How do you decide how much money to save?

At this point (25 years of age), I just save as much as I can, without depriving myself of a little luxury every now and then.

In today economy, most people live from paycheck to paycheck. there is no extra money for saving or any of the other items you have described. what to do? i planned well-ahead, so that when i did retire, my age would qualify for Soc. Security and my home mortgage would be paid in full. my timing was perfect. i must admit that i receive 82% of my salary as my police retirement. the point is: i planned for this many years ago.

Again, only the elite qualify for 401’s and sending their children to college. its a dog eat dog world and i truly doubt if it will get any better.

I have to save and save as much as I can afford to that’s just my nature. I see people run out of money all the time and now like never before and it ain’t pretty. I never want that to happen to me. 6 months to a year of salary in the bank at a minimum. Not easy to do but the alternative is a major motivator.

First I provide money to be saved. Starting with NO CREDIT CARDS.
Start by paying yourself not other people.

If you are young. Save the luxury for when you hit your 40’s. Money and wisdom work well together.

I keep things simple, stay close to home. And, have x amount of dollars removed from checking on a regular basis and put into savings. My bank does it automatically.

I try to save as much as I can each month, but what with the price of living these days & no overtime I’m lucky to put £450 away each month, there’s always a bill to pay around the corner, car tax, mot, insurance premiums etc, etc, so it does vary from month to month ……
:-/
I’m still way off a decent retirement fund, but I might not even need it! :-/

I just try to remember that money roughly doubles every 7 years, and so the more I can afford to stash away while I’m young, the better off I’ll be by some exponential value come retirement.

I try to take the same approach as @bob_ and ended up buying a fair bit of stock and doing pretty well in the market. I try to think of buying shares of [some company i’ve researched] the same as I would getting excited to buy a new car, or some other luxury. If you can think of it like collecting rare comics, baseball cards, or some other collectable, saving can actually be fun (in a perverse sort of way).

Is there a place you can put money where it cannot be reached even by penalty until a certain date?

Is that a trust?

Only buy things you need. Save the rest. That’s what I do. And I don’t need a lot of expensive stuff.

I am a saver. When I was a young adult, I was not able to save much, because my husband and I earned less, but we estimated our expenses to be well within our income, and any extras like bonuses were put into savings. Our salaries went up as we advanced in our careers, and at around 6 or 7 years into our marriage we succesfully got to the point that we basically could live on one salary and save the other. Well, the other was also used for travel, and any surprise expenses. At around the time we were 13 or 14 years married we paid off all mortgages, and buy everything outright, so monthly expenses are back down to when we first were married, and we save quite a bit again, although our income went down on the last move we made, when I stopped working full time.

I never save for anything specific, I save for savings sake, for the future, for a rainy day, for the feeling of freedom and security.

Being on low/minimum wage pretty much all my life, I have never in my life been in a position to save much at all. I put as much as I can afford into a pension but it’s going to be a pretty pathetic pension by the time I retire. My only hope is a lottery win.

We believe that saving should be a large part of our income. Currently, we put aside between 10% and 15% of the net. Part of it is from automatic deductions directly from the pay check, so we never really see it.

Also, to add one more thing, my husband and I sat down and tried to figure out how much money we will need in retirement, and made a target amount to save by retirment. I don’t think we will make it to our ideal number, but there is a goal out there in the distance.

I’m a really good saver, mainly because I’m a bad shopper and don’t have much interest in acquiring stuff.

Many financial experts now say that when you’re young and starting out, you shouldn’t be overly concerned with saving, as long as you’re aware of the importance. Saving $50 is a real hardship when you’re living hand to mouth, and if you are eating just stale bread and cutting your own hair to save it, it can be a false economy. Further, your bad haircut and salvation army shirt might keep you from getting a better job and actually cost you more in the long run.

When I’ve been able to have more than my living expenses then it was exciting to look at the balance in my account, leave myself about $50. and transfer the rest to savings. I got my mom into a house this way, took me just under 2yrs to hoard the down payment. I won’t be angling to own a house again any time soon on my current income but I do think of retirement and ways to do a little side business here and there that would support me.

@GeorgeGee I don’t know what financial “experts” you listen to, but everything I’ve ever heard says that when you’re young is the best time to save. That’s because your savings now have so much longer to grow—and may quadruple by the time you retire, and none of your savings later in life are likely to do that.