I Only Save When I am Forced To

Good Morning Dinks.  Today we are talking about our personal and couple’s savings strategies.

Some couples choose not to combine their finances and maintain individual savings accounts; this doesn’t mean that couples don’t share their monthly expenses; it just means that they save money separately as individuals. Some other couple’s choose to combine their checking, savings, and investment accounts in order to build their savings as a couple.

My boyfriend Nick and I chose to save money individually.  This is mostly because we started dating when we were teenagers and we didn’t have any savings.  Our personal banking and our personal savings accounts have always been kept on an individual basis and it doesn’t really make financial sense to change our personal strategies after all these years.  With that being said we do share our debts. When we had a car we shared the expenses and the car loan payments, we also have a joint credit card that we use to pay for our household expenses such as furniture, groceries, and electronics.

Regardless of whether you chose to save as a couple or as an individual here are some savings strategies that can help you save more money on a monthly basis:

1. Set Up an Automatic Purchase Plan.  I personally would never save if I didn’t force myself to save through an automatic purchase plan.  I set up automatic transfers from my checking account to my retirement and savings accounts on a biweekly basis.  Therefore when I wake up on the morning of my payday the money has already been taken out of my checking account; this avoids the temptation to spend the money instead of save it.  I like waking up every other Thursday morning knowing that I am saving for my retirement. I like knowing that my savings have already been withdrawn and I am free to spend the money that is in my checking account.

2. Sign Up For Your Employer Savings Plan.  It doesn’t matter if you are saving for a long term goal such as retirement or if you are saving for a short term goal such as a vacation, employer savings plans are a great way to save money.  An employer savings plan allows employees to save money through automatic payroll deductions.  The added benefit of having an employer savings plan is that your employer usually also makes contributions on your behalf.  My employer matches 50% of my personal contributions up to a maximum dollar amount. This is great because I have an automatic rate of return (in the form of my employer contributions), regardless of how my investments perform.

3. Just Forget About The Money.  If you are always checking the balances in your savings accounts and your retirement accounts you may be tempted to withdraw the money and spend it on other things. If you just forget about the money and only withdraw it for the intended purpose or when you have a financial emergency you can enjoy watching your savings grow over the years. The best savings strategy is to save on a regular basis and just forget about the money until you absolutely need it.

Photo by Images of Money

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.