setting aside savings

[disneysteve]

Set savings goals. You’re more likely to achieve something if you have a clear goal

Very true. And your goal needs to be specific and measurable. "I want to save more" is great but it's too vague and open-ended. "I want to save up $5,000 by the end of the year" is a much better goal. It is specific. It's measurable. And it has a set time frame. You are establishing a point at which you can evaluate whether or not you met the goal. If so, great. If not, evaluate what prevented you from meeting it and what can you do going forward to meet the next goal.

[myrdale]

James, I didn't like those paper savings bonds. Once I ordered $10,000 and never got it so contacted the Treasury Dept. They said they sent it. When I questioned where they sent it, they had my unit number off by one digit so instead of #15 it went to #5. I knocked on the door of #5 and a woman holding a baby answered the door. I asked if she mistakenly received it. Of course she said no but probably had it. She couldn't redeem it anyway with my name on it but shows her character not being truthful and returning it to its rightful owner. Long story short, I had to request that the Treasury cancel that bond and reissue a new one. It was an ordeal to get it corrected but I did get issued a new bond.

This happened to me a year ago with an Amazon order. The tracking email said delivered, when I got home there was no package. I gave it a couple days and took the tracking number to the post office. They said "Yes that was delivered to 555 John Doe Road" to which I replied "That's nice, what is the delivery address" To which they replied "555 John Smith Road..... well we'll check the mail box and if it's still there we'll bring it right over"

That afternoon I went to 555 John Doe Road and knocked on the door. I said I was looking for my package to which the home owner said "Yeah I think I still have that, let me check" and then 10 minutes later came out with my package.

In the post office's defense the mail rider apparently had a heart attack mid route and someone else took over. But the home owner, it just blows my mind someone doesn't see it as immediately necessary to put a wrong delivery back in the mail. "Hey the post office screwed up!! Sucks for John Smith!"

[bjl584]

I've never had trouble saving, so it's hard for me to step back and give advice in this arena most of the time.

I normally just have myself conditioned to live on X even though I make Y.
The difference between X and Y is saved/invested.
Simple, but it's worked. It just takes some discipline.

[Like2Plan]

This is going to sound way out there, but let me explain.
I've been listening to old Freakonomics podcasts (helps me sleep ). Anyway, this one is from 2010, "Is America Ready for a No-Lose Lottery?"
link to podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas...=1000415010202

This is an outside the box solution to encourage folks to invest in saving.

The Podcast starts out with a statistic -half of Americans could not come up with $2,000 within 30 days. (Remember, this was from Nov 17, 2010).
Apparently, earning interest is boring, but playing the lottery is exciting (for the short period of time that you can dream about winning before the results of the lottery are in).
So, Michigan came up with Save to Win savings accounts which combines the lottery with saving. You never lose principal and earnings are "invested" in the lottery.

I looked it up--here are some links

https://www.mcul.org/save-to-win

https://www.adventurecu.org/save/savings/save-to-win-cd

https://www.savetowin.org/

https://www.facebook.com/SavetoWinMI/

The podcast said it was in Michigan. I don't know if this exists in any other states. (Apparently, some states don't want banks to compete with the state lottery games.)

[AllyStreelman]

It can be easy to spend your savings if you don't have a budget or plan for big purchases in advance. This has been my experience at least. So, if your friend is having a hard time saving anything at the end of the month, they should start by tracking where their money is going. I think automating transfers can help so that it's not accessible in the first place. I personally transfer money from my Chase Checking to my Marcus high-yield savings account so that I don't access it. There are also a lot of apps out there that can make the saving/investing process fun.

[Bozzdivine]

Agree with AllyStreelman. Automating transfers is a wonderful idea. It's like the "out of sight, out of mind" strategy for saving. You're less likely to spend money that isn't readily available in your checking account. Also, I've personally found some apps to be a great way to gamify saving and investing.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

The automation didn't work. The friend had the money her paycheck deposited into a separate checking account that wasnt' supposed to be touched. But instead they kept on tapping it and using it to pay for stuff and so they ended up spending more than they wanted.

I also agree that CDs help. I tied up stuff in CDs like our tax payment so I could forget about it. I also automate but sometimes even with automation it's easy to transfer it back and spend it.

[Like2Plan]

The automation didn't work. The friend had the money her paycheck deposited into a separate checking account that wasnt' supposed to be touched. But instead they kept on tapping it and using it to pay for stuff and so they ended up spending more than they wanted.

I also agree that CDs help. I tied up stuff in CDs like our tax payment so I could forget about it. I also automate but sometimes even with automation it's easy to transfer it back and spend it.

I think savings bonds can not be cashed in for a year. That might give some time to establish the habit of saving.

[crazyliblady]

I think savings bonds can not be cashed in for a year. That might give some time to establish the habit of saving.

I feel like each of us has a toddler inside of us. You might see this when you are feeling stressed out, tired, or just really want something, but don't have it in your budget. I feel like that toddler screaming in Walmart sometimes, because I want things and experiences that I cannot do right now. But I have to switch it up and put on my adult hat and say "no! You have to save up for that! We are not putting that on the credit card." I really think that we have to change our behavior and thought patterns in order to have an outcome different from what we have been doing. LivingAlmostLarge, your friend has to make a conscious choice to save that money and not touch it for any reason other than its intended purpose.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I feel like each of us has a toddler inside of us. You might see this when you are feeling stressed out, tired, or just really want something, but don't have it in your budget. I feel like that toddler screaming in Walmart sometimes, because I want things and experiences that I cannot do right now. But I have to switch it up and put on my adult hat and say "no! You have to save up for that! We are not putting that on the credit card." I really think that we have to change our behavior and thought patterns in order to have an outcome different from what we have been doing. LivingAlmostLarge, your friend has to make a conscious choice to save that money and not touch it for any reason other than its intended purpose.

Oh I feel that everyday