UK Frugal Finance

Step number one to being financially responsible is creating a budget. Budgets vary from one person to the next of course, as everyone has different outgoings. It's UKFrugalFinance's belief that your budget should be kept in a  simple  spreadsheet, especially if you are just starting out. Many people have created complex and fancy spreadsheet templates, but mine, mine is simple. The excel skills needed to use my template are basic, so don't be scared. My suggestion is to have a look at it whilst reading the below, and make some small amendments to your liking.  So, click here for the downloadable link . This link is to a google sheet, you can use as is if you have gmail, or download into excel or other software ( libreoffice  has a free version of excel). Go to File: Download as... to download. You'l notice column B looks a tad strange, its simply the Month in YYMM format, so February 2015 would be 1502, you get it. Each month you should take a peek at yo...

For many, working is a means to an end, enabling us to get on with our own, non work-related lives. Being ready for retirement is a point in which one has accumulated enough wealth to sustain them for the rest of their lives. Some people will likely overshoot this, ensuring a parting gift/inheritance is left for their loved ones, and some don't quite have enough, making them struggle in their later years. Are you on track for your goals? Why is Saving Into Your Pension Early Important? Simply put, compound interest on your returns means that making an early start has huge (compounded!) advantages compared to starting later. Take a quick peek at the table below, which compares a 25 year old saving £3000 a year until they reach 65, and a 35 and 45 year old saving the same amount every year, but starting 10 and 20 years later. This data is based on making a 4% yearly return after inflation. Just glancing at this shows the huge impact compounding returns has, and highli...