Saving money is tough, especially when finances are tight and disposable income is at a minimum. For all of the recently laid off workers — employees of the state whose hours have been cut and other economically distressed individuals — that “rainy day” has arrived and I bet they all wish they had a larger emergency fund to draw from. Many families have gone from two incomes to one, creating a strain on the household finances. So what are some money saving ideas we can employ during a time like this?

Money Saving Strategies During Hard Times

1. Automate your savings.
The important thing to do is start small; make a plan and stick to it. Most banks offer an automatic monthly or weekly transfer from a checking account to a high yield savings account. This will force you to save money and in most cases it comes with the added benefit of a free savings account. “Keep The Change” from Bank of America is another popular automatic saving program that rounds up debit card purchases to the nearest dollar and deposits that remainder into a savings account.

2. Save your extra change.
Trying times like these call for creativity when it comes to money management. One easy way to start an emergency cash fund at home is with a technique I like to call “Give Me Five”. Whenever you make a cash purchase and you get one or more 5 dollar bills as change, tuck those away in a designated envelope and do not spend them no matter how tempting it might be.

3. Take advantage of low stock prices.
A struggling economy does have its advantages from an investor’s standpoint: just think of the opportunities that a downturn can present us. A lot of things of value may now be cheaper in price — for example, discounted stocks. Transferring funds from a low yield savings account to an online stock trading service can be a smart strategy and a great way to make your savings grow more rapidly. You will sacrifice some liquidity but you will increase you earning potential if you choose winning stocks. Save yourself expensive broker fees and account management costs by handling your portfolio yourself. There are plenty of stock trading tools online to help you make informed decisions about your investments, so be smart and turn your savings into income.

 
This guest post is brought to you by the folks behind Planet Wealth.

Money Saving Strategies During Hard Times is a post from: Banker, Saver

How often do you ask yourself this question? My guess is that most people think about this at least some of the time. I think it’s a good idea to visualize when and how you’re going to reach that million dollar goal — it’s a healthy way to set a goal and focus on it; by doing so, you may realize that the day you actually achieve your dream comes to you soon enough.

There are a few tools and calculators out there that can encourage us to think positively and can help us plan for these goals. I like some of the calculators from CNN Money that give me a picture of the future based on my current financial situation. For instance, here is one of their calculators that asks:

When Will You Be A Millionaire?

By entering some of my personal information in the millionaire tool, I’ve found that it’s going to take me at least 2 decades to reach millionaire status. Here’s what I entered:

For Taxable Accounts
How much I have: $50,000
How much do I save each year: $10,000
My federal tax rate: 33%
My state tax rate: 9%

For Tax Deferred Accounts
How much I have: $75,000
How much will I be saving per year: $4,000

Projected Rate of Return/Goal
Average annual gain: 8%

Desired Nest Egg: $1,000,000 (one million dollars!)

And here is the result!

The numbers here indicate that I’ll be waiting a while before I hit my goal (unless I hit the lottery first). I’m taking financial baby steps for now but that doesn’t mean I can’t do more to expedite the growth of my nest egg. I thought of some actions I can take to get closer to my goal more quickly: looking at the numbers, I can very well work on saving more money per year, both for my taxable and non-taxable accounts. I may be able to manage saving up to 25% of my gross income to the tune of $25,000 a year, split among my various accounts.

Another strategy to enable me to get to the million faster would be to attempt to get a return that’s higher than 8% a year. But this would mean having to take more investment risks with my portfolio which I am not exactly prepared to do. Plus, a higher return may not be achievable year in and year out.

But just for fun, let’s see just how much sooner I’ll reach a million dollars by making the appropriate adjustments. By saving an additional $11,000 a year (still with an 8% annual return), this is what I have:

For Taxable Accounts
How much I have: $50,000
How much do I save each year: $15,000
My federal tax rate: 33%
My state tax rate: 9%

For Tax Deferred Accounts
How much I have: $75,000
How much will I be saving per year: $10,000

And these are the results of the calculation:

Time until your nest egg is $1 million:
15 years and 2 months

Inflation adjusted:
19 years and 9 months

It’s a little better — saving an additional $11,000 a year or $916 a month will shave off 4 years from this savings plan (or 7 years if you’re looking at the inflation adjusted numbers). Goes to show that a little extra income could go a long way here to help me improve my savings efforts — so perhaps I should work a little harder, maybe snag a part time job or work on small business ideas that can help me increase my income, and thereby, my savings.

