What’s The Most Important Rule Of Saving? Pay Yourself First

After the stock bubbles and housing busts of the last few decades, it is no wonder that many people are feeling insecure about their financial future.  In order to make sure that you will be able to handle any financial emergencies that occur in the future, it is important to ensure that you will have enough in your savings account to pay for the issues that arise.  The simplest way to make sure that the balance of your savings account grows quickly is to pay yourself first whenever you are paid money.

Paying yourself first is one of the secrets of financial success and can be done automatically without any thought or effort.  Most of the people that are good at accumulating wealth know this secret and practice it all of the time, saving a percentage of each paycheck or payment made to them to ensure that their savings account will continue to grow.  Prior to paying any bills or making any purchases, they make sure that they have placed the required amount into savings first.

Practicing The Rule

Many businesses give employees the option to split their direct-deposited check into up to three different bank accounts to help them deposit money into their savings account automatically each pay period.  This prevents you from seeing the money in the bank account that you use for spending and removes the money from your spending allowance so that it cannot be spent without the hassle of moving it back into the account that you use for spending.  It is a simple method that can relieve financial anxiety and help you secure your financial future.

Reasons For Saving

This method can be used for any type of saving you desire, not just for your emergency saving account.  Many people have a percentage of their paychecks direct deposited into accounts for their child’s college fund, a down payment for a home, or an individual retirement account.  Because it is such a quick and simple way to save, the technique can be used for virtually any type of saving need, even for investing accounts or large purchases that will be occurring within the next few years.

Creating A Plan

When setting up a savings plan, it is important to take into account what you are saving for and how long you intend to save for it.  If the savings are being diverted to an emergency savings account or retirement fund, then you should plan to allow the funds to accumulate for a long time without withdrawals and place at least 10% of your earnings into the account.  If the money is being saved for a particular need, then the best course of action is to determine how much money will be needed to make the purchase and divide the cost by the number of months before the purchase will be made.  This helps you obtain a dollar figure for how much you should be saving each month to make that purchase on time.

 

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