Everyone has their own little "tricks" for saving money.
A tried-and-tested one that I myself use is emptying out your spare change at the end of the day (your purse or wallet will be much the lighter for it), and putting it in a jar.
It's surprising how much money money people can save this way.
You can use what you saved from "spare change" money to:
(1) help a charity
(2) buy a treat for a friend
(3) buy a treat for yourself
(4) add to your savings account
Try it!
Showing posts with label Saving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Saving. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
MONEY-EARNING IDEAS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
I thought I'd talk about earning money this week, following on from my article on Compound Interest which highlights the fact that the earlier you start accumulating money, the more you stand to gain from your savings.
To add to your savings, you can do more than rely on on your allowance. Some common ways of earning money for young people:
1. Baby-sitting.
People would be relieved to have someone help out and take care of their young kids once in a while so that they can take a break, or run out to do some errands.
2. Doing chores for family and neighbours.
Look around for a need and ask if you can fill it. For example, if a neighbour has an overgrown lawn, ask if they'd like you to take care of it.
3. Tutoring those younger than you.
This is a great way to earn money, and learn something yourself. Tutoring helps reinforce what you yourself learnt, and you'll be honing your communication skills at the same time! Even better, you'll be helping someone else do better in school.
4. Starting a small business using your skills.
If you're especially talented at making something, you may want to look into selling what you make.
5. Part-time job
A great way to get a steady income. Check out jobs around your neighbourhood. You can usually find jobs helping to stock stores, or cashiering duties, sales assistant jobs, etc.
Have you found other great ways of earning money? Do share with us here.
Gentle reminders:
* Make sure that your studies don't suffer as a result of all these other chores/jobs/schemes. After all, as we've discussed before, education is one of the surest ways of earning a higher income in adulthood.
* Also, don't be tempted to make money by illegal means.
* Get-rich schemes are usually too good to be true. So don't be taken in by those.
To add to your savings, you can do more than rely on on your allowance. Some common ways of earning money for young people:
1. Baby-sitting.
People would be relieved to have someone help out and take care of their young kids once in a while so that they can take a break, or run out to do some errands.
2. Doing chores for family and neighbours.
Look around for a need and ask if you can fill it. For example, if a neighbour has an overgrown lawn, ask if they'd like you to take care of it.
3. Tutoring those younger than you.
This is a great way to earn money, and learn something yourself. Tutoring helps reinforce what you yourself learnt, and you'll be honing your communication skills at the same time! Even better, you'll be helping someone else do better in school.
4. Starting a small business using your skills.
If you're especially talented at making something, you may want to look into selling what you make.
5. Part-time job
A great way to get a steady income. Check out jobs around your neighbourhood. You can usually find jobs helping to stock stores, or cashiering duties, sales assistant jobs, etc.
Have you found other great ways of earning money? Do share with us here.
Gentle reminders:
* Make sure that your studies don't suffer as a result of all these other chores/jobs/schemes. After all, as we've discussed before, education is one of the surest ways of earning a higher income in adulthood.
* Also, don't be tempted to make money by illegal means.
* Get-rich schemes are usually too good to be true. So don't be taken in by those.
Monday, May 12, 2008
START SAVING EARLY: COMPOUND INTEREST
I'm sure you know that when you keep your money in the bank, it pays you interest.
But did you know that the longer you keep it there, the greater the magic of Compound Interest?
WHAT IS COMPOUND INTEREST?
Let's say your grandparents gave you $10,000 at the age of 10, and you put it into your savings account. The bank's interest rate rate is 3% per year. And it remains at 3% over the next three years.
Year 1:
The first year, you'll earn $300, or 3% on your $1000.
So the total in your savings account is now $10300, without any effort on your part!
Year 2:
Leave your money (including the interest) in the bank for another year at 3% interest, and you'll be earning interest not just on your initial deposit of $10,000, but also on the $300 interest that you earned at the end of the first year, ie, you'll be getting interest on $10,300.
