How to save money.

HOW TO SAVE MONEY.

• 47% of Americans would have trouble finding $400
• 2/3 of Americans would struggle to cover $1,000 crisis
• 1 in 3 Americans has saved $0 for retirement

How is it that we are in such a deep mess in this country?

Our educational system is part to blame as it does not teach our kids anything about how to handle money wisely. This is such a big part of life and we are not getting prepared for the world. We need to engage with our sons and daughters as often as we can when dealing with money. This is mostly unconscious programming developed early in life. You can change later in life but it will be much harder and there are a lot of distractions.

I would suggest that you encourage this habit on your kids while they are young as to develop their self control with money. Give them an allowance and teach them the value of money.

Pay them a little to do their chores, this will motivate them with something tangible that they can value.

They will appreciate this when they grow older and are able to sustain a living as they will not waste money on things that they do not need to live a comfortable life.

How happy would you be as a parent when you see your child in a good path and know that your child will be more than okay.

This is what I do with my kids.

I have 3 boys.

• 6 years
• 9 years
• 15 years

They each have a savings account with me. they each have $100 plus already saved up

They save all of their money and are able to buy themselves the latest video game systems and games when the holiday come around, we encourage them to save up and it pays off when the holiday comes.

It helps us knowing that they have their own money and they value what they receive from us. We allow them to spend it on their items because we know that they value it. They behave and they don't complain. They understand what we as parent go through to earn our living. They appreciate being our kids.

We thank God for giving us such wonderful kids.

Saving Money

To learn the basics of saving money, you must first change your attitude about money.

Money is more psychological than it is numbers. As you would find many times when you really want to save, then something shows up in your life, an emergency with the car or something is up with a family member and you will have to spend money to take care of these things. But remember such things will come, but it is better to be prepared for them.

If you have money, life's problems will not remove your peace of mind as you will be untouchable.

God is on your side on this, do your part and God will make it grow.

Behavior pays, your mind needs new positive habits, engage now.

To begin this journey, find yourself a good savings account to stash your savings, many banks online offer good rates for savings. I personally use ally bank.

Once you have set this up, the first time will be a little hard as you will have to go against yourself, you will have to go against your subconscious programming.

I will begin to explain a method that has worked for me. I hope it also serves you in your journey to save money.

Begin with making a budget and finding out where your money is going to.

then you can evaluate where to save some money or allocate this money to pay off some of your outstanding debt.

Budgeting made easy.

To set up a budget follow this simple steps that will help you with this process.

Major things to do to setup a budget.

-Analyse your expenses.

Group them the following way for now, you can develop your methods later.

-Rent or Mortgage

-Regular Bills(Coned,Water,Phone, Etc.)

-Savings

Run your numbers and see how much you are left with.

Make a plan to pay off your current debt as to increase your cash flow.

Once you have paid off your debts then redo your budget and increase your savings.

Always try to clear your cash flow because this is what will make everything else happen.

I would recommend to start this budgeting method which is simple to start with.

The 50/30/20 budgeting method

Limit your needs to 50% of your after tax income.

Limit your wants to 30% of your after tax income.

Limit your savings to 20% of your after tax income.

This is a good method to start with.

I use this but what I do now that my cash flow is much clearer is that I have switch the 30% for wants and 20% for savings around, now I do this.

50% on needs

20% on wants

30% on savings

My savings now include a percentage to my Roth IRA and my  brokerage investment account which I use for the rest of my savings. I am still saving up for my emergency fund but I am doing this because my wife already has a large sum save up that can be used for emergencies. I am taking a little longer because of this fact only. You have to save up that amount if you don't have anyone to assist you. This is the main thing you must do to be financially stable.

This method has allowed me to buy what I need without having to worry that I will not have enough to pay off my bills.

Savings at your job

Let me mention something else.

I am not only saving for my Roth IRA. I am also investing 20% of my pretax salary into my 403b (Similar to a 401k) at work, so either way I am looking out for myself when it comes to retirement.

I am developing this habit because it will pay off when I retire on time.

I don't really want to work longer than I need to.

Save your windfalls.

 if you find yourself with some extra money, whether you receive your tax return or you get some extra money from your job. Be smart and save that money, this will make your life goals much easier to attain. Don't waste the money that could help you enjoy life at a later time if invested correctly.

