Savings made simple

Saving a small amount regularly is the key to successful saving, but how much should you be saving?  Fortunately, there are simple tools that can help you work out exactly how much you need to save to meet your financial goals. 

                           

Know your goal

How much you need to save depends on what you are saving for: a blow-out wedding, because the roof is going to need repairing next year, university fees for your children, a new car, or just to have more financial freedom in the future.  How much money you need is the first element of how much you need to save.

Know your timescale

The second thing that will affect how much you need to save is how long you have before you need the money.  If that dream wedding is next year and you don’t have anything stashed away, you may need to tighten your belt so you can squirrel away a lot over the next few months.  But if you’ve only just become a parent and are thinking about being able to help your child onto the property ladder when they are older, small regular amounts will get you there.  So working out how long you have to save is the second thing you need to know.

Know your budget

For savings to be successful, you also need to know how much you can realistically afford to put by each month.  If paying for your dream wedding next year is going to mean you struggle to pay your mortgage, you probably need to scale back your plans a bit. 

Do the maths

When you’ve worked out your goal, your timescale and your budget, you can then calculate how long it is going to take you to reach your target and how much you need to be putting by each month.  Fortunately there are some simple online calculators available online to make the maths really easy: I especially like the one from the Money AdviceService.

Achieving your financial dreams is much easier with a bit of planning. 

For expert financialplanning advice, call Graham on 07740 192505 or email gkinns@coreifa.co.uk to book a no-obligation consultation at our expense