What I like about this exercise is that it encourages us to think that becoming a millionaire is possible and within our grasp. Because I’m still fairly young, I can see that this financial goal is highly feasible and not impossible to achieve. It’s definitely an inspiring thought!

So when are you planning to be a millionaire?

When Will I Be A Millionaire? is a post from: Banker, Saver

Lately, I’ve been reflecting upon my money savings.

Another sharp turn in life’s highway. Cruising along a fairly straight thoroughfare for years. Now we are finding ourselves climbing the road through the Continental Divide. Blind corners, steep mountains and unforeseen obstacles.

Money Savings and Pay Yourself First

I never used to listen to the number one advice of financial planners. How does that go again? Oh yeah, “pay yourself first.” Putting 10% of your take home pay into savings sounds like a lot, but even starting with 5% or less is okay, I have found. The biggest thing is to just start.

The easiest way to start paying yourself first is to have an automatic deposit set up. The day your pay check is deposited, your financial institution can automatically take your set amount of money and deposit it into your savings account. From there, all you have to do is watch it grow! Watch it grow and sleep better knowing you have some money set aside for whatever life throws at you.

Use Short Term Savings As An Emergency Fund

So, a few years ago we decided to put some money away into something other than registered safe retirement funds. Now I do know the purpose for this was for later in life, but alas, emergencies come and go and we can thank ourselves for having those funds available to see us through some tough times.

Our emergency fund is going to help us navigate this tough, rough and windy road from one side of the Rockies to the other. Health issues are tough enough to deal with without having monetary worries on top of them.

Build Long Term Savings For Your Retirement

Having that emergency fund is helping to make sure that we don’t have to touch our retirement savings. After all, we’re told just how important it is to “save tax-free”. If your employer offers a retirement savings plan, make sure you are contributing the maximum allowed. Try to put in whatever you can afford, making sure that you are contributing enough to be eligible for whatever your employer’s matching contribution is.

Have you done a recent check of your financial picture? Every couple of years, we should take a look at our entire portfolio, including insurance, and ensure we are still on course.

How much do we need to retire? My husband asked me that question about a week ago, not the first time, I should add. Well, at 49 years old, I guess that is a fair question for him to ask. And, one we should be asking our financial advisor. He would cringe at the question, because we should already know the answer and be well on our way to having accumulating that number.

Advisors will tell you that your retirement total depends on how much money you anticipate you will need to live on annually. If your lifestyle is such that you need $100,000 per year to live, then obviously, the amount of money you’ll need in retirement is far greater than if you were living on an annual income of $50,000. We always say that once the kids are out of the house, we will need far less money to live, but I somehow doubt that.

What do you want to be able to do in your retirement? Travel, help your kids buy a home, finish university? With all that time on your hands, will you take up an expensive sport or hobby you never had time for when you were working? Do you expect to stay in your present home? Is it paid for? Do you aspire to have a cabin/condo in a different area? So many things to consider.

Do You Have A Financial Map?

Our financial advisor asked us those questions ten years ago: at that time we had a 4 and 1 year old while paying for child support on two older children. Since then, our financial situation has changed considerably. We’re no longer paying out child support, with those older kids now in university and living on their own. The 4 and 1 year old are teenagers themselves involved in every imaginable sport and activity. One set of parents has lost their home to a fire and the others are aging and needing more physical help every year. Oh yes, and I almost forgot — my new health issues that will make me unable to work for the better part of a year. Yep, time to have another look at the financial plan.

Have we lost the map or just need to pull into a rest stop? All is good, taking a break thank you, and will be back on the road to retirement asap.

Money Savings: Short Term vs Long Term Savings is a post from: Banker, Saver

Glad you can stop by!   Our site, Banker Saver, promises to provide you with resources and information that will help you with your saving needs and banking questions.   We’ll be covering all aspects of money management here, where we’ll share coverage of topics on saving money, budgeting, expense management, financial planning and of course, banking!

We’ll be speaking a lot from experience and will share with you tips and other information we’ve learned to help you keep more of your hard-earned money in your hands.   After all, what good is it to make more money when you’re not keeping more of it for yourself?

This site will be focusing on the techniques, strategies and numbers behind your savings programs, and promises to give you great ideas for where to keep your savings funds.

The Basics of Saving Money and Financial Planning is a post from: Banker, Saver