Saving money – where do I start? Perhaps with the reality of it. We all know that saving money can be extremely challenging and perhaps even more so when you start your working career. For example, do you remember that first ever pay-check? That moment when you finally have that sense of independence and freedom that you tirelessly pray for growing up; whether this be a few hours working as a paper boy on Saturdays or stacking shelves at your local supermarket, this was money you earned.

Of course, your first priority is working out how you’re going to spend this money that you worked so hard for. Now over time you begin to get older and realise this money needs to go towards something more purposeful. A first car? A city break? Or maybe your first trading account!

But then comes the next question; how? What about when you are a little bit older, early 20’s; when saving money becomes more and more challenging as social activities begin to pop up all around you and your new free, ‘go anywhere, do anything life’ has begun.  Perhaps it is at this point in your life that a full time trading account is one of your main priorities? But with so many other commitments and activities going on in the background this raises the question again; how? How are you supposed to save enough capital to take your trading to the next level.

So this is how I managed to save and fund my first full time trading account with over 5 figures.

Firstly, ‘the final goal’. I asked myself the question, how much would I like to save? Then, how long do I want to do this in? Once I had a clear objective I started budgeting.

I asked myself, how much money do I waste each month? Do I need to go out every weekend for a few drinks with my pals? Do I need to buy food every day at the local Tesco whilst at work? I recommend working out how much you spend and I can assure you, you will be surprised. In fact, break it down – spend 30 minutes to an hour going over your online banking statement as write down all of your monthly expenditure. Whether that be car insurance, rent, phone bills or a gym membership.. write everything down so that you know exactly how much money you have coming in vs how much money you have going out. From this, you can pencil out all of the wasted or not used direct debits for example your Playstation monthly subscription you forgot to cancel but no longer use!

I started to realise just how much money I didn’t even realise I spent, this is money that can be going towards those desires that I wanted to save for. There are so many applications for your phone nowadays that are there to help you manage your spending habits such as Yolt, Moneybox and Monzo. For me personally, Yolt was a great app to do just this. Not only does it manage your spending but it also accumulates all of your different pensions and saving accounts. By tracking these things I began to realise how much money I was just throwing away. It was definitely an eye-opener to say the least. We highly recommend trying them out!

Saving accounts are a fantastic way to save as well. The different variations from current accounts to ISA’s give you a variety of options tailored to you. I personally opened two accounts in addition to my current account. One, a fixed ISA with a standing order each month that meant money left my current account and couldn’t be touched. Two, a standard low APR savings account for whatever was left at the end of each month. I discovered last year that my bank has something called ‘Save the penny’ which means on every purchase it is rounded to the nearest pound and the pennies are put straight into my savings account. Each week I was saving between £8-£12, each month up to £45 which meant each year £540… Just by saving the pennies.

Finally, I want to touch upon a crucial saving period that comes slightly later in your career when you’re potentially working in a 30k+ role. Its during this period where you have to ask yourself how much do you really want it? A lot of the guys at The Social Traders worked commission based jobs which means that a lot of their income was based around how hard they work. A Commission based created a direct correlation between how much do you want it and how much you earn in your hands. As a result you have had to learn to be resilient and find out what drives you to keep you motivated. For us, that drive was the fact we will have the opportunity to start a whole new career a career as a full time trader with capital which we have sole earns. From this we can create memories that will last a lifetime, an income to support our families and most importantly a life with stability and freedom.

I spent so much time asking myself how? When I needed to also ask myself why? Whilst saving, as long as you can remember why you are doing it, seeing the ‘untouchable’ bank balance doesn’t seem so disheartening and that large trading account really won’t be that far away.

Author – Connor Anderson