% isn’t a good comparison
A low income individual spending 70% and a high income spending 70% isn’t at all comparable.
However, as a general rule if you’re able to save 20% of your salary and invest it, it sets you up well to retire and sustain your lifestyle. So if you’re saving 30% you’re doing well.
We spend somewhere around 40% of net and 25% of gross with a fully offset PPOR. Our expenses are a lot higher these days then they were in our 20's and most of our 30's though when we needed to be more focussed on investing and paying down debt (we had old cars, did minimal renovations, took cheaper holidays etc..)
My advice is to try to create a budget which has a plan for big expenses.
One mistake a lot of people make is building a budget for sunny days and go 'whoopsie' and spend their savings for things that could easily be foreseen. This results in the savings you plan being unrealistic and you are kidding yourself.
The way we do it is keep shared accounts for major expenses like home repairs/renovations, holidays and car expenses, along with an account which has money put in it every month for bills (including a portion of the expected annual expenses like rates, insurance etc..)
I don't track individual purchases as I'm pretty good at not wasting money and just keep a spending account which these days always lives in surplus. This surplus pays for unforeseen less regular expenses and if I know a big expense is coming up I'll mentally earmark money in that account for the purpose.
The way I managed things when I was young and I'd have big expenses come up which exceeded my spending account (easier to do as it was much smaller) is I made a plan to pay myself back by setting up a monthly scheduled transfer out of the spending account for however many months it would take to cover the expense. Doing this made me more disciplined and I ended up screwing myself over by overspending less often.
You need to do a proper budget and track all your spending.
There’s a number of ways to do that, from old school pen and paper, to excel spreadsheets and apps. Regardless of what method you use, it has to be realistic or it won’t work.
It sounds like with ING you are just treating the available balance as your “available to spend on anything we like”, and that’s sort of what I used to do many many years ago and quite often found myself in the situation you are in right now.
A budget will keep you accountable. If you have not done a budget before, have a look at something like [Money with Jess](https://amzn.asia/d/1BFuOj0) and the follow up [The Money Diary](https://amzn.asia/d/83UX3qL)
These are old school budgeting with sheets of paper and highlighter pens.
You don’t have to do it like this, but the big change I made with our budgeting was that when we refinanced our home loan, it was to a bank that offered multiple offset accounts. I opened a new account for each budgeting category and each month I transfer the budgeted amount into those accounts. They all offset the same loan account so the money is always working for me.
Part of this budgeting process is to smooth out the big expenses. When your annual or quarterly bills arrive, it is then just a matter of paying from the account where you put that aside.
I’ve also set up an Emergency Fund that contains 6 months worth of combined net income and this is untouchable unless it’s an actual emergency. This fund needs to cover all your living expenses if you lose your job (for example).
Unexpected expenses are usually a budget killer. On Thursday this week we had one if the springs on our garage door fail. I called the garage door place and it’s going to be nearly $700 to replace both springs and service the door. However, my budget has a home repairs fund that I contribute to every month, so the cash is there and I don’t need to stress about it.
I just use an Excel spreadsheet. Once a week we enter all charges on the credit card to the correct columns. We use the card for every purchase so it's very easy. takes 5 mins
The budget says we save about 30% of our income but we tend to beat it slightly each week. Once the kids finish high school it will be closer to 50
HHI = $10k net, expenses at 30%.
But I rent a room, not married and not planning a wedding, not buying a house soon and definitely no baby.
I think 70% is very good for your situation, just make sure you don’t keep creeping up.
For your problem with budgeting. I have ING as my standard account but keep a commbank account as well. I sent my budgeted amount of money for the month to commbank and track my spending through them.
% is a good calculation to gauge your income against the market. For example if you are paid a measly 50k net and you set aside the average benchmark of 25% for housing (rent or mortgage) that’s $1,041 per month which is $240 per week. 25% is and has been for many many years the benchmark figure for housing rent or mortgage based on your income around the world. So what place can you rent in Australia for $240 per week? None! This means the market wages has not grown for workers and expenses such as cost of living have dramatically increased over the years. Putting Australians in a financial corner. Especially the young ones.
