How to Let Your Savings Grow Part 2?

Answer 1

Once you have figured out how much money to set aside each month, your savings account will build up slowly but surely. It can be frustrating at times when it is not building as quickly as you would like, but keep up the good work! Anytime you get an unexpected bonus or gift money, immediately put it into savings as well. After some time, your account will get to the point where you feel the need to protect all your hard work. It won’t be as easy to transfer money back into savings. Your best bet is to keep your savings in an account not linked to your checking at all, so that transferring money out of savings is difficult. You can make your money work for you by investing your savings in a high-yield savings account or CD. While the interest rates that banks will pay on savings accounts aren’t nearly as good as they used to be, you can still get a higher return on these special accounts than on a regular savings account at your bank. Once your savings reaches a certain threshold amount, such as $10,000, consider moving your money into a higher yield account, many of which require this higher opening balance to set up the account. In addition to your regular savings account, make sure you are putting enough money aside for retirement. If your employer offers to match a percentage of your 401k, make sure to take advantage of the opportunity, as it is free money for you. If you are a recent college graduate, try to save at least 5% of your annual income into your 401k account. Then, challenge yourself to increase this percentage each year or every other year. The advantage of saving into a 401k is that your contributions are tax deductible. You will pay taxes on the distributions when you retire, however. In order to avoid paying these taxes upon retirement, you may want to consider opening a Roth IRA account instead of, or in addition to your 401k account. Roth IRAs require that you pay the taxes up front, the year that the contributions are made, but are exempt from taxes when you retire. By paying the taxes now on a smaller amount, instead of later on the balance once it has been earning dividends and interest for years, you will undoubtedly save yourself a good deal of money in the long run. However you decide to save your money, for the long and short term, you can make big changes in your savings potential by living within your means. Sometimes this means just paying closer attention to where your money is going each month, but it can also mean making drastic lifestyle changes such as changing careers or selling your house and buying or renting a smaller, less expensive one. Society has made it difficult to live without relying on credit to buy bigger things than we can really afford. By paying yourself first through an automatic transfer from your checking to your savings account, you will naturally stop buying into the “play now, pay later” mindset, and make more realistic and responsible decisions about your money and your future.