How much do you earn and save?
 

Hey guys! Just wanted to know what are your savings habits like and whether i'm on the right track [w the format below]:

Take home aft CPF: $2,700
Save: $2,000 (~74%) every month

I'm currently 25 y/o female w no liabilities (live w parents, parents both working w income, not married, no sickness etc.).

(putting aside savings for BTO, no active investments at the moment, insurance paid for by parents)

I did receive some insights from my friends who told me im rly saving a lot, though i thought this was a norm because i always heard we should save aside 60% as a rule of thumb.

If you can offer more insights on how i can improve / do more w my savings, let me know too. I think this is a good place to share insights, anecdotes and advice for entry level workers/savers too.

What about you guys?

*This was inspired by what i read in the news ytd about singaporeans not having enough savings to last 6 months.

Gross mthly salary = $3500 (take home abt $2800)

2 to 4 mths bonus yearly.

Non degree holder. Save about $400 mthly. Minimum savings one year is $4800. If save some bonus money, total can hit abt $7k to $8k per year savings.

Driving car hence cannot save that much.

Take home $2700 and save $2000? Did u even give your parents allowance? Did you even pay electricity bills, water bills, you are staying at your parents.

preach bruther

Have a target around $7.5k per year savings. then go for investment choices

I earn $0/month :(

You are so lucky to have no liabilities. I earn 5k/month but hardly save much
Gross pay 5k. Take home 4k
Parents allowance- 1600
Insurance- 912 (Including hospital plan, term plan, life insurance and CI plans)
Savings endowment plan with aia- 500
Personal spend- 600
Personal cash savings - 400

My bonus around 3 months on average including aws. (Will try to save at least 40- 50percent of it)
I have worked for close to 5 years now, have around 22k in savings and 12k in investments (stocks)

I am currently living with my parents, have no car, do not own my own house.
Still single as I don't think I am financially stable/secure to look for a partner yet (esp given current covid situation)

The dream of being financially free looks a million miles away

TS, suggest that if you are working already and drawing a proper income, you should be paying for your own personal expenditure such as insurance and mobile phone bills etc instead of having your parents bear the cost. My honest opinion since you are asking how you can improve / do more with your savings.

Whether you give your parents an allowance or not, I shan't comment. Every household has their own way of working out their own shared finances. But at a minimum, I think you should fully bear the cost of your own personal expenses (which includes insurance).

Other than that, I think you're doing quite well. From my anecdotal observations, saving more than 20% of your pay puts you way ahead of many Singaporeans already.

TS your post is very facepalm to most cos you really gotta try living out on your own, paying mortgage bills, insurance, petrol, household expenses, condo maintenance, giving to parents, wedding ang pows, donations etc. You really gotta trying doing it yourself.

You will then find how outrageous it is to claim that it is "normal" to save 60% monthly for your income level.

FYI I take home 3.9k but I save only a couple of hundred monthly without even eating at restaurants/cafes at all or buying clothes/gadgets etc.

Graduated local uni last year, male, 26 now.
Basic pay 4.3k (excl. bonus & employer CPF), take-home pay after CPF deduction 3.4K.
Parents - 1300
Savings plan - 200
Bills - 200
Spending - 800 (not much of a shopper, mostly just eat nice food during the weekend, parents cook dinner every day, so I don't spend that much haha)
Actual savings in bank - about 1000/mth? If include bonuses, about 2000/mth

Threadstarter sounds like a selfish prick. Never help with parents allowances, never contribute to home bills, never donate to the poor, still can boasts proudly manage to save a lot. Monday to Sunday u eat outside alone use ur money or eat at home at times? If u eat at home also must contribute to groceries lah. Dont be a cheapskate.

Stop giving excuses like both of ur parents working yada yada so dun need to give them allowances. Tats all ********e. Your parents raise u use money as well. Now u have ur own income and still want to to be calculative and dont want to help them?

Go reflect on yourself instead of boasting that you are a useless human being to your own family and to the society.

