Anyone can save, but HOW?
Do you find saving as hard as chipping rocks, studying for exams or getting out of bed in winter? Always stretched for cash? Find yourself blowing money, then regretting it later? If so, you’re not alone! Initially at least, practically everyone finds saving tough work.
When you try and save, do you:
- stash it in a savings account?
- whack it under the bed?
- give it to your folks to mind because you don’t trust your willpower?
Why not burn it?
If you’re simply stashing cash under the bed or similar, it’s as good as burning money – because you’re not gaining the interest on it that you could earn by putting it in a savings account.
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Pay yourself first!
Expert savers use a great technique called ‘Pay Yourself First’. This means that whenever you get some money, you bank some of it immediately before you even think about spending it and putting the money in another person's pocket.
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What’s your target?
Just as it’s hard to aim an arrow when you can’t see the target, saving is much harder if you don’t have a clear goal in mind. So always establish your goals upfront.
When setting goals there are several things you can do to improve your chances of reaching them:
- Be specific – for example, if buying a car is a goal, think through what type of car you'd like and then do some research about price.
- Be realistic – begin by targeting goals you think you can reasonably achieve. Also, set goals that you want for yourself, rather than ones your friends might want for you.
- Think short term and long term – besides setting one or more easily achievable short term goals, motivate yourself by setting specific long term goals as well, e.g. for 1 year, 2 years, and 3 years in the future.
- Prioritise – list your goals in the order you want to achieve them.
Get a plan
OK, you’ve set your goals. Then what? Well, if you don’t have a plan to achieve them, you’re not going to get very far. A budget (savings plan) will help you to work out how much money you can put away. Check out our Budget Planner. Find out which type of account is right for you.
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