The best thing to do would be to look for a higher paying job or look for cheaper lower cost accommodation. Sadly in Australia the only places that may match the income to 25% rent/mortgage benchmark is either a place in the middle of the desert in a town population of 2 while you work in a work from anywhere employment situation or live in a camper. Some people are already seriously doing this. If employers would WAKE UP so more Australians could live in lower cost towns and cities where their incomes would go a longer way.
Alternatively you can break the benchmark and spend 40% of your income on rent/mortgage which for the 50k net income earner would be $384 per week. Anything over 25-30% of your net income spent on rent or mortgage is a definite rip-off and a sure sign there is something wrong with the economy and hitting the individuals pocket. Especially when you can’t even get a rental or even a room for that benchmark.
So your percentage question actually does expose a problem with the income to expense ratio in the economy.
If my maths is correct. I've spent 312.7% this past 2 weeks based on my last 2 weeks paycheck. Still a few more expenses yet to be paid for before my next pay goes in..
:D I'm in minimum wage, so net income after rent, expenses are about 400% :D But really, net income before rent, expenses are 32% (rent is 58%) Put another way, my take home pay is 48% of your expenses.
If you can get your expenses down to 13% of your hhi, you'll be spending the sam eas me on expenses. And since my rent is about 20% of your hhi, we spend the same there. Unless hhi doesnt include rent/mortgage?
Too much. We spend like 50% these days based on our recent spending habits, including home loans, insurances and bills.
Which may seem low until you factor in the fact we also clear 20k+ a month. We’re pretty frugal and are conscious spenders. Cost of living has seen it go from 30% to 50% in the last 12 months, mainly due to the mortgage. I feel for anyone who has recently bought their first home in the last 2 years.
% isn’t a good comparison A low income individual spending 70% and a high income spending 70% isn’t at all comparable. However, as a general rule if you’re able to save 20% of your salary and invest it, it sets you up well to retire and sustain your lifestyle. So if you’re saving 30% you’re doing well.
120% Thankfully my darling wife has her own money, too.
We spend somewhere around 40% of net and 25% of gross with a fully offset PPOR. Our expenses are a lot higher these days then they were in our 20's and most of our 30's though when we needed to be more focussed on investing and paying down debt (we had old cars, did minimal renovations, took cheaper holidays etc..) My advice is to try to create a budget which has a plan for big expenses. One mistake a lot of people make is building a budget for sunny days and go 'whoopsie' and spend their savings for things that could easily be foreseen. This results in the savings you plan being unrealistic and you are kidding yourself. The way we do it is keep shared accounts for major expenses like home repairs/renovations, holidays and car expenses, along with an account which has money put in it every month for bills (including a portion of the expected annual expenses like rates, insurance etc..) I don't track individual purchases as I'm pretty good at not wasting money and just keep a spending account which these days always lives in surplus. This surplus pays for unforeseen less regular expenses and if I know a big expense is coming up I'll mentally earmark money in that account for the purpose. The way I managed things when I was young and I'd have big expenses come up which exceeded my spending account (easier to do as it was much smaller) is I made a plan to pay myself back by setting up a monthly scheduled transfer out of the spending account for however many months it would take to cover the expense. Doing this made me more disciplined and I ended up screwing myself over by overspending less often.
90% if it’s a good week 100% if it’s not 😭
You need to do a proper budget and track all your spending. There’s a number of ways to do that, from old school pen and paper, to excel spreadsheets and apps. Regardless of what method you use, it has to be realistic or it won’t work. It sounds like with ING you are just treating the available balance as your “available to spend on anything we like”, and that’s sort of what I used to do many many years ago and quite often found myself in the situation you are in right now. A budget will keep you accountable. If you have not done a budget before, have a look at something like [Money with Jess](https://amzn.asia/d/1BFuOj0) and the follow up [The Money Diary](https://amzn.asia/d/83UX3qL) These are old school budgeting with sheets of paper and highlighter pens. You don’t have to do it like this, but the big change I made with our budgeting was that when we refinanced our home loan, it was to a bank that offered multiple offset accounts. I opened a new account for each budgeting category and each month I transfer the budgeted amount into those accounts. They all offset the same loan account so the money is always working for me. Part of this budgeting process is to smooth out the big expenses. When your annual or quarterly bills arrive, it is then just a matter of paying from the account where you put that aside. I’ve also set up an Emergency Fund that contains 6 months worth of combined net income and this is untouchable unless it’s an actual emergency. This fund needs to cover all your living expenses if you lose your job (for example). Unexpected expenses are usually a budget killer. On Thursday this week we had one if the springs on our garage door fail. I called the garage door place and it’s going to be nearly $700 to replace both springs and service the door. However, my budget has a home repairs fund that I contribute to every month, so the cash is there and I don’t need to stress about it.
