Save: Save What?

Yet thankfully, many banks offer automatic savings programs for people who wouldn’t otherwise believe that they were able to do so. Banking institutions such as Bank of America offers Keep The Change while Wachovia offers the Way to Save program. These accounts operate by taking the leftover change from each transaction and emptying it into a savings account and shows your added earnings each month. So for instance if you make a purchase that is $18.84, then 0.16 cents would automatically be transferred into your savings account. Now as I said i’m no math whiz, but I can tell what you are thinking, 0.16 cents is nothing! But just think over a month or a year, all of that change adds up.

The practice of saving money, even it means just a few pennies here and there, can benefit any and everyone greatly even if it takes time to grow. It causes you to have to think for the long term. However, in this society of higly desired instant gratification, that can be quite difficult. If we don’t see our money now, instantaneously, then we simply lament our bad luck and fail to plan to improve our situation. Sure if Bill Gates wants to hold off on purchasing that estate in the south of France for the winter so he can save oh let’s say a couple million bucks, then yeah, Bill can certainly do that. That’s great for him. But, for the rest of us, if holding off on getting that pack of Trident gum means you can put that dollar in your jar at home under the bed and save it for something more important on a rainy day, then that is what you have to do. And yes, I know resisting a pack of gum to save a little change sounds quite meager compared to my Bill Gates example, but we all have to start somewhere! We all had to crawl before we walked, and by the way so did Bill!

On that note, here’s to finding that lucky penny in the couch cushion! Toss it in the piggy bank and just watch, slowly yet steady it will grow. Here’s to happier financial lives, our money tree is on the way!

Never stop dreaming!