I heard someone say they don’t like saving. The only analogy I could find that did it justice is the following (I stole it from Reddit):
The house was in great shape, except the kitchen didn’t have a floor and there were no plans or intentions to fix it. If you’re fine eating take out all the time, there’s not an issue, but if you like to cook, then that’s a deal breaker for you.
If you don’t think you can save, you need to find a way to trick yourself into doing it. If you don’t, you will fail in your personal finance life.
I did make some suggestions (but remember how much Free Advice is worth as well):
- If your employer allows you to deposit to different accounts (with your pay cheque), put money away in a “secret account” that is hard to get the cash out. Many folks I know do this, and it works. Just don’t “raid” the secret account for some Mad Spending.
- You can do the same thing with your bank, and shuffle moneys on pay-day. This way you aren’t aware of it, thus you save money behind your own back. The same caveats about not using the savings account as a spending spree.
- CSBs can be used in the same way, and they are at least hard to cash out right away (lousy return, but at least the money is safe).
- Stock purchase plans from your employer is another good place to hide money, but never get too heavily vested in your employer, either.
If you don’t like saving, find a way to fool yourself into doing it (or marry someone who saves well, and put them in charge of your money).
Question:
Are there other ways to fool yourself into saving money?
