Saving

We should all have some amount that we aim to save every year. The great thing is that in the United States, the government basically gives you an amount to aim for each year in the form of retirement accounts. Since the government limits what you can put into each of these tax-advantaged accounts, it’s an easy goal to try to reach.

I think at minimum, everyone should aim to save enough each year to max out all of their retirement accounts. When you think about it, it’s not really all that hard to do. Just set up your automatic contributions once at the beginning of the year. Then do the most important thing you can do when it comes to investing – nothing!

As we close out 2016, I thought I’d issue probably the easiest call to action out there – the 52 Week Money Challenge. This is by no means an advanced money concept. Still, I think it’s a good thing for anyone to do, no matter where you are in your financial journey. We all should have some money set aside for emergencies. And the 52 Week Money Challenge is an easy way to keep that emergency fund topped off each year.

I first learned about the 52 Week Money challenge a few years ago when I started getting interested in personal finance. You have to start somewhere and I was looking for ways to push myself just a little bit more. When you’ve got money coming in, it’s pretty easy to get lazy with your paycheck. Even if you think you’re saving money, a lot of it can slip through your fingers if you don’t put it to use somewhere else.

Thanksgiving is now behind us and with its passing comes the official start of the holiday season. I’ve always thought it helpful around this time of the year to remember how fortunate most of us are. If you’re reading this, chances are that you live in a developed country. You probably also make a decent income and have some education under your belt. If you’re smart, you might even be able to save up enough money one day so that you never have to work again. Most people in the world aren’t lucky enough to have the luxury of thinking about financial independence, let alone actually achieving it.

This is why its always struck me as a bit ridiculous when I see people with good jobs complaining that they don’t make enough to get ahead. Sure, making more money is probably better than making less money. And some cities are definitely more expensive to live in than others…

We all probably remember – or maybe some of you still have – the jar full of change that we would drop our coins into at the end of the day. I remember as a kid lugging big jars full of change to my local bank, watching them clink around the coin counting machine, and walking out of the bank with cold hard cash. It’s amazing to think that I had a couple hundred bucks sitting around in a jar!

This process of saving up small amounts is called microsaving. Basically, doing a small amount of saving over time (such as gathering up your leftover change) can add up to a pretty decent chunk of money in the end…