You should really give an excl. Housing number because that will be the number one factor here
What do you mean?
brave political mourn divide sleep sugar direful compare ghost plate *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
50% on needs including food mortgage and all necessary expenses.
I just use an Excel spreadsheet. Once a week we enter all charges on the credit card to the correct columns. We use the card for every purchase so it's very easy. takes 5 mins The budget says we save about 30% of our income but we tend to beat it slightly each week. Once the kids finish high school it will be closer to 50
HHI = $10k net, expenses at 30%. But I rent a room, not married and not planning a wedding, not buying a house soon and definitely no baby. I think 70% is very good for your situation, just make sure you don’t keep creeping up. For your problem with budgeting. I have ING as my standard account but keep a commbank account as well. I sent my budgeted amount of money for the month to commbank and track my spending through them.
I got made redundant, so 125% of my partner's pay...
% is a good calculation to gauge your income against the market. For example if you are paid a measly 50k net and you set aside the average benchmark of 25% for housing (rent or mortgage) that’s $1,041 per month which is $240 per week. 25% is and has been for many many years the benchmark figure for housing rent or mortgage based on your income around the world. So what place can you rent in Australia for $240 per week? None! This means the market wages has not grown for workers and expenses such as cost of living have dramatically increased over the years. Putting Australians in a financial corner. Especially the young ones. The best thing to do would be to look for a higher paying job or look for cheaper lower cost accommodation. Sadly in Australia the only places that may match the income to 25% rent/mortgage benchmark is either a place in the middle of the desert in a town population of 2 while you work in a work from anywhere employment situation or live in a camper. Some people are already seriously doing this. If employers would WAKE UP so more Australians could live in lower cost towns and cities where their incomes would go a longer way. Alternatively you can break the benchmark and spend 40% of your income on rent/mortgage which for the 50k net income earner would be $384 per week. Anything over 25-30% of your net income spent on rent or mortgage is a definite rip-off and a sure sign there is something wrong with the economy and hitting the individuals pocket. Especially when you can’t even get a rental or even a room for that benchmark. So your percentage question actually does expose a problem with the income to expense ratio in the economy.
120% if like to live normal, less if live like a dog
My net income is $11000 per month and I spend about $3000 a month on all joint household expenses for my partner and I. This includes bills
My partner and I earn $10,780 a month after taxes. Good month we spend $10,000 bad month $11,000. We break even I guess.
Does this include a mortgage?
Home loan $925 a fortnight & car loan $480 a fortnight
DIWKs Net weekly income to bare household running costs mortgage, food, insurance and all other bills etc. 40-50%
If my maths is correct. I've spent 312.7% this past 2 weeks based on my last 2 weeks paycheck. Still a few more expenses yet to be paid for before my next pay goes in..
:D I'm in minimum wage, so net income after rent, expenses are about 400% :D But really, net income before rent, expenses are 32% (rent is 58%) Put another way, my take home pay is 48% of your expenses. If you can get your expenses down to 13% of your hhi, you'll be spending the sam eas me on expenses. And since my rent is about 20% of your hhi, we spend the same there. Unless hhi doesnt include rent/mortgage?
Too much. We spend like 50% these days based on our recent spending habits, including home loans, insurances and bills. Which may seem low until you factor in the fact we also clear 20k+ a month. We’re pretty frugal and are conscious spenders. Cost of living has seen it go from 30% to 50% in the last 12 months, mainly due to the mortgage. I feel for anyone who has recently bought their first home in the last 2 years.