What is your savings per mth??

[tankee]

ter_wen:

i see many response is savings PER MONTH is > S$3k.


serious?!

lower income parents too busy working earning money to come here to chit chat :siam:

[KSP]

tankee:

ter_wen:

i see many response is savings PER MONTH is > S$3k.


serious?!

lower income parents too busy working earning money to come here to chit chat :siam:

Those logged into here are those have got time and some level of privacy in the office like having their own room. Some could be staying at home (already made it financially). I don't think anyone dare to openly surf internet in the office.

[mango]

verykiasu2010:

mango:

[quote=\"24by7mum\"]I believe that it is not how much you earn but how much you save. I know of people making 20k-30k pm. but can't save. Spend everything! Living the high life. Others making 5 k p.m. have more savings than them. Of course if you are a saver and you earn more, then you will save more!

saving = salary-expenses.

If a family with dual income of 10k, take home will be 8k. If the
monthly expenses is below 5k, they can easily save 3k and above.

So what is the monthly expenses of a family with kids?

Monthly expenses :

1. grocery (wet & dry market), gas, PUB, SCV, household maintenance

2. petrol, car park, car maintenance, car insurance, road tax, ERP

3. life insurance, medical, dental, givings to parents

4. kids' school fees, misc fees, books, uniform, school shoes, stationery, supplemental books, ref books, assessment books, tuition fees, enrichment courses, piano, violin, swimming coaches etc, new clothes

4a. diapers, milk powders, clothes, medical etc

5. festivals and celebrations / parties - Christmas, CNY, birthdays (young and old folks)

6. vacations

how much do you all spend on the above ?[/quote]
Monthly expenses :

1. grocery (wet & dry market), gas, PUB, SCV, household maintenance
2. petrol, car park, car maintenance, car insurance, road tax, ERP
3. life insurance, medical, dental, givings to parents
4. kids' school fees, misc fees, books, uniform, school shoes, stationery, supplemental books, ref books, assessment books, tuition fees, enrichment courses, piano, violin, swimming coaches etc, new clothes
4a. diapers, milk powders, clothes, medical etc
5. festivals and celebrations / parties - Christmas, CNY, birthdays (young and old folks)
6. vacations

1+2+4 - $3k
3 :life health insurance paid yearly, giving to parents -$2k/month
maid - 0.5k
total : 5.5k

[DesertWind]

MMM:

The other day, hubby was asking... what is your per annum now? I was like :? I can only remember last year's figure.

Hi MMM,
And you are an accountant?
Joking lah! I also an accountant and also cannot remember what is my per annum. Even per month can only remember the take-home part!

As for savings, recently then adopted the \"save before you spent\" advice by putting on giro transfer a sum of savings first. With that, nowadays I don't even bother to track the expenses already because in the past it was after tracking then save! Wonder why I have not done this earlier? :idea:
:celebrate:

[Gecko]

DesertWind:

MMM:

The other day, hubby was asking... what is your per annum now? I was like :? I can only remember last year's figure.

Hi MMM,
And you are an accountant?
Joking lah! I also an accountant and also cannot remember what is my per annum. Even per month can only remember the take-home part!

As for savings, recently then adopted the \"save before you spent\" advice by putting on giro transfer a sum of savings first. With that, nowadays I don't even bother to track the expenses already because in the past it was after tracking then save! Wonder why I have not done this earlier? :idea:
:celebrate:

Once, I tried to determine what were our \"fixed\" expenses. I divided them up into House, Car, Others & Kids.

If got to a point where I simply got depressed counting how much I spent each month that I simply gave up ...

In essence, I save hardly 5% of my monthly income. And we as a family don't really spend extravagently.

My savings actually comes mostly from my bonuses.

Gecko

Gecko

[pummanuel]

My husband and I are both accountants too. However, I've quitted my job to become a SAHM after my daughter was born.


I think an effective way to save is to prepare a set of accounts for the family finances. I started this after watching Korean dramas where the wives would keep the books for the family finances.