Cash Only Mode

Try going with cash only for a while and see how that works out for you.

I have tried this method and it has helped it a lot because most of the things we buy on credit are unnecessary and this will allow you to see this because it will hurt spending real money.

By implementing the cash only mode you will realize that a lot of the things you buy are not needed and it is only hurting your finances.

Use your debit card more often or pay with cash and see how it feels and you will see how soon you stop spending money that you know was hard to earn.

Do this today and you will see the fruits of your efforts sooner than if you delay and end up not doing it or just do it a little bit.

Effort and Sacrifice pays.

Stay motivated by reading and practicing every single day.

The point is that you must begin today if you want to change your life. do not wait for another time. Today is the day that you must change.

You do not have to be perfect, good is enough, sometimes perfection is our worst enemy because we sit and wait for something that may never arrive.

My preferred method would be to make an effort no matter what to allocate a percentage of your income into a savings account every time you get paid.

You can start with as much as 10% of your salary and pay yourself this money every time you receive your salary or whatever your source of money is.

if this is too much start, start with what you can and go from there. If you are only able to save $5 dollars, start today, in time you will see that it gets increase as your attention changes your reality.

This method of savings is call 'Pay yourself first'

Paying yourself first is very rewarding, because it let's you reward yourself every time you get paid and it feels good. having money in your bank feels good and it helps with every day life.

This method has to come first after you have analyse your budget and know how much you can save.

Ex.

Monthly salary after tax: $3000

Rent or Mortgage:$1,231

Bills:$700

Savings:$1,000

I have done my budget and now I am to save this much.

So what I do now instead of it being the last thing on my mind.

As soon as I get paid I move the money for savings out of my checking account and into my Roth IRA and brokerage account.

Then I move the money for bills into a bills account.

I also sent the money for my rent to the Landlord as a check.

This keeps me from over spending and ruining my budget. Follow up through on your preferred method and you will succeed in life.

I am doing this myself after getting rid of a car loan and credit card debt that was consuming my very breath of life. Now i am enjoying a little bit more of freedom with my money to the point that I am actually saving and investing money with what is left after I pay off all of my bills and enjoy some of the money to buy myself a little something as encouragement to continue.

What I buy for myself is not much, spend $25 or even $50 on myself. I also try sometimes to buy something for my family members, whether is my wife or my kids so that we can enjoy together. I have even started playing chess with my son as a hobby. Now that I hold more valuable time because of the change in attitude and not having to hustle through life because of my bad habits.

Back to the main point, saving money must become a habit that you encourage every single time you have some money. This must be done at all cost because otherwise you will not be able to save anything. The more you practice the easier it becomes. once you are set you will have such a freedom that you will actually feel bored. But don't let that feeling deterred you from continuing because that is when it gets good. Now you will see your bank account with a sum of money that you never had before.

Investment starts when all of your necessities are taking care of, including an emergency fund.

Try this out.

Save yourself an amount equal to at least 6 months of expenses and then see how it goes, how it feels, how much security does that give you?

Then once you are set with that now move on to saving even more for your retirement.

It will come, it always comes.

Retirement savings is one of the most important aspect that you can save money for. Remember everyday you are not getting any younger and the more you save the better prepare you will be for life and its needs.

This is what I do, I have a Roth IRA in fidelity and I do my best to fund it every time I get paid, this is my math.

$5,500 / 26 = $211.5384615384615

I invest $250 into my Roth IRA every time I get paid, I get pay every two weeks.

I hope that when I retire in about 20 years I will have some money saved up to at least use it as a cushion for everyday living.

Let's say I would be able to pull from this account $500 every month plus other sources of income and this will last me for the rest of my life or 30 years.

This will feel awesome to something that will help ease the pain of living for many of us without any savings.

I am committed to doing this for myself and my family because I know this will come. I hope you do the same and start early to save for your future that will come.

Once you are set up with paying yourself first and investing in retirement then just follow through every time, in a while you will see the fruits of your efforts paying up. You will be glad that you listened to your better self on this and do what you know to be right.

This is a work in progress, please check back often.

If you need more assistance with this, make a comment and I will do my best to guide you properly.

Remember it is not about how much you earn, but how much you keep!

Enjoy!