Tips for Savings

Do you have trouble saving money?  If so you may need to read the following and make some changes in your savings habits.  On average Americans are not good savers with an average savings of less than 5% of a basic paycheck.  On average we should strive to save at least 10% of our paycheck not taking into account any employer matching.  Yes that is you should save at least 10% of your salary on an annual basis for either retirement or your emergency fund.  Regardless of where the money ends up you need to save this amount from every check.

First you may be doing yourself a disservice if you have too many bank accounts.  It has been shown that people who have one bank account tend to spend less and actually save more.  Now that is not rocket science considering if you are not spending as much you are thereby allowed to save more.  Common sense in action there but it is a simple way to increase your savings and it also makes your life less cluttered in an already cluttered world.  One account is easier to take care of than multiple accounts and it is easier to manage as well.  Also, by having one account it will mean you have less decisions to make thereby allowing you to have more options at saving more.  As a rule the more options you create for yourself the less likely you will be to save when we are ingrained to spend and in most cases spend more on credit instead of saving for large ticket items.  Again streamline your life and make things easier on yourself.

Many of us have lost our imaginations as we have gotten older.  We need to find them again.  People are visual by nature and when we are being visual we are using our imaginations.  One leads to the other in most instances.  Use specific terms for your savings and use those as goals for you to achieve your savings.  As I stated your saving needs are an emergency fund and for retirement.  Picture yourself needing to repair the car or see yourself in retirement.  Even better picture yourself in your retirement world and see how you are living.  If you are not being creative and imagining yourself in a particular place it is harder to save.  There is a reason person who are creative and with active imaginations are happy, they picture themselves as happy and therefor they are happy.  See yourself saving and you will increase your savings.  Also, it is difficult to save alone so in line with being creative try saving with someone else.  You can have a savings buddy as a friend, co-worker or relative and make a competition to see who can achieve their goal first.  This approach will make you act more and be accountable for your savings goals as you have now shared them with someone else and you have a point of reference as you know their goals as well.  Think back to when you were a kid and your parents offered to match your allowance if you saved it for that special toy.  What happened?  You saved your money because you had help and encouragement.  Do not go it alone and find someone to help you achieve your savings goals.

And finally saving does not have to be a complicated matter.  Investing and saving can be or can be different in nature.  Buying a stock or mutual fund is not for everyone just as buying a savings bond is not for everyone.  But everyone needs a financial plan and a plan for what they will do with their savings.  Some people are content with safe investments such as a CD while other prefer stocks.  One is not right and the other wrong but each is correct for a particular person.  Know your risk tolerance and follow that in your investing strategy.

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