No need to be so harsh on her. Yes, she is lucky to be wealthy at her age and doing well. Like being said earlier, it will take a swing on her at later stage when she cannot manage her own. It can be true in certain ways.

assuming the following monthly expenses:

- give parents $200 each = $400
- 62 packets of Caipng a month = 62x 3.5 = $217
- hp bill: $25
- broadband bill: $30
- cut hair: $3.80 snip avenue
- walk to work
- weekend: jog, play football, basketball, Badminton at public court

Doable.

You go die. parents rich your problem isit? Sad that u are born with poor parents so you need to feed them. Feed parents like pets? Shame on you for treating your parents like pets.

Frankly you screwed yourself over by paying so much for 'insurance' plans. Most of what u paying for is not even insurance, it's investment/savings plans, a lot of it is paying for your agent's BMW. I also make 5K but spend only $60 per mth on insurance. I save and diy invest probably 3000 per mth. Give my single parent $400 per mth and utilise my parent's own money to help her some passive no risk income.

And the rest of you scolding OP for not giving more money to her parents have no right to any moral high ground, filial piety is not just throwing money at your parents. A child is not an investment.

Guys lol no need to get so worked up...yup agreed that i'm lucky to have no liabilities (as mentioned by someone) but that's only for now.

My parents' stance is that while they are still financially able they want me to save as much as i can for myself, which is also why i'm asking. Of course some of the money i put aside today will go to them as well. All things considered, i'm really just checking if i'm doing okay with the sum at hand, so dont have to judge me for "showing off" or "being selfish" lol you guys are misconstruing my intentions here. Main point is to get a good sense of how people are coping and using shared anecdotes as a point of reference for my own learning as well. As for the insurance plans, yes i will take over and pay my own premium soon. But background is my dad used to be from insurance field so he's happy to settle everything in the meantime until he thinks im ready to take over.

As people share their liabilities, it also helps me plan better on how i can better portion my savings in future when I have my family and liabilities to settle. Seeing some of your posts, I also will use it as a good rule of thumb on how much $$ to give my parents too! :) And just to be clear, we all split the household utilities and groceries so i dont let my parents absorb all the burdens too. Any time they need me financially i will be there.

Thanks for sharing guys!

$60 for insurance sounds attractive! Care to share which plan and where from?

Hospitalisation plan from NTUC Income with rider
SAF Aviva term term + TPD
Aviva ECI and CI plan

thats about all the insurance u need

I think its good to save a lot while your parents are still working and able to support themselves. Mine are retired but have put aside a nest egg for themselves by downgrading their property. I am 28 now. I give my parents roughly 10% of my gross monthly and save roughly 60% excluding CPF. As for the rest, I spend about 800 on grab/taxi, 600 on food, and 250 on utilities (which includes my parents' bills), and around 1500 on discretionary spending (including travel).

It is good to save up for a rainy day. Covid is a difficult situation for all. I got a pay freeze this year but consider myself lucky as many of my peers had pay cuts or were even laid off. It is also good to consider your mid to long term goals when considering how much to save/invest. Personally, I am looking to buy a house within the next 2 years and so am keeping my savings in cash/govt bonds as I don't want my plans derailed by a market crash. Thereafter I plan to use 30% of my income to purchase ETFs for the long term, up to retirement.

Dude you sound like sour grapes, get a grip. You assumed all these just based on 1 sharing? If you're not here to share and contribute productively don't come here make baseless noise.

Anyway, for me: take home $1920. I give my mom $300 upon request, otherwise 10% is a fair deal I feel. My friends usually give 10% too (it's relative to your income anyway).

The rest I use for my own expenditures like electronics, girlfriend, food, phone bills etc. I dont have a fixed sum put away for savings every month, but with my pay scale, i usually put aside a few hundred, the amount is tentative to my expenditure that month.

I agree, cancel your insurance **** plans man. 5k is decent and you should be saving alot more.

There is no point saving for the sake of doing it. Saving must come with an objective in mind. Learn to income and lead quality lifestyles.

Increase your income
 

Savings rate is important but more important is improving your income. Increase your income but keep your expenditure low, that's the best way to increase savings.

