Thinking of savings, make it count

In simple terms, saving is income not spent, or deferred consumption and its methods include putting money aside in a bank or pension plan.

Some people will say that the hardship in the environment does not encourage savings, but the answer to such reason remains that if you don’t save today, how do you survive the future?

In terms of personal finance, saving (which also includes reducing expenditures, such as recurring costs) specifies low-risk preservation of money, as in a deposit account, versus investment, wherein risk is higher.

Whichever one (whether saving or savings), the message is that it helps to enhance your future spending power.

In today’s personal financial management, there is some disagreement about what counts as savings. Talking about savings now, the question remains: How can you make sure your savings are not waylaid by clever marketers? Experts have identified ways to make your savings count.

Richard Barrington, of SavingAccounts.Com sees need for you to itemise your budget. “Plan on how much you expect to spend on particular items, so when you save money, you can identify the amount saved and direct it toward savings, rather than just having the extra money remains available for additional purchases.”

He added: “Another effective budgeting technique is to include a set amount of savings in your budget, rather than just looking at savings as what’s left over when all the spending is done. If possible, enforce this with automatic transfers into savings vehicles.

Also, as new products and services become available, think in terms of substituting them for existing expenses, rather than always adding new ones. Examples would include replacing your landline with a mobile phone, rather than having both, or subscribing to a streaming video service instead of having a cable subscription.”

“Get any money saved out of your chequing account and into less accessible savings vehicles where it won’t be so easy to spend. Shop for the best savings account interest rates. Squeeze as much as you can out of the money you do save by finding the highest savings account rates you can. Consider online savings accounts, since these often offer higher rates,” Barrington added.

“Steady inflation rates, a proliferation of online shopping deals and automated savings accounts make it easier than ever to save. It is a strange paradox: Consumers have never had more tools for saving money, yet they have never done a worse job at it. The Internet age has made unprecedented new tools available to help consumers save money. These tools include: Online retailers, Traditional retailer websites, Mobile shopping apps, Email sales alerts, Coupon websites, Review and recommendation websites, Auction websites” said Barrington.

He added: “Using modern shopping tools purposefully is a great way to save money –and gain the added satisfaction of using the marketers’ tools against them.”

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