A Place for the Important Stuff
Ready for day 4 of 31 Days to a Better Bank Balance?
In Day 3, we figured out what was actually important for us to spend money on. Often, those are “big” things — like travel, a down payment on a house, or long term savings. Today’s topic is is about saving up the money to make that thing happen.
So the question is, do you have an account set up specifically for that thing?
If not, today’s the day to set one up — and then to set aside automatic transfers at least monthly to that account. Ideally the amount you transfer should be enough to get you to your goal right off the bat, but since most of us don’t live in an ideal world, if that’s not possible start by setting up an automatic transfer of any amount to that account.
You should be able to do this in 15 minutes or less, so go ahead and do it today. After all, this is the thing you’ve identified as most important to you.
If you’re not sure where to open up a savings account, you can search bankrate.com and narrow things down that way. Personally I prefer ING Direct due to the ease of use, but it doesn’t really matter. The point is to open and start automatically funding an dedicated account somewhere.
Already have an account set up with automatic transfers? Good. Go increase the amount you’re sending to it by 10%.
Then, do not use that money for anything but its stated purpose.
Our vacation account is set up and gets $250 a month. :-)
Woohoo! Where are you planning to vacation?
You’re absolutely right — I’ve gotta pay for my grad school, and I have an empty (!!!) 529 savings account sitting out there in the world, waiting for me to use. Thank you for reminding me! :D
Happy saving!