Remember: Compound interest is interest on your interest.
At the end of 2 years, the total in your account is now $10,609.
Year 3:
And that's not all. The longer you keep the money in the bank, the more compound interest works in your favour. Leave the money and the accumulated interest in the bank yet another year, and you'll be earning interest on the accumulated total of $10609, 3% of $10609 = $318.27.
So at the end of 3 years, you will have $10,927.27.
At the end of 10 years, you'll have$ 13,439.16
At the end of 20 years, you'll have $ 18061.11
At the end of 30 years, you'll have $ 24,272.62
As you can see, the longer you leave the money and the accumulated interest in the bank, the faster your money grows. In other words, the earlier you start saving, the more you can make your money work for you!
COOL TIP -- THE RULE OF 72. There's an easy way to estimate how long it will take you to double your money if you put it into a bank and let compound interest work for you, at a particular interest rate. Very simply: Divide 72 by the interest rate you expect to earn. For example, say you expect the interest rate to be 3%. 72 divided by 3 is 24. That means that it will take you 24 years to double your money.
But did you know that the longer you keep it there, the greater the magic of Compound Interest?
WHAT IS COMPOUND INTEREST?
Let's say your grandparents gave you $10,000 at the age of 10, and you put it into your savings account. The bank's interest rate rate is 3% per year. And it remains at 3% over the next three years.
Year 1:
The first year, you'll earn $300, or 3% on your $1000.
So the total in your savings account is now $10300, without any effort on your part!
Year 2:
Leave your money (including the interest) in the bank for another year at 3% interest, and you'll be earning interest not just on your initial deposit of $10,000, but also on the $300 interest that you earned at the end of the first year, ie, you'll be getting interest on $10,300.
Remember: Compound interest is interest on your interest.
At the end of 2 years, the total in your account is now $10,609.
Year 3:
And that's not all. The longer you keep the money in the bank, the more compound interest works in your favour. Leave the money and the accumulated interest in the bank yet another year, and you'll be earning interest on the accumulated total of $10609, 3% of $10609 = $318.27.
So at the end of 3 years, you will have $10,927.27.
At the end of 10 years, you'll have$ 13,439.16
At the end of 20 years, you'll have $ 18061.11
At the end of 30 years, you'll have $ 24,272.62
As you can see, the longer you leave the money and the accumulated interest in the bank, the faster your money grows. In other words, the earlier you start saving, the more you can make your money work for you!
COOL TIP -- THE RULE OF 72. There's an easy way to estimate how long it will take you to double your money if you put it into a bank and let compound interest work for you, at a particular interest rate. Very simply: Divide 72 by the interest rate you expect to earn. For example, say you expect the interest rate to be 3%. 72 divided by 3 is 24. That means that it will take you 24 years to double your money.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
EARTH DAY: CONSERVE RESOURCES, SAVE MONEY
We often thoughtlessly throw away things which are still fairly new just because we want something newer and trendier. And we send a lot of packing and packaging materials to the trash, from plastic bags, to boxes, containers, cans and bottles. So what can we do to minimise this waste of earth's resources, and earn or save money at the same time? Here are a few ideas:
1. Getting bored with your t-shirt, sneakers or bags? You may like to experiment with dye and fabric paint to make them seem all new again. You will probably impress your friends with your one-of-a-kind creations. Or do your bit to help the less fortunate by donating items you no longer need or want to charity.
2. Reuse containers to store and organise your things. Or decorate boxes, bottles, cans and other containers to use as desk accessories.
3. Instead of buying garbage bags for your wastepaper basket, use the plastic bags you get from stores instead.
4. Scour garage sales and flea markets for secondhand items.
5. Try to resell items you no longer need. For example, if you look after your textbooks, you can probably sell them at the beginning of the next year to other students.
Any other ideas? Share them with us here.
