourself, no matter at what age.

 

[Thoreldan]

HI all. gonna turn 30 but barely any savings. Pay is not high. God. What to do? Just start saving asap as much as possible?

No one can help you if we do not know your circumstances.

Do u earn $10k per mth but spent 9k a month on branded stuff and atas dining ?

Or do you earn $2k a month but got 5 mouths to feed at home ?

Experts here probably can advise how to spend less for a start...

 

[Conor McGregor]

HI all. gonna turn 30 but barely any savings. Pay is not high. God. What to do? Just start saving asap as much as possible?

Got any debts?

 

[peppermint7]

HI all. gonna turn 30 but barely any savings. Pay is not high. God. What to do? Just start saving asap as much as possible?

I think many of us start saving with really low pay too. During my time my 1st job, I was paid near $600 per monthly only. Yet I save. I live on very little. I spend on the minimum. After setting aside a tiny contribution for my mom, I stil squeeze out very little to save. Those were the days. It forms a habit for me to squirrel away as much as I can just to save from $0 up

When I first accumulated my 6 months in case out of job $, I was so pleased with myself

Then i pressed on to save and save. I believe there's a will, there's a way. So long u are willing to save, nothing will hinder you.

But for myself. No matter how tight I am financially, I must continue to contribute to my mom. It is just in me. For time i am out of job. I will dig into my piggy bank to continue to give her. Then when I am on job again, I'll save up all over again.

Step by step. Little by little. U will get somewhere

 

[d9_lives]

We were poor and we made it.

I read it somewhere...
It's about solid offence (incomes) and defence (expenses).

 

[wutawa]

Kekeke, i am still poor but i believe saving is impt. Asap but at a comfort level. Set some targets.

 

[SBC]

Can use your DBS mobile app to set your financial targets.

 

[blurpandasg2014]

Sharing an excel template that I used for my personal planning.

Have been very useful to forecast spending and reduce unnecessary spend. Always have a 5 years vision plan and review the plan yearly (usually i do it on 31 Dec yearly)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14iHW6ObALgreCocCZ_pd1sFgDu8VL4YS/view?usp=sharing

Just pluck in the values on your spending on 'vision budget plan' tab and Fill in the column highlighted in yellow on 'financial health analysis tab'

It will tell u how you are faring based on your savings. Hope it is useful.

 

[testingabc]

Sharing an excel template that I used for my personal planning.

Have been very useful to forecast spending and reduce unnecessary spend. Always have a 5 years vision plan and review the plan yearly (usually i do it on 31 Dec yearly)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14iHW6ObALgreCocCZ_pd1sFgDu8VL4YS/view?usp=sharing

Just pluck in the values on your spending on 'vision budget plan' tab and Fill in the column highlighted in yellow on 'financial health analysis tab'

It will tell u how you are faring based on your savings. Hope it is useful.

Thank you for sharing~

 

[hkchew03]

1. Start saving
2. Resist temptation to spend what you saved.

if you can't do both of these, then forget about the rest.

Posted from PCWX using Redmi K20 Pro

 

[coocoonana]

Not even 30 yet. U have lots of time left. Why even worry? First thing is to bring your spending down as much as you can. Just focus on that and get used to spending as little as possible.

Got any debts?

We actually have quite a lot of millionaires here at moneymind
Perhaps should get them to share with us how they get there

It'll inspire ppl to save more spend less

hi all thank you for your helpful replies!

-> 30 alr very old isnt it?
-> no debts no bills / only liability is myself
-> eat at home. dine out pay on my own. dabao sometimes pay my own
-> 0 family contribution
-> april full mth ** stay at home but expenses has added up to $300. that's a lot considering eating n staying home right?
-> less than $3k income would like to up income but not from changing job for at least the next 1 year
-> very single

 

[hkchew03]

hi all thank you for your helpful replies!
-> 30 alr very old isnt it?
-> no debts no bills / only liability is myself
-> eat at home. dine out pay on my own. dabao sometimes pay my own
-> 0 family contribution
-> april full mth ** stay at home but expenses has added up to $300. that's a lot considering eating n staying home right?
-> less than $3k income would like to up income but not from changing job for at least the next 1 year
-> very single

For no debt, no bills, 0 family contribution, that means you are probably spending it else where. Are u able to reduce the spending?

$300 is reasonable monthly expense, in fact probably lesser than average, so no reason none goes into saving.

Posted from PCWX using SM-T720

 

[coocoonana]

actually i post here is probably to seek some assurance or to know whether it will all b ok.

i'm scared that the savings will never be enough and i have to live such a lifestyle for a long long time constantly worrying about whether i have enough .

im scared that a lot of decent nice things have to be put on the back burner and even after saving / planning for it, then purchasing whatever that is, the worry will start to arise again.

it feels miserable at the present constantly trying to scrimp for the future and when future becomes the present, the cycle repeats itself.