Being able to save money can be seen as a privilege these days. Having the spare income available to sock away bit by bit, whilst also potentially paying off debt and paying the rent, is a sign your financial wealth is really on the up! However, did you know that money you put into your savings account can work harder for you? There are various ways to make good use out of it, so let’s go through a few of the most effective methods below.
Where are you currently putting all of your cash savings? In a standard savings account? Don’t worry, this is where we all dump money we want to save for later and think no more about it. However, there are better savings accounts out there that can make your money go further, but only if you’re willing to lock your cash away for a bit longer.
With accounts like these, the longer you go without touching your savings, the higher the interest rate can climb. All you need to do is sign up and deposit some money in them – the more you put in, the more you’ll get out, but only if you’re able to live without access to the money for upwards of 5 years.
Invest Here and There
Investing could double your money in a matter of short months. Of course, you don’t want to plug everything you have into an investment of any kind. Most of all you need to have some savings leftover that are accessible, just in case you need them at a pinch. But aside from this, it’s also quite dangerous to sink all your money into one pit – a diverse portfolio is a strong one!
So if you want to get to know more about the investing world, and you want to be absolutely sure you’ve learnt as much as you can, it might be an idea to check out The Forex Library trading course. Investing can go extremely well when you know what you’re handling, and being up to date on investing/trading types, risk measurement methods, and ways to spread out your portfolio is the best way to stay safe.
Look into Programs
There are a lot of financial assistance programs out there that you may be entitled to. Taking advantage of these can give you a real step up in the world when you need it most. For example, if you’re in the UK, you can use the Help to Buy scheme to get a boost when you’re putting a down payment on a house for the first time. And of course, if you’re currently in full time work, you can ask your employer to match your pension contributions. All it takes is a bit of research and the courage to apply.
If you want your savings to go further, don’t just let them sit untouched! There’s more help out there than you may realise.
One of the best things that you can do with your money is to save it. Sure, spending is fun, but it’s not as fun when you have nothing left! It’s a challenge that you should consider indulging in, as you want to be able to deal with your finances in a healthy and balanced way. Saving is an excellent way to discipline yourself when it comes to your money.
It’s a commitment that requires you to be focused, and if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, the best thing to do now is to learn to save some money for a rainy day. It also means that you can do more with your life (for example, go back to school to increase your earning capabilities). Let’s take a glance over some of the ways that you can save – if you’re up for a challenge!
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Make Some Swaps
You may be used to upgrading your car for a brand new one – often with a relatively high monthly repayment on finance. Well, today is the day you make a different choice. Instead of upgrading your car, you’re going to sell it. It costs you too much money each month, and so you’re going to go ahead and test-drive the Volkswagen Das WeltAuto Approved Used Cars that you’ve seen in the car lot. Then, you’re going to budget your money for a used car over a brand new one!
Set A Budget
If you are currently living off whatever you believe you have, you’re doing it wrong. A monthly budget allows you to see where your money is going, and it means that you know precisely where you are wasting money that you could be saving. Create a budget and be realistic about it. Do a review of your accounts for the last six months and include every single payment to every single cup of coffee. Once you have a realistic idea of what you spend, you can then cut it all down and make some room for savings.
Open a Savings Account
You will need somewhere for all those savings to go, and the best option here is to open a high-interest savings account. Every bank out there has a savings option, so let them hold onto your money for you – out of sight, out of mind.
Track Where Your Money Goes
Until you track your spending, you’ll never know where your money goes. Keep the receipts of every purchase that you make, and make sure you start a spreadsheet to see where every penny of your money has gone. Once you know where you are overspending, it’s much easier to stop doing it!
You can start to become more solvent when you know where your money is going and how much you are spending. It may not be comfortable to save at first when you’re used to splurging. So, set yourself a goal so that you can have a use for all that money that you’ve carefully saved!
Savings and the accounts they are, well, saved in are a massive deal. They are the things that individuals put their trust in to see that their financial future, and the financial future of their family and children, is as strong and as stress-free as can be.
It is for this reason, then, why savings accounts must be protected at all times. Specifically, it is for this reason why the money within them must be protected at all times and stopped from falling into the wrong hands.
For advice on how to safeguard your savings fervently, make sure to read on.
Always have a clear understanding of who provides you with your savings account
Simply, you must know as much as you can about the provider of your savings account as well as where they are saving your money, how they are saving it and exactly what kinds of interest is being attached to it. Even if this means going out of your way to do extensive research on the matter because you have taken out various accounts across many providers, simply do it.
Specially, things that you should be looking out for and researching about your provider and the savings account or ISA that they have provided you include if they abide by theFinancial Services Compensation Scheme (FCSC), who actually owns them and the rest of their banking branches and whether they offer any sort of offshore initiatives. First of all, knowing if your provider is a bank that adheres to the FCSC is pivotal because this could be the deciding factor in you protecting your savings should the bank, for whatever reason, fail and face a crisis or even closure — also, there are limits to FCSCs, so make sure you know what your bank’s limit is. Second of all, knowing as much as you can about who or what actually owns the bank that has provided you with your savings account is as equally an important thing to do because it allows you to go direct to the source should a financial crisis regarding them occur; because the banking landscape is always in a state of change and different banks are always either buying each other or merging together, keeping up with the company that owns yours is a tough task but an important task nonetheless. Finally, knowing what your provider’s stance on offshore banking is is also an imperative thing to do as they make banks far easier to tap into, and your savings provider being tapped into would never bode well for any savings you have stored away with them
So, make sure you always have a clear understanding of exactly who it is that is saving your money and playing such an important role in your financial life. Not doing so will surely spell some sort of disaster somewhere down the line.
