Let’s face it, throughout, high school and college there has been a lack of support and knowledge to encourage you to not only save money but to be successful in doing so. When going through the motions of life, it’s become normal to find it difficult to keep money in your bank account, due to our consumer-driven society.
Ads today are even formulated to present to you the most recent searches or websites that you’ve logged into, making you double-take the potential purchase that you had once passed up. The visual of your desired items and the ability to quickly purchase, or even the option to purchase with four smaller payments, only leave you behind in your financial goals and aspirations. Constant consumerism allows the companies you purchase from to make a passive income that promotes their financial growth while leaving you with something brand NEW, but possibly further from a financially stable future.
Regardless of where you are in life, here are a few tips that will help you to jump-start your savings goals to completely transform your life.
1. Have A Goal In Mind:
Instead of saving just to save, make sure that you are intentional with the reason you’re saving your money. Do you want to save an emergency fund? Are you trying to save money to then put a big chunk towards your debt? Are you wanting to start saving for retirement?
Once you’ve figured out your single-minded goal, it’s then time to solely focus on your pursuit and distinguish the best savings plan that works for you. It’s also important to take a step back from your spending habits to determine what your weaknesses are and how they deter you from accomplishing your goals. Once you’ve established your habits, it will be that much easier to avoid the places, apps or websites that weaken your savings goals. Once you’ve taken a hold of your spending, you will be in a place of actively accomplishing your goals, and restoring your financial future.
2. How Long Do You Have To Accomplish Your Goal?
Figuring out how long you have to accomplish your goal, will jump-start your success by allowing you to be laser-focused on where you are now and where you need to be. You will also be more observant of your spending habits and how they deter you from accomplishing your end financial goal.
Let’s say you want to save $3,000 for an emergency fund and you want this dollar amount within six months. After dividing $3,000 by 6 months, you’d have to save $500 each month until you reach your 6th-month goal. This would mean if you get paid weekly you’d need to save $125 a week, and biweekly incomes would need to save $250 a week. The process of determining your goal will lead to tackling your spending habits.
3. Your Savings Strategy Will Be The Underlining Force That Will Propel You In The Right Direction.
Once you’ve figured out how much you need to save, and how long it will take, the next step will be to decide what’s the best savings strategy for you. You know yourself better than anyone else. Is cash an easy way to save? Do you feel the need to save more when it’s tangible or is it tempting to spend with cash? If it’s not tempting to spend with cash then withdrawing the appropriate amount each paycheck and then saving it in a designated envelope, will not only give you a tangible point of view of how much you’re saving. But will also, encourage you to save more if you have extra cash on hand. With discipline, you might even reach your savings goal faster.
If you find it difficult to have cash on hand because it’s tempting for you to spend, then don’t fret, there is another option for you. The other option is to set up an external bank account that occurs a percentage of interest. There are quite a few out there that have .5% APR (Annual Percentage Rate) that would allow you to occur interest on your financial goal. After setting this bank account up, you will want to create automatic transfers from your regular checking account to your external savings account, allowing you to save each time you get paid without having to lift a finger and also earn a little interest at the end of each month.
If you’re anything like me and thrive with either approach, then save the extra cash that you have on hand. But don’t stop there, you will also want to set up an automatic transfer from your bank account to your savings that would actively help you to achieve your money goals.
If anything, consistency is key and once you’ve achieved the consistency of saving money then the rest will become effortless.
