Money Saving Best Practices: Your Gateway to Wealth Generation

What we do today defines to a large extent what we achieve in the future. Money plays a significant role in fueling our ambitions. We normally work hard and think nothing of partying harder, burning money like there’s no tomorrow. That’s until the future arrives with a bang and we have no progress to show on many fronts. The reality is that today is your best shot at planning for the future, and it’s the best money savings practices that’ll inch you closer to your wildest dreams.

We’ve gathered the finest practical wisdom coming from expert money managers, wisdom that translates into best practices that help you manage your finances. You’ll be creating wealth, and the day may not be far off when you’ll be able to gift your partner nothing but the best bespoke jewelry in town.

Strategic Savings Planning Achieves Just About Anything in Life

Take the worst case scenarios between now and the end of days. You could lose that cushy job. You could become disabled so severely that your job is disrupted. You may spend thousands on health care because you didn’t pad the insurance premium when you were a high earner. It’s better late than never to strategize a money savings plan that cushions you when you fall.  

The future may be as near as next month when you’re planning a much-needed vacation with the family, or five years from now when Junior transitions to college, or ten years hence when you see yourself stepping over the threshold of a brand new home.  

You have to break the dangerous cycle of paycheck-to-paycheck living and force yourself to take a chunk out of your monthly earnings to fund a future narrative. How about opening different savings accounts for different goals?

You’re Never Too Young to Save for Retirement

It’s a misconceived notion that you can safely begin a savings plan in your fabulous forties when a larger income makes savings possible. Starting savings at a young age gives you immeasurable benefits. In an IRA, you’ll be getting decades to benefit from your employer’s contribution. Do the math on a retirement calculator and you’ll realize the importance of getting a head start in saving for retirement

Visualize a Goal, Create the Budget and Focus on Achieving Your Dreams

You have the academic background, the qualifications, and the skill sets to achieve unbridled success. If you follow these money savings best practices you’ll reach your goals faster:

• Plan a realistic budget that stands a good chance of helping you achieve an objective. Be practical about the money that you can set aside for the future.
• Study and watch the way money ebbs and flows through your daily routine. Review expenses, avoid undesirable discretionary spending and make room for the unexpected. In the same way, seek out ways to constantly increase income, if necessary through additional jobs.
• If you’re married, take a hard look at mutual goals and make an inventory of your combined resources. Save for every goal, and plan for all contingencies. A financially secure environment is like oxygen to a marriage.
• Spending to satisfy your needs is OK, but splurging lavishly on wants is avoidable. Remember to weigh each expenditure on the touchstone of your goals. If the expense doesn’t fall in line with your goals, it may not be worth pursuing.
• Whenever money comes in by way of salary, a gift or a windfall, give in to the savings impulse, not to an impulsive spending urge. The best solution could be to automate savings so when money comes, your essentials and savings are taken care of and you restrain expenditure to what’s left.
• Track every item of expense, even the smallest and silliest expense, because that gives you an opportunity to review and eliminate unwanted expenses.
• There’s scope to reduce expenses across the board; your energy consumption, car gas, your grocery bills, the loans you raise and the credit cards you use, the taxes and insurance premium you pay.
• Think what you’ll be doing five, ten, fifteen years down the road and ask yourself what you can do today to ensure you’re comfortable when those milestones arrive.
• As for the children, your responsibilities don’t end with saving for their future. You have to show them what money can and can’t do. Lead by example, teaching children the value of money, and make them better citizens capable of taking wiser financial decisions.

The Bottom-Line: Savings and Saving Alone Can’t Be Your Goal

These savings strategies are very effective, and following them will make a huge difference to your life and the choices you make today and for tomorrow. But don’t be too fixated on savings and debt management. There’s more to life than that. Focus equally on growing your business or your personal income and aim to generate wealth. Because when you gain wealth you’ll be freer to pursue your dreams. Everything else is automatically taken care of.