Poll: How much of your income are you able to put into savings?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
SITE STAFF
May 17, 2018

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "How much of your income are you able to put into savings?".

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Yetta Jensen Bogarde
Yetta Jensen Bogarde  Identity Verified
Denmark
Local time: 10:44
Member (2012)
English to Danish
+ ...
Savings? May 17, 2018

Only until the end of the month.

 
Christopher Schröder
Christopher Schröder
United Kingdom
Member (2011)
Swedish to English
+ ...
Define income May 17, 2018

Roughly speaking:

100,000 sales
30,000 salary
20,000 pension
10,000 expenses
10,000 tax
20,000 invested
10,000 sex n drugs n rock n roll

So 40% of turnover or 66% of earnings


 
Ricki Farn
Ricki Farn
Germany
Local time: 10:44
English to German
With Chris S May 17, 2018

Income, before taxes? After taxes? And what about that pension plan that somehow gets debited every month, is that savings or just some kind of automatism whose meaning has been lost in the mists of time?

A "sex n drugs n rock n roll" quota sounds like a good idea, even if quantification is iffy.


 
R. Alex Jenkins
R. Alex Jenkins  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 06:44
Member (2006)
Portuguese to English
+ ...
0% May 17, 2018

A year or two ago I would have said 10%, but in 2018 it's down to zero. I no longer save anything.

 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
66% net May 17, 2018

Except cold seasons, my usual costs for food, lodging, utility services, business expenses and taxes makes about 1/3rd of my earning, so in theory I can* save some 66%.

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 02:44
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
About 10% May 18, 2018

This is new for me. Until last year, I wasn't thinking much of savings, but I've mended my ways.

 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 09:44
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
10-20% May 18, 2018

It depends on my income and on my expenses. I’m not thinking of savings for me (I have a comfortable pension, a good sickness insurance scheme and my needs aren’t that expensive) but for my children for the time I won’t be around anymore…

 
Mario Freitas
Mario Freitas  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 06:44
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Wrong behavior May 18, 2018

For a while, I was able to save about 10% of my income. Since 2013, what is happening regularly is:
- I save 10% of my money from May to December
- From mid-december to February, my income drops drastically, and I have additional expenses in the beginning of each year (taxes, traveling, gifts, etc.). So I use my savings.
- From March to May, I recover, without being able to save anything.

This reflects poor planning and useless spending. An undue behavior I've been
... See more
For a while, I was able to save about 10% of my income. Since 2013, what is happening regularly is:
- I save 10% of my money from May to December
- From mid-december to February, my income drops drastically, and I have additional expenses in the beginning of each year (taxes, traveling, gifts, etc.). So I use my savings.
- From March to May, I recover, without being able to save anything.

This reflects poor planning and useless spending. An undue behavior I've been trying to correct. But not this year. This year's saving must be used to change my car. It's past 10 years of age, and that is not acceptable. I must change it urgently.

So maybe in 2019, I'll start a new cycle, with a new behavior.
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Diana Obermeyer
Diana Obermeyer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 09:44
Member (2013)
German to English
+ ...
Short or long term? Jun 21, 2018

We're remodelling. That'll take another 5-10 years. It would be silly to even consider long-term savings while trying to move the project on.
But, of course, we're always saving for the next stage, so we don't get stuck half way through. Around 40-50% goes into the building project.


 
Valeria Fuma
Valeria Fuma
Argentina
Local time: 06:44
English to Spanish
+ ...
26% of my income after taxes Sep 2, 2018

And this is because I've been paying for an apartment for the last 9 years (with at least 8 years more to go). This is one of the very limited options of buying your own house or department in Argentina if you're middle-class. The interest is of course very high.

 
Magda P.
Magda P.  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 10:44
Italian to Greek
+ ...
Also depends on tax residence (and total household income) Oct 15, 2018

A lot of factors come into play.

I'd take everything on this matter with a pinch of salt. It really depends a lot on where your business is registered and where you pay taxes and what your language pairs are. German to Italian pays a lot more than Italian to Greek or Italian to Russian (according to a recent survey). It also depends to where your clients have their tax residence. Clients based in countries where "high rates" are the norm, can be a game changer for a translator.
... See more
A lot of factors come into play.

I'd take everything on this matter with a pinch of salt. It really depends a lot on where your business is registered and where you pay taxes and what your language pairs are. German to Italian pays a lot more than Italian to Greek or Italian to Russian (according to a recent survey). It also depends to where your clients have their tax residence. Clients based in countries where "high rates" are the norm, can be a game changer for a translator.

I don't know about you, but in Italy translators pay up to 55% to taxes/social insurance (the "thorn" on our side is INPS - national insurance and the so-called "gestione separata" in the region of 25% and it's payable as soon as you exceed 5000euro gross income; the epitome of absurdity). In the UK and other countries you start paying taxes after 10 or 15 thousand, if I am not mistaken. And nobody is going to devour half of it.

And then again, is this question referring to a household where the source of income is solely translation work?

[Edited at 2018-10-15 08:17 GMT]
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Poll: How much of your income are you able to put into savings?






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