Trick Yourself Into Savings
credit: Tanya Ryno
Whether our goals be buying a first home, going on a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, or tucking money away for retirement, everyone wants to save more. Unfortunately, the promise is easier than the plan, and it’s easy to let current needs — food, electricity, transportation — outweigh the plan to put money in the bank. Luckily, there are several ways to trick yourself into saving up:
- Do it automatically: Instead of having your entire paycheck delivered into your hands, automatically route some of your money into a 401k, savings account, or anywhere that you can’t touch it.
- Treat yourself once in awhile: Denying yourself any fun is a surefire way to undermine your savings plan, so make sure to set savings goals. For example, if you save $5000, reward yourself with a weekend at a mountain B&B. The higher your goal, the better the reward.
- Punish yourself if need be: If you thrive under pressure or fear of punishment, set up a negative rewards system. For example, if you don’t meet your monthly savings goal, then you can’t eat out for the entire next month.
- Invest in a Roth: Unlike a traditional 401k, the money you save in taxes usually gets spent without a second though. WIth a Roth, you’ll automatically save, and you won’t even miss it.
Remember, where there’s a will, there’s a way. Take your time in coming up with a savings plan, and make sure to build in some fool-proof measure to assure a healthy, growing savings plan.
Tags: Budgets & Money Management | savings
This entry was posted on Sunday, March 16th, 2008 at 5:20 am and is filed under Budgets & Money Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