Always make sure your savings are as safeguarded as they can be from thievery
Of course, straight up thievery and burglary should still be your main cause for concern when it comes to safeguarding your savings and your financial life in general. Yes, thievery still poses, as it always has done and probably always will do, the biggest threat to the money that we stack and save. So, make sure your savings are not only safeguarded against it in as fervent a fashion as possible, but make sure they are safeguarded against at all conceivable moments (because thieves don’t sleep).
The first that you should do to deter all of those reprobates out there that are desperate to get their grubby hands on your savings is to make absolute sure that all of your personal data, which also means any innocuous documents that may contain even the slightest hint of your personal data, is either as protected as it can be at all times or is destroyed as soon as it becomes futile. You need to do this because in the technologically enhanced world that we live in, plus the fact that so many people (even low life thieves) are so gifted when it comes to using modern technology, there are always going to be ways for your data to be used and subsequently there are always going to be ways for your savings accounts to be broken into. For instance, if your data were to be made accessible to a thief that is well versed inidentity theft then your identity could be and would be tapped into in the blink of an eye; if this were to happen, who would there to be stop the thief running riot with your identity and drawing out all of your saved money? So, with all that being said, just make sure all of your personal data is never made accessible to anyone other than yourself or others that your wholeheartedly trust to not abuse it — this means doing things like keeping the devices that store your data safe at all times and this means shredding documents that contain pieces of vital information regarding your data, to name just a few.
Something else that you should do to deter thieves that may be sniffing around your savings pot as best you can is to never flaunt the fact that you actually have a savings account and to never flaunt any money that you withdraw from it. Doing so by, say, mentioning your financial capabilities online via social media, will make you and your saved money an easy target for thieves. So, fight that urge to flaunt and keep ALL information about your saved money on a need-to-know basis!
Always make sure your savings are protected from lawful taking.
The straight up and direct stealing of your savings from low-life criminals isn’t the only type of thievery that you should be safeguarding your savings against. No, something else that you need to be protecting your savings from is what is known as lawful taking. This kind of taking, which is not deemed illegal but still consists of your money being taken and then falling into the wrong hands, simply involves your money being taken by your government. Yes, this happens, and therefore your savings accounts need to be protected against it.
One area of personal finance and the world of savings accounts in which lawful taking is rife is that that takes places after a saver has passed. Yes, after an individual who had a savings account in their life and managed to accrue a great amount of saved money within it passes there is always going to be a chance that his or her local government will try to lawfully take the money and put it back into the state. And, as previously mentioned, this is completely legal — but, legal or not, would you want it happening to you? Would you want your hard-saved money to end up in the hands of anybody but the family and loves ones, or even the charity of your choosing, that you leave behind? No, you wouldn’t, so you need to protect your savings against this lawful taking afteryour passing by writing out your will before you do pass. Yes, writing your will is the best way to protect your savings from beyond the grave because it will stand as a legally bound document drawn up with your permission and in your honour to dictate exactly where you want your money to be going. So, make sure you do it! And, if doing it seems like too daunting a task for you then make sure to get in touch with a professional will writing company, such asLegacy Wills, who will help you every step of the way in regards to it. Seriously, those that you leave behind in life will thank you if you do.
While many parents are working to educate their children, new research from M&S Money on over 3,000 under 18s suggests that some teens (14 – 18 years old) are not being given basic help on money matters by their parents.
SURPRISING INFORMATION SHORTFALL:
Indeed, teens who are closest to financial independence and need a good solid grounding in personal finance matters revealed that:
– Almost one in five parents (19%) have never even discussed how they spend their money with their teens.
– 47% of parents have yet to help their child open a current account.
– 32% have yet to discuss how to budget or even describe what one is.
– Savings is also not generally a topic of conversation with 21% never having discussed this important topic with their parents.
– 31% of parents yet to assist their child with opening a savings account.
M&S Money believes that rather than parents being unwilling to help children tackle personal financial issues, they are often either confused themselves or unsure as to what they should be discussing at which age.
TOP TIPS FOR TALKING MONEY WITH TEENS:
Therefore, to help parents, M&S Money has compiled the top tips on how to teach your teen about money:
Make Teens Responsible for Their Own Expenditure – Rather than paying for their mobile costs, provide them with an allowance and clearly outline how you expect them to be responsible for these bills in future. While it might be hard, don’t give them additional funds unless it is an emergency as it means they will soon learn how overspending means they have to miss out.
Talk your Teen through the Household Budget – Finances can be very theoretical but sitting down with your teen and explaining the bills you need to pay and how you budget for these will make if far more real. It may also mean that they are more understanding when you say you can’t afford to buy them new trainers.
Be Honest About Your Financial Mistakes – 20% of teens think that they will be able to manage their money better than their parents so make sure that they understand what mistakes you made so they can learn from them.
Explain the difference between good and bad debt – As your child grows up, they will be offered credit cards, store cards, overdrafts and mortgages. Each used sensibly can be very useful but if abused can cause real problems so explain to your teen how they work. Ensure that as part of this you touch on interest rates in general.
Help them to set up Savings and Current Accounts – Teens mature at different rates but by helping them to set up these accounts, you can allow them to learn to manage their finances in a safe environment. Talk them through all the information which comes with the account as not only will it instil the need to read financial documentation but also help them to understand the consequences of their actions.
Colin Kersley, Chief Executive of M&S Money commented:
“Most parents spend a phenomenal amount of time and energy working to ensure that their children grow up to be well-rounded members of society. However, for some this does not include discussions about general money issues or explaining simple financial concepts. Today, you need a good working knowledge of money to ensure that you have a solid financial foundation so it is vitally important that parents step up to the challenge and address the issue.”