I used to prepare a balance sheet and a cash flow statement every calendar year. The balance sheet states all the assets & liabilities, eg bank balances, CPF balances, cost of house net of outstanding loan, investments, etc to enable you to assess the net position you are in. I also prepared sub-schedules for the bank accounts, credit card and daily expenses(categorised) to keep track of our expenses.

Every month, I would compare the expenses against the budget I worked out at the beginning of the year. If it exceeded, I would review the reasons for the overrun and write explanatory notes. The same applied when there was excess savings. I would take these into account when I prepared next year's budget. End of the year, I would ask my husband to 'audit' the accounts. Hehe...

I used to budget 1/3 for expenses, 1/3 for investments & insurance, 1/3 for savings. Bonuses are extra savings. We used to be able to save decently when we did this. Besides helping to improve savings, it also enabled me to monitor his spending, in a good sense. For eg, my husband actually bought air tickets for his biz trip using his personal credit card but forgot to claim for it. It was uncovered when I updated the accounts.

However, I've not been updating for the past 2 years. :oops: Time to revisit the files.

[Eagle-Ladybird]

pummanuel:

I think an effective way to save is to prepare a set of accounts for the family finances. I started this after watching Korean dramas where the wives would keep the books for the family finances.


I used to prepare a balance sheet and a cash flow statement every calendar year. The balance sheet states all the assets & liabilities, eg bank balances, CPF balances, cost of house net of outstanding loan, investments, etc to enable you to assess the net position you are in. I also prepared sub-schedules for the bank accounts, credit card and daily expenses(categorised) to keep track of our expenses.

Every month, I would compare the expenses against the budget I worked out at the beginning of the year. If it exceeded, I would review the reasons for the overrun and write explanatory notes. The same applied when there was excess savings. I would take these into account when I prepared next year's budget. End of the year, I would ask my husband to 'audit' the accounts. Hehe...

Serious ? Audit too ? :shock: Wow . . I'm impressed, to say the least

[foreverj]

pummanuel:

My husband and I are both accountants too. However, I've quitted my job to become a SAHM after my daughter was born.


I think an effective way to save is to prepare a set of accounts for the family finances. I started this after watching Korean dramas where the wives would keep the books for the family finances.

I used to prepare a balance sheet and a cash flow statement every calendar year. The balance sheet states all the assets & liabilities, eg bank balances, CPF balances, cost of house net of outstanding loan, investments, etc to enable you to assess the net position you are in. I also prepared sub-schedules for the bank accounts, credit card and daily expenses(categorised) to keep track of our expenses.

Every month, I would compare the expenses against the budget I worked out at the beginning of the year. If it exceeded, I would review the reasons for the overrun and write explanatory notes. The same applied when there was excess savings. I would take these into account when I prepared next year's budget. End of the year, I would ask my husband to 'audit' the accounts. Hehe...

I used to budget 1/3 for expenses, 1/3 for investments & insurance, 1/3 for savings. Bonuses are extra savings. We used to be able to save decently when we did this. Besides helping to improve savings, it also enabled me to monitor his spending, in a good sense. For eg, my husband actually bought air tickets for his biz trip using his personal credit card but forgot to claim for it. It was uncovered when I updated the accounts.

However, I've not been updating for the past 2 years. :oops: Time to revisit the files.

wow! even conduct variance analysis and annual audit ah? obviously your hubby lacks the financial \"controls\" in place to check whether all his claims r duly and timely made right? hehe, the accountant in me just can't resist it! :lol:

[jedamum]

we have only 1 expenditure account for withdrawal of $$, giro payment of bills and other giro payment; dh will balance that account with our cheque book account to ensure that all expenses are captured in that account; that account is where dh input his entire pay. at the end of the month, the bank will send a detailed statement of what are the withdrawals/transfers. i will take a look to see if we save a certain amount (which was rather consistant); but at the end of the day, part of these savings go into sons’ quarterly enrichment fee payment and vehicle repair etc which will reflect an anomaly huge expenditure for that particular months; so essentially the savings comes from bonuses.

[tree nymph]

wah, so many accountants here. no wonder!