I don't think OP is being chided. She needs to be in an independent living environment to understand truly how much she can save. When I was her age, I spent about 400 a month. Then when I was married and doing graduate school, we spent about 30k a year. I thought if I made a 60k after tax, we will be saving comfortably. That turned out to be untrue.

While I can live a pauper's life, I can't expect my wife, kids, and our parents to live like this (and I don't want to). I want to make sure they are as comfortable they can and trust me, it is not cheap.

That said, it is a good habit to save. My advice to you is that you save so that besides giving yourself options, you can be generous too. I have seen families broken apart because of money issues, where couples live more like two singletons than a family unit concerning finances.

Lanjiao lah go cut hair $3.80. Threadstarter is a female. Most probably go salon cut and wash alrd $30+. Havent talk abt hair treatment and all.

I eat 66 packs of cai png per month so my expenditure is also about there.

OP of #8 here.

Good to see that you are taking the comments positively. Fr your age, I guess you've just started working not too long ago. With a long career pathway ahead, the two most important things when it comes to finances is to work hard at increasing your income, and try not to get too caught up with lifestyle creep. If you can maintain your savings rate and plan your finances appropriately, you should find yourself in relatively good stead down the line.

As someone also pointed out, saving money for the sake of saving up can be a difficult journey. The temptation to spend once you build up a tiny amt of savings is very real. I would suggest that you try to set some targets for yourself e.g. 100k savings by 30, 300k by 40 etc. Having a target helps to focus your efforts in savings and investments.

take home = 3.3k
rent = 800
insurance = 300
expenses = 1100
savings + RSP = 1100 (33%)

8k..after cpf 6.8k.

Spendings 1.5k. Saving 5.3k per month. 32 with gf.

take home = 4.4k
parents = 800
insurance = 300
expenses = 1900
savings = 1400 (32%)

single no kids stay with parents

Take home = About 8000-10,000 (no cpf contribution, working in sales)
insurance = 500
car =1000
expenses = 1500
savings = Abt 6000 - 7000

Fresh grad 2020
 

Take home = 4000
Monthly expenses = 1000 (food, transport, utilities, phone bills)
Insurance premiums = 500
Investments = 500
Savings = 2000

Should I rebalance savings and investments during this period?

You're doing fine

This thread made me realize people really give their parents a lot of $$. Good and bad thing though. I've seen some of my friends who suffer from their parents' poor financial literacy and end up becoming part of the sandwich generation, having to juggle both their own families and their parents which is not easy.

Because they all are stupid. Parents stupid. Children also stupid. So feed their stupid parents.

Take home = about $2.6k
Parents = $200 each
Savings = first few months was 20% of take home, trying to do $1.2k per month since Jan this year
Insurance = $166
Endowment = $150 (only treat this as forced savings, definitely not money making tool)
The rest = depending on how I spend it

Haven't explored investments yet, but I guess I wanna make sure I have 6 months worth of emergency funds before I start. Isit too late?

26yo female, working for approx 3 years

Take home = 3.3k
Parents = 500
Insurance = 600 (300 on savings plans, 300 on life and accident plans)
Savings = 1k
The rest on daily expenses, but other than phone bills, netflix, transport, weekday lunch and occasional weekend eat-outs, I don’t really spend much elsewhere. Any remaining amount will be accumulated to buy stocks.

Male 32, working since 2015.

Take home: $3.9k
Monthly recurring: (parents etc) $633
Utility Bills: $50
Car insurance, road tax, petrol, parking, ERP: $700-800
Food budget: $310
Condo fee: $141
Groceries: $300
Insurance: $500
Discretionary/ad hoc: $200-300
====
Savings: about $866

But I have been eating my savings to buy shares more than avg of $1000/mth so saving is negative. Hope the gamble pays off.

take home 3.9k.. you are owning car and condo?? no monthly mortgage loan on cash meh?

damn shag sia..

No cash, my mortgage is small so cpf can cover.

I am lucky to have parents with their own business. Like TS my parents gave me a lot, when I married and moved out then I'm on my own. Everyone has their own lot in life, this is mine.