Education 1: Saving - 50% rule

Well many say you must save 15% to retire but that is at the end of 65 or later and I don't know if that really work as I'm not retired yet.

My savings principle is simple. 

~Aim to save a minimum 50% of what you earn.~

The more you save and invest, the faster you become financially independent.

How do I find how much I'm saving?

It will take sometime if you are not a digital world person. But i highly recommend you do this on paper very first time before you use any online tool. I'm going to take share how do you get this with paper and digital. 

1. Paper - Take last 3 months account statements and sit together to write down your expenses (or simply add them all) and subtract from your salary.

2. Use any online tool to help you here. I personally used Mint and Personal Capital (it's main focus is different and we will get to that in few) and they do an amazing job by making our lives simple. 

Use the below calculation to get your savings percentage. 

Savings percentage = 3 month Salary / 3 months expenses × 100

Don't worry even if you are less 1%, you've started it and I'm sure you will get there quickly than you realize.

I'm really happy if you can save more than 80% but remember "be frugal but not stingy".