What type of saver are you? Find out, save money
TODAY Financial editor Jean Chatzky on your spending and saving habits
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Tips on saving money Dec. 17: Have you spent a lot more than usual this holiday season? Jean Chatzky tells MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski how to hold on to some of your cash. Today Show Money |
Curious how you're saving, especially after all the holiday spending? Below are four examples of different types of women savers and what each can do to keep a bit more money in their wallets:
The disorganized nonsaver (receipts flying, money in pockets; a mess)
What do you do if you're not saving because you don't know where your money is going?
You need two things. First, a good filing system, and you can do that in what I call Bills in a Box. Every category — banking, insurance, income — has its place and each folder is subcategorized for accounts. Why? Because you need to know how to access your records
Second, you also need a way to track the money you're putting away, and I prefer automatic investing that you can access by computer. I can access my 401(k) online, my kids’ 529, my saving accounts. It's very easy to see how much is going where each month, and how much you're moving into saving. Once you start seeing your money add up, you'll feel inspired to do more.
The ‘I need it now’ nonsaver (labels galore, shopper)
This is very common, isn't it? We work very hard these days, and we feel we deserve rewards.
Yes, self-care is a big deal, and of course, if you work hard, it's very important to take care of YOU. But you have to realize that saving for the long term — particularly for women — is the ultimate in taking care of yourself. And that you can take care of yourself near-term in smaller, less expensive ways. Take a nice quiet walk rather than treating yourself to a massage. Go for the manicure and clip your toenails yourself. No one is going to see them in the winter, anyway.
The ‘my spouse is taking care of it’ nonsaver
We've all heard horror stories of women, in particular, but men also, who put themselves into someone else's hands. What's the downside? You're never sure the work — in this case, the saving — is actually happening. And by delegating saving, you reduce by as much as half the money that you have the ability to put away. You have to take advantage, in particular, of your own 401(k), your own spousal IRA, your own savings — because if you don't have money in your own name, then you've given up all the financial POWER in the relationship.
The ‘I'll do it tomorrow’ nonsaver (jet-setter)
Here's a story of two people: One saves $100 a month at 8 percent interest between the age of 20 and 30 and never saves another dollar. One waits until she's 30 to start saving but then saves $100 a month until she's age 65, again at 8 percent. Who has the most money?
The person who saved from 20 to 30: $295,351 The person who saved from 30 to 65: $229,388
The moral of the story — time, in this case, is more valuable than money. And once those years are gone, you can't get them back!
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