The Benefits Of Saving Money
Many of my friends and family know that I am a regular saver. I ignore most experts recommendations of saving 10% of my after-tax income. I attempt to save 25% each year.
I have been doing this for several years now and every month this money goes partly into a savings account and/or TFSA account. This savings is used for any emergency that may arise (accident or unexpected cost) and I use this as a self-insurance policy. When you save every month a certain percentage you learn to live without having access to that money.
Why I started to save
When I was in my early 20s, I was invited to a wedding but since money was so tight at the time, I could not afford to attend and I did not attend the wedding.
After that moment, I decided that I needed to change my attitude on having enough money for large expenses. I read a few personal finance books and started to move forward. I did not want to have to struggle in the future for a major expense.
I believed the answer was to start saving an amount every month which would leave my checking account automatically. I was basically spending whatever I had or earned. If it was in the bank therefore I would spend it. I would have no way of course to spend the money.
I am happy to say that it did not exactly have a major negative impact on my life. After seeing my net worth increasing (by making wise investments in stocks with my savings), I was quite happy to see the positive change.
Having regular savings gives you peace of mind, because In life you never really know when something is going to go wrong, for example your car breaking down, the washing machine breaking or the need for some improvements to your house.
This makes my life less stressful by having regular saving deposits, as I know that I have the money readily available to remedy most situations.
I would strongly advise other people to commence saving on a regular basis as it has certainly given me a piece of mind.
How to get started
I recommend creating a basic savings account with your bank or an online bank like ING Direct. Make sure that this account does not have any fees attached to it. If you have a regular pay cheque, set aside an amount each pay period that automatically gets deposited from your checking account to your savings account.
At the end of the year, calculate how much you have saved and calculate your savings percentage (how much of your after-tax income you save). As an example, if you saved 15% over an annual basis, I recommend trying to increase this to 18-20%. Find new items from your budget to cut and turn into a saver.
Why do you choose to save money?
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I call these “savings buckets” in my budget. You figure out how much you need, when you need it and reverse engineer that goal. if you need $600 for a wedding in 6 months, set aside $100 a month. It’s so simple, but seems to be so rare these days.
I love saving money, but I don’t do enough of it. I save only like 3% of my income… because I am putting the rest toward my car loan. That 3% is my RRSP. Oh, and then I save all of my extra income (blogging, etc).
Do you count savings as what you put away automatically at work? My new job contributes 9% and I contribute 6% to a pension. does that count? Lol
I would say that it does count as saving. Its money in your pocket at the end of the day.
Yes, any money saved counts as savings in my books (anything outside your fixed expenses and cutting variable expenses each month).
I save as much as I can. I can’t wait until the house is paid off and my student loans are gone, so that I can save a lot more.
I agree that only saving 10% is much too low. Unless you are paying off debt, you should be saving much more than that. I don’t really have a set amount that I save since my income is fluctuating too much lately, but I try to save as much as possible. The more I put away now, the easier it will be to reach my long term goals later.
10% seems awfully low (with inflation it doesn’t give you much of a cushion).
It is hard for me to save much right now since I’m making so little. When I do make decent money I put away a large percentage of it which makes the lean times much easier to get through.
Andy, it may not seem like much of a difference right now but every little bit helps (the discipline will help when you make the big bucks)!
Automatic savings is a great thing. It can really help with peace of mind, I know the feeling. When you start doing it and see the savings start to accumulate, it can really build momentum in terms of getting excited about building savings. Once hooked, it’s hard to look back. The tough part for many is just getting started, but stories like yours about the wedding are real examples of why it’s important to save.
The best way to get started saving is definitely to start by automating it. Most people realize that they don’t even miss the money and they just learn to survive on less. I have never actually calculated any savings rate though, maybe I should do this.
This is smart, and I’m definitely at the early stage that you described of realizing I wanted to save for big ticket items and enjoying every step along the way. I’m looking forward to writing a post like this one a few years from now. 🙂
Best,
Cat
“I was invited to a wedding but since money was so tight at the time, I could not afford to attend and I did not attend the wedding.”
This is really the key to your post, and it’s where you differ from most people. You saw that you couldn’t afford to go to the wedding, so you didn’t go. You also learned from that experience that you don’t want to wind up in a position like that in the future, so it kicked your butt into gear to start saving more.
I think most people would have gone to the wedding anyway, charged the plane tickets and wedding gift, and went (further) into debt.
I would have done that a few years ago.