Although the economy is bleak, it’s not too late to save. A year ago, I’ll bet many of you thought the economy was not going to be this bad. Well, we really don’t know when it will start to turn around. It’s anybody’s guess. The one thing I can do is save a little more each day; whether it is bringing lunch to work or spending time at the park having fun with the kids, rather than spending thousands of dollars on an expensive vacation. Make it a goal with the family to reach a certain amount of savings by the end of each week. Be creative in what you can do for family entertainment. Check your local paper or the internet. Let me know what any of you come up with. The first three suggestions will receive a beautiful barbeque set compliments of LAFCU.
Now, let’s talk a little about this economy we are in today. Rates are expected to stay low through this year and probably at least through the middle of 2010. When we start to recover, it will be a slow process as consumers will take precautionary measures before they start to dive back into spending and/or the stock market.
It’s all about the basics which we need to remember. There are reasons for setting policies and procedures. They were established because they worked in the past. Unfortunately greed seems to get the better of many of us. For example, why do we invest in certain stocks? The idea was the return on investment or the dividends the company paid was based on how well the company was managed so that it could continue to have good returns. It was not necessarily because the value of stock increased which is what I believe many small time investors were betting on. I believe this is part of the reason why we are in this current financial crisis as people deviated from the standards such as conforming real estate loans. Most economists are saying it will be a steep hill to climb once we start to recover. I would have to agree with that.
When we eventually climb out of this economic situation, we will look back and remember what caused this fiasco, but will we change? It’s all up to each and every one of us to make financially sound decisions and not let greed stand in the way. Each of us needs to make sure we are making good financial decisions including how to save for the future.
THE RAINY DAY IS HERE. WHAT TO DO NOW?
Hi Dick,
Thanks for responding back. Yes, it has been a tough past 12-18 months. During these difficult times, it is harder to save. Many are just trying to keep up paying their bills, but if possible, it’s still a good time to try and put a few dollars away. If people can do it now, when we start to come out of this recession, they will be in even better financial shape. Some of the things I have done are bringing lunch to work rather than go out or on weekends visit family and friends rather than go to the movies or shopping. Now that it’s Spring, the weather outside is beautiful to spend a few hours outdoors at the park.
I always always always ALWAYS save at least 20% of my incoming revenue streams. Another 10-20% goes to charity/tithing. A full 30% get re-invested back into my business, and the remaining gets split 20% living expenses and 10% recreation.
It wasn’t always this easy. I had to save money when I thought I didn’t have any to save. Over and over and over. But the discipline of saving money, rather the habit of saving money has helped me immeasurably over even just a few years.
Now its easy with about 12 different streams of income coming in per month, not even counting the fire dept job. Why would u want to learn how to save money (as in budget), when u can just go out and make more money! I don’t want to not have every single cable channel….. or save $100/month. BIG DEAL. How bout make 10 times more that what u need to live off of?
Well, just an opinion.
Great post Cindy!!
There are many ways to save money in this difficult economy.
1.) One way businesses are saving money and increasing their cash-flow is to deplete their inventories through sales on existing sales items and by cutting their prices. One way consumers can save money is to deplete their own inventories of household items such as soap, paper towels or toothpaste by not purchasing new items until their own supply is substantially reduced to a week or two’s supply.
2.) Another way to save pocket money is to not only clip coupons but target certain items and purchase them after checking on its price with several different retailers for a month or so prior to purchasing that item. This will increase the chances that you are paying an appropriate amount for the item and will eliminate the added costs associated with impulse purchases.
3.) Another way to save money is to reduce one’s monthly finance charge expense on credit card or revolving lines of credit by paying down the balance aggressively to reduce the amount of finance charges due for the next month. If one has sizeable savings in their account, then there is no excuse to pay a much higher finance charge, especially in these times where finance charges on credit cards and unsecured lines are going up and rates paid on savings accounts are going down. Another way is to sell any used items that you no longer use or need. When you observe how low of a price you get for the re-sale item versus the amount you paid plus the finance charges you may have paid on it, this excercise will serve as a powerful reminder of how costly it can be to finance non-essential items on a credit card or unsecured line of credit.