1. Getting bored with your t-shirt, sneakers or bags? You may like to experiment with dye and fabric paint to make them seem all new again. You will probably impress your friends with your one-of-a-kind creations. Or do your bit to help the less fortunate by donating items you no longer need or want to charity.
2. Reuse containers to store and organise your things. Or decorate boxes, bottles, cans and other containers to use as desk accessories.
3. Instead of buying garbage bags for your wastepaper basket, use the plastic bags you get from stores instead.
4. Scour garage sales and flea markets for secondhand items.
5. Try to resell items you no longer need. For example, if you look after your textbooks, you can probably sell them at the beginning of the next year to other students.
Any other ideas? Share them with us here.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
THE 3S: SAVE, SHARE, SPEND
Have you tried sticking to a budget and failed?
Then you may be using a method which is too complicated to follow. Some budgets ask you to note down all your expenses every day. Others advise you to spend as little as possible, which makes it as palatable as a diet!
But budgeting need not be hard or torturous. Once you get the hang of it, I bet you'll even enjoy taking charge of your money. What you need to do is take control in a way that's comfortable for you.
We'll start with a method I've found very useful. Some people call this the 3S Plan. All the plan asks you to do is divide up your income into SAVE, SHARE and SPEND boxes.
Step 1: SAVE
This should be your first priority. Take your income -- your allowance plus any other money you get on a regular basis -- and put part of it into your SAVE "box". Decide on the amount before you get your allowance each week or month. This way, you won't be tempted to put less into your SAVE box once you get the money in your hands.
Start with an amount that's comfortable for you. For example, if you get $50 every week, you may want to start by setting aside 5% or $2.50 per week into your SAVE box. You may want to work up to 10 or 15% or more as time goes on.
Step 2: SHARE
If you have an income, setting aside even a small amount every month can go quite a way towards helping people who really need it. Again, start by putting an amount into your SHARE box that's comfortable for you, and work up as you adjust your spending.
Step 3: SPEND
Put the rest of your income into your SPEND box.
EXAMPLE:
If you get $50 every week,
and decide to save 5% and share 5%,
this is what your three boxes will have
at the beginning of each week:
SAVE: $2.50 per week
SHARE: $2.50 per week
SPEND: $45.00
In my next blogs, I will discuss what you can do with the money in each of the three boxes.
So, look out for the next part where I will talk about the SPEND box and how you can make sure that you have enough money for everything that you need.
Then you may be using a method which is too complicated to follow. Some budgets ask you to note down all your expenses every day. Others advise you to spend as little as possible, which makes it as palatable as a diet!
But budgeting need not be hard or torturous. Once you get the hang of it, I bet you'll even enjoy taking charge of your money. What you need to do is take control in a way that's comfortable for you.
We'll start with a method I've found very useful. Some people call this the 3S Plan. All the plan asks you to do is divide up your income into SAVE, SHARE and SPEND boxes.
Step 1: SAVE
This should be your first priority. Take your income -- your allowance plus any other money you get on a regular basis -- and put part of it into your SAVE "box". Decide on the amount before you get your allowance each week or month. This way, you won't be tempted to put less into your SAVE box once you get the money in your hands.
Start with an amount that's comfortable for you. For example, if you get $50 every week, you may want to start by setting aside 5% or $2.50 per week into your SAVE box. You may want to work up to 10 or 15% or more as time goes on.
Step 2: SHARE
If you have an income, setting aside even a small amount every month can go quite a way towards helping people who really need it. Again, start by putting an amount into your SHARE box that's comfortable for you, and work up as you adjust your spending.
Step 3: SPEND
Put the rest of your income into your SPEND box.
EXAMPLE:
If you get $50 every week,
and decide to save 5% and share 5%,
this is what your three boxes will have
at the beginning of each week:
SAVE: $2.50 per week
SHARE: $2.50 per week
SPEND: $45.00
In my next blogs, I will discuss what you can do with the money in each of the three boxes.
So, look out for the next part where I will talk about the SPEND box and how you can make sure that you have enough money for everything that you need.
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